Policy

MTA hires Toronto’s Andy Byford to fix growing subway woes

Photo via Wikipedia

November 22, 2017

MTA hires Toronto’s Andy Byford to fix growing subway woes

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After a wide-ranging investigation by the New York Times into the failures of the New York City subway system, the MTA is trying to step up its game, announcing that Andy Byford will become the next president of New York City Transit, the MTA agency responsible for subways, buses, para-transit services, and the Staten Island Railway. (Talk about pressure.) Byford, however, has a good track record after five years of reducing delays, improving rider satisfaction, and modernizing the Toronto Transit Commission. The MTA's plan, according to the Times, is to change up leadership to "restore accountability and change a culture that for years has left the system lacking adequate funding or support." But they're already dealing with a high rate of turnover, as this will mark the agency’s fifth full-time leader in the past ten years.
He still faces massive challenges
Number of tourists visiting NYC hits record high despite drop in international visitors

Photo via pixabay

November 20, 2017

Number of tourists visiting NYC hits record high despite drop in international visitors

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New estimates from the city’s tourism promotion agency, NYC & Company, show that the number of visitors to New York City will increase again this year, making 2017 the eighth straight year of record-high tourism. As the New York Times reported, the city will take in 61.8 million visitors this year, an increase from 60.5 million visitors in 2016. However, the agency does expect the first drop in international visitors to the city since 2009, due to President Donald Trump’s “America First” rhetoric and his revised restricted travel ban on six Muslim-majority countries.
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New York lawmakers have underinvested in the subway system for decades, report finds

Image © 6sqft

November 20, 2017

New York lawmakers have underinvested in the subway system for decades, report finds

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The crumbling of New York City’s subway system didn’t happen overnight. According to an investigation by the New York Times, the system’s current problems stem from nearly three decades of underinvestment by transit officials and elected politicians, who, despite its aging signals and equipment, have actually directed funding away from much-needed repairs. Now, New York’s subway has the worst on-time performance of any major rapid transit system in the world when looking at the data of the 20 biggest systems. Only 65 percent of weekday trains reach their destinations on time, the lowest rate since the transit crisis of the 1970s.
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Plan for LaGuardia AirTrain inches forward with $55M lift from Port Authority

Rendering of LaGuardia Airport via Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office

November 17, 2017

Plan for LaGuardia AirTrain inches forward with $55M lift from Port Authority

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The Port Authority on Thursday approved $55 million in funding for the second phase of planning for an AirTrain to LaGuardia airport, a project first announced nearly three years ago. The authority previously allocated $20 million for the AirTrain which would run between Mets-Willets Point and the airport, one part of Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to revamp LaGuardia. According to the Daily News, the total $75 million will go towards technical planning, design work and developing an environmental impact report. Despite this new investment, the AirTrain still has no final cost estimate or a completed study, but previous estimates price the project at $1 billion. 
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Framlab proposes 3D-printed modular microneighborhoods to shelter NYC’s homeless

Image: Framlab

November 16, 2017

Framlab proposes 3D-printed modular microneighborhoods to shelter NYC’s homeless

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The growing population of homeless New Yorkers is sending creative agency Framlab up a wall–literally. The Oslo- and New York City-based agency has proposed a way to provide shelter for the city's homeless in an arrangement of 3D-printed micro-neighborhoods comprised of hexagonal modules designed to attach to a scaffold structure, creating a second layer of properties, basically, alongside a building's empty wall (h/t designboom). In the project, called "Homed," the modular pods can be clustered together, creating a "cellular mosaic" with their fronts facing the street.
Way better than giant ads
City Planning gives the go ahead for controversial 800-foot Sutton Place tower

