Policy

NYC announces record $31M in penalties against two Bronx landlords

Streetview of 480 East 188th Street © Google 2022

May 6, 2026

NYC announces record $31M in penalties against two Bronx landlords

New York City secured $31 million in penalties against negligent owners of two Bronx apartment buildings, marking the largest judgment ever obtained by the city. Mayor Zohran Mamdani and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced on Wednesday a record-setting settlement against landlords Karan Singh and Rajmattie Persaud, who own Robert Fulton Terrace and Fordham Towers. After tenants faced years of hazardous conditions, including lack of hot water, rat infestations, and elevator outages, and hundreds of housing code violations, the city sued the owners in 2024, and the properties later entered foreclosure.
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Policy

Bike boulevards planned for Brooklyn’s Bergen and Dean Streets

Mamdani joins the Bergen Bike Bus in Brooklyn on National Bike & Roll to School Day. Photo credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr

May 6, 2026

Bike boulevards planned for Brooklyn’s Bergen and Dean Streets

By Aaron Ginsburg

Mayor Zohran Mamdani took to Brooklyn on two wheels Wednesday to announce plans for 10-mile "bike boulevards" along Bergen and Dean Streets. Joining the Bergen Bike Bus, a weekly caravan of parents and students who bike to school together, Mamdani said the city’s Department of Transportation will redesign the two streets between Court Street and East New York Avenue to prioritize cyclists and pedestrians while maintaining local vehicle access. The multi-phase project is still in its early stages, with DOT beginning public outreach through an online feedback portal as it develops design plans expected to be released later this year.
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PATH fare hike takes effect ahead of return of 7-day service

Newark PATH station. Photo courtesy of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Flickr

May 4, 2026

PATH fare hike takes effect ahead of return of 7-day service

By Aaron Ginsburg

The cost to ride PATH trains officially increased from $3 to $3.25 on Monday as part of the system's transformative service upgrades. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey says the fare hike will help fund its $45 billion 2026-2035 Capital Plan, which has modernized the 118-year-old system’s infrastructure and enabled the return of 7-day service on all lines for the first time in 25 years, with additional improvements to come. Fares are expected to rise in 25-cent increments, reaching $4 in 2029. Reduced fare for riders ages 65 and older, as well as those with disabilities, also increased by 10 cents, from $1.50 to $1.60.
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NYC pied-à-terre tax could raise less than Hochul’s $500M estimate, report finds

Credit: Andy on Unsplash

May 1, 2026

NYC pied-à-terre tax could raise less than Hochul’s $500M estimate, report finds

By Aaron Ginsburg

Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposed pied-à-terre tax could generate up to $500 million annually, but multiple variables could affect the final revenue, according to a report released Thursday by New York City Comptroller Mark Levine. Introduced last month, the governor's proposed tax, which would place a surcharge on secondary homes in the five boroughs valued at $5 million and above, could generate nearly $500 million from just over 11,200 properties. The comptroller's analysis examines several factors, including exclusions for rented units and "behavioral responses" to the tax, which could lower the actual revenue to between $340 million and $380 million.
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NYC wants your feedback on Park Avenue redesign

Photo by Leslie Cross via Unsplash

April 29, 2026

NYC wants your feedback on Park Avenue redesign

By Aaron Ginsburg

The proposed redesign of Park Avenue could bring back lush green spaces to the iconic corridor's medians. The city's Department of Transportation (DOT) unveiled two potential plans to overhaul an 11-block stretch from East 46th to East 57th Streets, both of which would widen the medians and remove one traffic lane in each direction to create pedestrian space. Renderings released on Wednesday show expanded sidewalks, additional trees, benches, and bike lanes in one of the proposals. To gain feedback from New Yorkers, DOT released an online survey seeking public feedback for both design concepts.
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With G train shutdown pitched for third straight summer, Brooklyn officials urge MTA to rethink plan

A rally calling on the MTA to limit G train closures was held in Greenpoint. Photo Credit: John McCarten/NYC Council Media Unit on Flickr

April 29, 2026

With G train shutdown pitched for third straight summer, Brooklyn officials urge MTA to rethink plan

By Aaron Ginsburg

As G train riders may face the third straight summer of service disruptions, Brooklyn officials on Tuesday called on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to limit future shutdowns to overnight hours. The agency last week shared plans with local lawmakers to shut down G train service for 10 weekends and overnight on more than two dozen weekdays. Commuters have endured repeated service disruptions in recent years as work to modernize the line’s antiquated signaling system continues to be delayed. Council Member Lincoln Restler and Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso rallied with local businesses in Greenpoint on Tuesday to demand that the MTA find a better plan.
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Electric ‘air taxis’ are traveling between JFK Airport and Manhattan this week

