Policy

April 27, 2017

De Blasio’s new budget boosts funding for anti-Airbnb enforcement

With the announcement of Mayor de Blasio’s new executive budget on Wednesday, the shaky relationship between the short-term rental company Airbnb and New York City continues. As reported by Crain’s, the city plans to crack down on illegal short-term rentals by spending an extra $2.9 million over the next two fiscal years. For the fiscal year 2018, the mayor plans to pour $1.6 million into expanding the city’s Office of Special Enforcement, which inspects and fines landlords who rent entire apartments out for fewer than 30 days.
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Policy

April 26, 2017

Uber hopes to bring flying taxis to NYC within five years

By Devin Gannon

The sky is the limit for the popular ride-hailing app, Uber. The company announced Tuesday that it intends to roll out a network of flying cars, or VTOLs (aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing) beginning in Dallas-Fort Worth and Dubai by 2020. And as reported by the NY Post, one of Uber’s partners, Blade helicopter service, aims to make New York City a target for its plan within five years. If so, these vehicles, which travel at 200 mph, could take passengers from Manhattan to JFK Airport in as little as five minutes.
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April 26, 2017

Hear the natural sounds that made up life in 17th century Manhattan (interactive)

By Devin Gannon

For most modern New Yorkers, it’s hard to imagine the city being anything more than a crowded, noisy, concrete jungle. However, with the website Unsung.NYC, users can now explore the natural sounds of Manhattan, present during the 1600s before European settlers arrived. As the Times reports, “Calling Thunder” lets listeners hear all the chirps, croaks, and laps of waves, all of which coincide with images from four main points in Manhattan—the Collect Pond Park, the High Line, the American Museum of Natural History, and the Inwood Hill Park.
learn more here

April 25, 2017

New bill would force landlords to disclose bedbug infestations

By Devin Gannon

Whether you want to know or not, NYC landlords may soon be required to tell you of any past or current bedbug infestations in your building when you sign or renew a lease. As reported by the NY Post, a new city council bill would force landlords to file infestation histories with the Department of Housing and Preservation Development and to either publicly post them in the buildings or distribute them to tenants. The agency would also require all histories to be posted on their website.
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Policy

April 25, 2017

Sale of Brooklyn Navy Yard air rights could fund the BQX streetcar

By Devin Gannon

Although Mayor de Blasio’s proposed BQX project, which would connect the Brooklyn and Queens waterfronts via streetcar, received praise from many, finding money to fund it may be tougher than expected. Earlier this month, a leaked memo obtained by the Daily News laid out a tough assessment of the construction logistics and financial problems facing the project. And while the mayor admitted last week that his plan for the BQX to be self-funded through tax revenue from higher real estate values may not pan out, an article in Crain’s laid out an idea for the city to sell air rights in the Brooklyn Navy Yard neighborhood to raise money for the project.
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April 20, 2017

Affordable housing lotteries fail low-income residents and favor middle-income earners, says new report

By Devin Gannon

In every state and major city in the country, extremely low-income renters face a shortage of affordable housing. Although low-income applicants in New York City display a higher need for affordable housing, policies created by Mayor de Blasio and his administration continue to set aside more units for middle-income applicants. In a detailed report, City Limits analyzed affordable housing in Brooklyn and compared the need for affordable housing to the actual number of allotted low-income and middle-income units. For just one building, the tower at 535 Carlton, nearly 95,000 households entered the lottery for its “100 percent affordable” units. However, only 2,203 applicants were eligible for the 148 middle-income units, and over 67,000 households applied for the 90 low-income units. The data shows low-income households in search of affordable housing face much tougher odds than middle-income applicants.
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April 19, 2017

Noocity’s all-inclusive ‘Growkit’ is perfect for urban green thumb wannabes

By Devin Gannon

Thanks to Growkit, a farming kit for beginners developed by Portugal-based startup Noocity, city dwellers short on time and space can still take a stab at gardening and harvest their own organic food (h/t Gearminded). The kit includes an entire gardening system--a Growbag irrigated planter, a Growpack with seasonal plants, potting soil, fertilizer, and step-by-step audio instructions--all delivered right to your doorstep.
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April 19, 2017