Images courtesy of Joby Aviation

April 27, 2026

Electric ‘air taxis’ are traveling between JFK Airport and Manhattan this week

By Aaron Ginsburg

New York City’s airspace, one of the nation’s busiest, is getting a new addition: electric flying taxis between John F. Kennedy International Airport and Manhattan. Joby Aviation on Monday announced the completion of the first point-to-point trip of its electric air taxi, developed as part of a federal program aimed at accelerating the introduction of air taxis into U.S. airspace, according to Bloomberg. Starting this week, the test flights, meant to demonstrate the zero-emission, ultra-quiet vehicle, will include human pilots but no passengers, running between JFK and Manhattan destinations at West 30th Street and East 34th Street, as well as the downtown heliport.
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Council proposes construction code updates to build 35,000 new homes on thousands of small lots across NYC

The project “System for Narrow Living” by Only If Architecture was a finalist in the city’s 2019 competition “Big Ideas for Small Lots.” The design calls for a 4,900-square-foot building with seven units.

April 27, 2026

Council proposes construction code updates to build 35,000 new homes on thousands of small lots across NYC

By Aaron Ginsburg

The New York City Council is advancing reforms that could unlock up to 35,000 new homes on small and oddly-shaped lots across the five boroughs. During an American Institute of Architects (AIA) luncheon on Friday, Council Speaker Julie Menin proposed changes to the city’s construction codes that would allow for new housing on roughly 3,000 tiny, underutilized lots without requiring lengthy zoning approvals. Menin also announced the creation of a new panel, the Council Advisory Group on Housing Affordability, to help guide the Council's policies addressing the city’s housing crisis.
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Work on Madison Avenue bus lane redesign begins

Credit: NYC DOT

April 24, 2026

Work on Madison Avenue bus lane redesign begins

By Aaron Ginsburg

Work finally began this week on long-delayed dedicated bus lanes along a congested stretch of Madison Avenue. On Friday, the city's Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Mike Flynn announced that work has started on extending double bus lanes along the avenue from 23rd to 42nd Streets, a project aimed at improving commutes for about 92,000 daily riders who often deal with bus speeds as low as 4.5 miles per hour. The agency expects the project to be finished over the next several weeks.
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Mamdani creates NYC’s first office to prevent deed theft

Mayor Mamdani and Council Member Ossé. Photo by Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr

April 24, 2026

Mamdani creates NYC’s first office to prevent deed theft

By Devin Gannon

Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday announced the creation of the city's first-ever Office of Deed Theft Prevention to crack down on scammers who take ownership of homes through fraud and deception. The new office comes just days after Council Member Chi Ossé was arrested after defending a Bed-Stuy homeowner facing eviction from a brownstone she has called home for six decades.
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Policy

April 23, 2026

Judge halts plan to move men’s homeless intake shelter to East Village after lawsuit

By Aaron Ginsburg

A state judge has paused Mayor Zohran Mamdani's plan to relocate a men's homeless intake shelter from the shuttered Bellevue facility in Kips Bay to the East Village after residents filed a lawsuit. Judge Sabrina Kraus issued the order on Wednesday, blocking the city from opening the intake center at 8 East Third Street on May 1 as originally planned and setting a May 7 court date for the administration and plaintiffs. Last month, Mamdani announced plans to close the Bellevue shelter, citing decades of neglect and deteriorating conditions, and to relocate its roughly 250 residents to existing shelters in the East Village.
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Brooklyn’s dangerous Linden Boulevard to get center-running bus lanes, pedestrian islands

Aerial view of Linden Boulevard. All images courtesy of DOT

April 22, 2026

Brooklyn’s dangerous Linden Boulevard to get center-running bus lanes, pedestrian islands

By Aaron Ginsburg

Parts of Brooklyn’s Linden Boulevard, one of the borough’s most dangerous corridors, will be redesigned with center-running bus lanes and other safety upgrades by 2027. Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday announced that the city's Department of Transportation (DOT) will begin installing the lanes later this year along the stretch between Fountain and Conduit Avenues in East New York. The changes aim to improve safety along the corridor, which saw more than 440 traffic-related injuries and one death between 2021 and 2025. Those crashes have been linked to the road’s current design, which encourages speeding, forces pedestrians to cross multiple lanes of traffic, and leaves buses stuck behind double-parked cars, according to amNY.
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NYC Council wants a ‘cultural passport,’ more public bathrooms, and Pelé Way for World Cup