Tour Zaha Hadid and Frank Gehry buildings around the globe with the new Google Earth

By Devin Gannon

As part of its relaunch, Google Earth, a program that allows users to explore the planet virtually, now features guided tours of projects by various architects, like Frank Gehry and the late Zaha Hadid. As ArchDaily learned, the relaunch allows users to orbit the entire globe in 3D, instead of simply exploring isolated cities. It also enhanced the web application’s accessibility, with searches within the app providing snapshots of information about the places. Plus, using the app is free of charge and users do not have to pay or install any software.
Explore the Google Earth relaunch

April 17, 2017

The hotel industry prepares a national fight against Airbnb

By Devin Gannon

With its value nearing $30 billion dollars, it’s hard to deny Airbnb’s influence and disruption in the American hotel industry. Since its founding in 2008, the short-term lodging company has serviced about 150 million travelers, in three million listings in more than 191 countries. And as the New York Times reported, the hotel industry has launched a plan to take action against the company’s growing market share. The plan includes a national campaign at the local, state and federal levels to counter Airbnb by lobbying politicians and attorneys general to reduce the number of Airbnb hosts and fund studies that show they do not collect hotel taxes and are not required to follow the same safety and security regulations that hotels must follow.
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April 12, 2017

Optimism remains for Hudson River tunnel project despite threat of Trump cuts

By Michelle Cohen

As 6sqft reported recently, President Trump may include two major New York transportation projects in his proposed budget cuts, including the Gateway Program that would build a new train tunnel under the Hudson River and a program which extends the Second Avenue subway in Manhattan to East Harlem. The Gateway Program, which would add a much-needed second rail tunnel beneath the Hudson River and upgrade aging rail infrastructure in New York and New Jersey, has been relying on the federal government for half of its estimated $24 billion cost. WNYC reports that even if the funding is pulled, the agency may look to funding from a public-private partnership.
Find out what the options are

Morpholio’s AVA squeezes every interior design tool into one app

By Jon Dioffa

Interior designers who have been looking for a way to streamline their creative and production processes will appreciate Morpholio's newest app feature, AVA. Short for Automated Visual Assembly, AVA makes it easier for users to create not just presentation boards but also to produce cut sheets and specs for drawings, and product lists for purchasing. As professional designers know, projects are imbued with many moving parts that are difficult to manage piecemeal. AVA puts all of these pieces in one program, allowing designers to do everything they need within one application, reducing the opportunity for error. Plus, it's presentation ready, meaning there's no need to spend hours laying out images and assembling the details for client review.
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5Pointz graffiti artists whose work was destroyed will get a chance to face developer in court

Photo via Wikimedia Commons

April 10, 2017

5Pointz graffiti artists whose work was destroyed will get a chance to face developer in court

By Michelle Cohen

Photo via Wikimedia Commons Starting with the news that the iconic graffiti-covered warehouse known as 5Pointz in Long Island City, Queens, visible from passing trains since its beginnings the 1990s as an artists' studio and exhibition space, was being razed and replaced by rental apartments, the building has been the subject of heated controversy. As 6sqft previously reported, in 2013 the complex was whitewashed of its colorful exterior murals under cover of night, and renderings surfaced for the rental towers that would replace it; as if to add insult to injury, the building's owner, Jerry Wolkoff of G&M Realty, revealed plans to use the name 5Pointz as a marketing angle for the new development. Several attempts were made at intervention–and prevention of a similar fate for artists' spaces since then. Now, the New York Times reports, a federal lawsuit filed by 23 5Pointz artists against Wolkoff, who ordered the art destroyed, is getting its day in court. On March 31, Judge Frederic Block of Federal District Court in Brooklyn ruled that the federal lawsuit against Wolkoff, who ordered the artwork destroyed–could have a jury trial, an incremental legal victory for the artists and a chance to confront Wolkoff in court to seek redress.
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April 10, 2017

Hyperloop One plan would take travelers from NYC to D.C. in 20 minutes

By Devin Gannon

Future New Yorkers may travel between cities faster than ever before. Hyperloop One--the California-based tech company whose transportation concept was first proposed by Elon Musk-- revealed its plan for a high-speed tube that could take passengers from NYC to D.C. in just 20 minutes, reports NBC New York (by comparison, Amtrak’s Acela Express currently takes a little more than three hours). Travelers would board magnetically levitating pods that move by electric propulsion and travel at more than 700 miles per hour. This would connect 80 percent of the country, making a cross-country trip just about five hours long. According to the company, nearly 83 million people would benefit from this hyperloop between our nation’s capital and the Big Apple.
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April 7, 2017

50 percent fewer homeless families being admitted to shelters after new requirements

By Dana Schulz

In February Mayor de Blasio announced that he plans to open 90 new homeless shelters, but during this same month, only 38 percent of families seeking shelter through the Department of Homeless Services were approved, reports the Daily News. This is a 50 percent drop from the same time last year, which comes after the agency's Commissioner, Steven Banks, received approval from the state in November to require families seeking shelter to present "clear, convincing and credible evidence" that they absolutely have nowhere else to go.
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Policy

April 6, 2017

Fate of Gateway Project and Second Avenue Subway unknown under Trump’s infrastructure plan

By Devin Gannon

Earlier this year, President Trump, a lifelong New Yorker, hired two NY-based developers to head an infrastructure commission, which oversees spending on his proposed $1 trillion plan to improve the country’s bridges and roads. Despite this clear connection to the Big Apple, the president refuses to say whether he will include two major transportation projects for the city, both of which his proposed budget defunds, as the New York Times reported. As of now, Trump has proposed eliminating a program that would build a new train tunnel under the Hudson River and a program which extends the Second Avenue subway in Manhattan to East Harlem.
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April 6, 2017

NYC and Mexico City join forces to boost tourism

By Devin Gannon

The uncertain political climate and anti-immigrant rhetoric following Donald Trump’s election caused a drop in tourism to New York from many countries, and notably, from Mexico. In an effort to repair its relationship, New York City and Mexico City renewed a city-to-city partnership this week to foster tourism between the two places. As Crain’s learned, NYC & Company, the city’s official tourism agency, collaborated with Mexico City’s Ministry of Tourism, to share best practices in tourism marketing and provide reciprocal promotional support. In Mexico City, billboards and bus shelters will declare “New York City- Le da la bienvenida al mundo,” which means “welcoming the world.”
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Policy

April 5, 2017

City Council proposes half-priced MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers

By Devin Gannon

Although the recent subway and bus fare hike affects all New Yorkers, low-income residents are being especially hard hit by the jump in cost. As a way to ease this financial burden, the City Council has proposed a $50 million pilot program as part of the “Fair Fares” initiative which will provide half-fare MetroCards to New Yorkers living at or below the federal poverty line. As the Daily News learned, transit advocates say nearly 800,000 residents would be eligible for the discount under the full plan.
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April 5, 2017

City spends nearly $7M a year on 15,000 rarely-used alarm boxes

By Dana Schulz

To date, close to 700 LinkNYC Wifi kiosks have been installed throughout the five boroughs. Among their features are an app that lets users make free calls anywhere in the U.S., as well as a dedicated red 911 button for emergencies. Coupled with the fact that most New Yorkers have cell phones on them, it seems that the city's 14,813 red alarm boxes serve basically no purpose anymore. In fact, as Crain's tells us, last year, the boxes were used only 11,440 times to call the FDNY, which is an average of less than once per box. And, of these calls, only 13 percent were for actual emergencies and just 1.5 percent for fires. But yet, the city spends a whopping $6.8 million annually paying electricians to repair the call boxes and others to paint over graffiti.
What's the deal?