Photo courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr

April 20, 2026

NYC Council wants a ‘cultural passport,’ more public bathrooms, and Pelé Way for World Cup

By Devin Gannon

With the 2026 World Cup less than two months away, the New York City Council introduced a package of legislation last week to support local businesses during the nearly six-week tournament, which includes eight games at nearby MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. One of the proposed bills would create a "cultural passport program" to encourage those traveling to New York for the soccer matches to explore local businesses and institutions across the five boroughs; another would make a calendar of events to help visitors find festivals, parties, and cultural corridors tied to the participating teams. The new legislation comes as City Hall has restricted approving permits for large public events during the World Cup, as well as the 250th Anniversary of America on July 4.
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NYC plans to invest $4B from pension funds for affordable housing

New rental building The Ellery at 312 West 43rd Street was financed by the A.F.L-C.I.O Housing Investment Trust, which finances middle-income housing built by union employees. Rendering courtesy of the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development.

April 20, 2026

NYC plans to invest $4B from pension funds for affordable housing

By Aaron Ginsburg

New York City Comptroller Mark Levine plans to invest $4 billion from the city's public pension funds for affordable housing development. Levine on Thursday unveiled the "NYC Housing Investment Initiative," which will more than double the funds' current real estate portfolio and help finance thousands of new homes through mixed-income projects, office-to-residential conversions, and renovations, as first reported by the New York Times. The plan calls for roughly $1 billion in annual pension investments over the next four years.
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NYC announces 6 more districts to fully containerize trash by end of 2027

Photo Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr

April 17, 2026

NYC announces 6 more districts to fully containerize trash by end of 2027

By Aaron Ginsburg

New York City is expanding its trash containerization program, selecting additional districts in all five boroughs to fully adopt containerized trash collection by the end of next year. Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Friday announced that the city’s Department of Sanitation (DSNY) will deliver at least one fully containerized community district in every borough by the end of 2027, with a target of citywide containerization by 2031. The districts will receive the city’s new Empire Bins, which will be collected by automated side-loading garbage trucks.
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Policy

72nd Street to get crosstown protected bike lane

72nd Street and Columbus before the redesign. Photo © Ondel Hylton

April 17, 2026

72nd Street to get crosstown protected bike lane

By Devin Gannon

The city will install a crosstown protected bike route that runs the entire length of 72nd Street in Manhattan. The Department of Transportation (DOT) this week unveiled plans for a two-way protected bike lane from Riverside Drive to York Avenue, connecting the Upper West Side and Upper East Side through Central Park. The transportation committee of Manhattan Community Board 7 on Tuesday passed a resolution in support of the West 72nd Street redesign, which could begin later this spring. DOT will present plans for the east side of the street to Community Board 8 this fall.
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Trump will release funds for Second Avenue Subway extension

Photo by Shinya Suzuki on Flickr cc

April 17, 2026

Trump will release funds for Second Avenue Subway extension

By Aaron Ginsburg

The Trump administration on Thursday agreed to release nearly $60 million in federal funding for the Second Avenue Subway extension, ending a monthslong dispute that began during October’s government shutdown. According to the New York Times, in a letter filed in Federal Claims Court, a lawyer for the government said the administration would resume payments to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority after the agency sued in March over the withheld funding. The funds were initially held while the U.S. Department of Transportation (U.S. DOT) reviewed the MTA's race- and sex-based contracting requirements, which the agency now says have been satisfied.
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Mamdani proposes city-backed insurance program to cut costs for some NYC landlords

Credit: Jason Hawke CA on Unsplash

April 16, 2026

Mamdani proposes city-backed insurance program to cut costs for some NYC landlords

By Aaron Ginsburg

While Mayor Zohran Mamdani's administration has so far focused on affordability for renters, the mayor announced a plan to help landlords on Thursday. A new program managed by the city will reduce the cost of property and liability insurance for affordable and rent-stabilized housing. As the New York Times reported, the proposal is seen as a peace offering to property owners, whose interests have often been at odds with the administration. According to the city, the self-sustaining program will help address the rising cost of insurance, which has more than tripled since 2017.
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Landmarks approves 8-story cast-iron-inspired rental in Tribeca

(L) Exterior rendering, (R) North facing rendering. Images courtesy of the LPC.