April 4, 2017

Trump buildings rank as some of the biggest polluters in NYC

By Devin Gannon

With a federal budget proposal that strips significant funding to the Environmental Protection Agency, it’s not so shocking that President Trump and his son-in-law and close adviser, Jared Kushner, both own buildings that rank as the least energy-efficient in New York City. The Daily News shared a new report from ALIGN, a coalition of labor and environmental activists, which found that Trump Tower uses more energy than 93 percent of the city’s large residential buildings. Worse, the Trump Organization's Mayfair condo uses more than 98 percent. The report also revealed that a Kushner Companies' 666 Fifth Avenue (controversial for even more reasons as of late) uses more energy than 85 percent of large office buildings.
See the report here

Policy

April 3, 2017

11 New York-based firms bid to build Trump’s border wall

By Dana Schulz

Despite the fact that Donald Trump received only 18 percent of presidential votes citywide, he's getting a surprising show of NYC support when it comes to his $20 billion border wall. Crain's reports that 11 New York-based firms, including contractors, architects, and "little-known small businesses," have expressed interest in the project, seemingly undeterred by legislation proposed last month that would bar the city from signing contracts with companies involved in the wall. Though some of these applicants support Trump's true intentions, others have taken a more creative approach, using the submission process as a way to support immigration and co-existence.
Hear from four of the applicants about their proposals and stances

Policy

Photo of Rikers Island courtesy of Wikimedia

March 31, 2017

Mayor said to back Rikers closure after panel recommends new smaller jails across the city

By Michelle Cohen

A blue-ribbon commission has recommended that Rikers Island be closed and replaced with several smaller facilities based on a study of the storied jail's future according to the Daily News. The panel, led by former New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, has been studying the the troubled 10-jail facility for more than a year. Mr. Lippman and the Speaker of the City Council, Melissa Mark-Viverito, will officially announce the findings on Sunday. A member of the commission said that recommendations include supervised release of some detainees, new smaller jails across the city and an overhaul of the bail system as part of a transition that would take 10 years to complete. According to a recent New York Times report, Mayor de Blasio has shifted his position on the issue and will be announcing his support for a closure plan, possibly at a news conference Friday.
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Policy

March 31, 2017

NYC may have to compete for Trump Tower security funds

By Devin Gannon

While the President has yet to visit Trump Tower since his inauguration, the price of protecting the First Lady and 10-year-old Barron costs the city an average of $136,000 per day, according to the NYPD. Congress offered only $7 million to reimburse the city for the $24 million the police department said they have spent protecting the building between the period of Trump’s election and his inauguration. However, as Crain’s learned, that payment is not guaranteed, and NYC may have to compete with New Jersey and Florida, both places the president frequents, for the money.
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Policy

March 31, 2017

The richest New Yorkers would benefit the most under Trump’s tax plan

By Devin Gannon

New York’s top elected officials, aware of the political leanings of their constituents, continue to be outspoken in their opposition to President Trump and his administration. As Crain’s reports, City Comptroller Scott Stringer serves as one of New York’s most vocal assailants on Trump, with 50 percent of his press releases written this month attacking the president’s policy proposals. In a report released this week, Stringer analyzed Trump’s proposed federal income tax law and found that it disproportionately benefits the highest-income earners in New York. If adopted, 40 percent of all single parents would see their taxes go up, compared to 90 percent of millionaires who would see a reduction, according to Stringer.
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Policy

March 27, 2017

The cost of exporting trash in NYC is expected to soar

By Devin Gannon

As the population of New York City continues to rise, so does the amount of garbage lining its sidewalks. But getting all this trash out of sight is not an insignificant expense. As the Post reports, a new study by the city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO) has found that the price of exporting trash is swelling and there appears to be little remedy in sight.
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March 24, 2017

432 Park would have generated $30M for affordable housing with de Blasio’s mansion tax

By Devin Gannon

Outside of 432 Park Avenue, Mayor de Blasio held a press conference on Thursday to discuss his mansion tax. The proposal calls for a 2.5 percent surcharge on sales of city homes valued at $2 million or more, which would in turn fund affordable housing for 25,000 senior citizens. De Blasio fittingly positioned himself outside 432 Park because, according to the city, if the proposed tax had been passed, this residence alone would have generated $30.2 million since 2015 in support of housing for low-income seniors. "And that would have been based--and this is stunning to me--on the sale of just 62 condominiums. But it would have meant enough money to subsidize affordable housing for 2,000 seniors," he said.
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Policy

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