April 15, 2026

Landmarks approves 8-story cast-iron-inspired rental in Tribeca

By Aaron Ginsburg

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to approve the demolition of two mid-20th-century commercial buildings in Tribeca’s historic district to make way for a luxury residential development. Proposed by SilverLining Development, the 8-story project at 31–35 Lispenard Street in the Tribeca East Historic District will feature 19 apartments, likely rentals, as Tribeca Citizen first reported, with a facade inspired by the cast-iron buildings in neighboring Soho. Aden Wiener, founder of SilverLining, said the development will introduce a “new concept of living” to the area, with ground-floor retail and a boutique collection of “highly amenitized” loft residences.
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Hochul proposes pied-à-terre tax on NYC second homes worth over $5M

Photo by Jakub Hałun on Wikimedia

April 15, 2026

Hochul proposes pied-à-terre tax on NYC second homes worth over $5M

By Devin Gannon

Governor Kathy Hochul on Wednesday proposed a yearly tax on non-primary residences in New York City. After resisting calls to tax high-income earners led by progressive leaders like Mayor Zohran Mamdani, the governor is now embracing a surcharge on secondary homes in the five boroughs valued at $5 million and above. Known as pieds-à-terre, these properties are occupied by part-time residents who usually stay there while working or visiting the city. While it's not the first time such a tax has been proposed in recent years, the new push for the surcharge comes as the city deals with a multibillion-dollar budget gap.
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NJ Transit tickets to World Cup matches at MetLife will cost $150

Credit: Peyton Clough on Unsplash

April 15, 2026

NJ Transit tickets to World Cup matches at MetLife will cost $150

By Aaron Ginsburg

With FIFA World Cup ticket prices already high, fans attending matches at MetLife Stadium this summer will face additional costs, as NJ Transit confirms round-trip rail tickets will cost $150. On Friday, the agency released its final transportation plan for the tournament, confirming earlier reports that rail tickets for the 18-mile trip to and from MetLife would cost more than $100. The tickets will go on sale May 13, with only 40,000 available for each match day and no additional tickets to be sold once the initial batch is gone.
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Mamdani announces plans for city-owned grocery store in East Harlem

Photo courtesy of Kara McCurdy | Mayoral Photography Office on Flickr

April 14, 2026

Mamdani announces plans for city-owned grocery store in East Harlem

By Devin Gannon

Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Tuesday announced plans to build a city-owned grocery store in East Harlem, advancing one of his core campaign promises. Located under the Park Avenue Viaduct between 111th and 116th Streets, La Marqueta was opened by Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1936 as one of the city's original public markets. Over the years, the marketplace has struggled and has shrunk its footprint and its number of vendors. As the New York Times first reported, the city plans to spend $30 million to build the store at the site of La Marqueta, which is expected to open by 2029.
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Policy

Trump administration agrees to display Pride flag at Stonewall after lawsuit

Credit: Will Alatriste/NYC Council Media Unit on Flickr

April 14, 2026

Trump administration agrees to display Pride flag at Stonewall after lawsuit

By Aaron Ginsburg

The Pride flag will be displayed permanently at Stonewall National Monument in Greenwich Village after the Trump administration agreed to reverse its decision to remove it. As part of a court settlement reached on Monday, the federal government agreed to reinstall three flags on the monument’s flagpole within a week, according to the Associated Press. Filed by a group of nonprofits after the flag's removal on February 9, the lawsuit argued that the administration illegally targeted LGBTQIA+ people and violated a policy allowing the National Park Service (NPS) to display "non-agency" flags at federal sites when they provide historical context.
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NYC to connect Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park with car-free pedestrian space

Credit: spurekar on Flickr

April 13, 2026

NYC to connect Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park with car-free pedestrian space

By Aaron Ginsburg

New York City wants to close a chaotic street between Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park, connecting the plaza to the 585-acre green space with a new car-free pedestrian space. Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday announced a proposal to remove the four-way crossing next to the Soldiers' and Sailors' Memorial Arch and ban cars from Union Street to Eastern Parkway along the plaza's southern edge. The redesign also includes new bike lanes and bus priority upgrades aimed at improving service on the B41 and B6, two of Brooklyn's busiest routes.
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Even amid NYC’s housing crisis, new affordable units sit vacant for over 14 months

Credit: Martin Robac on Unsplash

April 10, 2026

Even amid NYC’s housing crisis, new affordable units sit vacant for over 14 months

By Aaron Ginsburg

A report released Thursday is calling for reforms to New York City’s leasing process, finding that some affordable housing buildings can take up to 14 months to reach full occupancy due to delays. Published by Enterprise, the report highlights how even amid the city’s housing crisis, newly built affordable units can sit vacant for months as tenants and owners navigate the “lease-up process,” the period between when a building is ready for move-ins and when it reaches capacity. As first reported by The City, the report outlines a series of recommendations, including reforms to CityFHEPS, the city’s Housing Connect lottery system, and streamlining of the homeless placement process.
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