The original rendering of 3 Sutton Place by Foster + Partners

November 16, 2017

City Planning gives the go ahead for controversial 800-foot Sutton Place tower

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The City Planning Commission approved a resident-proposed plan to curb the development of supertall, skinny towers in Sutton Place on Wednesday, capping the height of future buildings. However, because of a clause inserted by the commission, projects already under construction will be grandfathered into the current zoning rules. This comes as good news for Gamma Real Estate, the developer currently constructing an 800-foot-tall residential tower, now called Sutton 58, at 3 Sutton Place. Gamma needs to finish the foundation planned for their luxury condominium tower before the city votes on the rezoning proposal, to be immune from new height restrictions (h/t Crain's).
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De Blasio’s affordable housing ‘road map’ includes tiny homes and micro-units

Image: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

November 15, 2017

De Blasio’s affordable housing ‘road map’ includes tiny homes and micro-units

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Calling it "Housing New York 2.0," Mayor Bill de Blasio has just released a new road map to his goal of building and preserving 300,000 affordable New York City homes–100,000 more than his previous pledge. The plan accelerates and expands the production of new housing, fights tenant displacement, creates more housing for seniors and working families and provides new home ownership tools. Among the more technologically advanced strategies outlined are plans to use innovative smaller homes on vacant lots that are too small for traditional housing and the expansion of modular buildings and micro-units.
Mitchell-Lama, vacant lots, modular building and micro-units, this way
Luxury condos may be off the table at Crown Heights armory after City Council hearing

Rendering of the Bedford Courts development planned for the Bedford-Union Armory; image: BFC Partners/Bedford Courts

November 15, 2017

Luxury condos may be off the table at Crown Heights armory after City Council hearing

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Amid growing opposition, the proposed Crown Heights Bedford-Union Armory redevelopment project began its evaluation by the City Council at a hearing Tuesday on land use applications filed by the Economic Development Corporation (EDC), amNewYork reports. The massive armory, once housing for the National Guard, became city property in 2013. The EDC plans to sell the property to developer BFC Partners for the creation of 56 condos, of which 20 percent would be income restricted. The remaining market rate condos would help pay for the rest of the project, which would be leased by BFC Partners and would include 330 rentals (165 affordable), office space and a recreation center. Critics say the city is setting a dangerous precedent by leasing public land for private use, especially when market-rate condos are included. The de Blasio administration has championed the recreation center and housing, but the plan has has come under fire by neighborhood advocacy groups and has had an uphill battle in achieving the City Council approval it needs.
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LPC approves Roman Abramovich’s revised Upper East Side mega-mansion proposal

Image: Landmarks Preservation Commission

November 14, 2017

LPC approves Roman Abramovich’s revised Upper East Side mega-mansion proposal

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Shortly after Roman Abramovich added a fourth Upper East Side townhouse to his now-$96-million assemblage on East 75th Street, the Russian billionaire's three-house, 18,000-square-foot mega-mansion plans changed ever so slightly, with renovation efforts to be concentrated on numbers 9, 11 and 13, leaving number 15 out of the running for the mega-combo. As 6sqft previously reported, the steel magnate and owner of the Chelsea Football Club has been working with architect Steven Wang with big-name firm Herzog & de Meuron as a design consultant. The first proposal for the project, “an 18,255-square-foot mansion with a six-foot front yard, 30-foot backyard, and pool in the cellar" was rejected by the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the DOB in April 2016, but a revised plan was approved two months later. Tweaked again to include the new property, the revised plan has been officially approved on Tuesday by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
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Anable Basin proposal envisions a massive mixed-use district along the Long Island City waterfront

Rendering courtesy of WXY architecture + urban design

November 14, 2017

Anable Basin proposal envisions a massive mixed-use district along the Long Island City waterfront

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The plastics company, Plaxall, announced on Tuesday a massive rezoning proposal to allow for a mixed-use district in Anable Basin, the area surrounding a 149-year-old inlet located in Long Island City. Since founding the company more than 70 years ago, the Plaxall family has purchased and rehabilitated properties in the neighborhood and currently manages over one million square feet of space. Achieved through rezoning, the proposal calls for 335,000 square feet for industrial uses, 4,955 housing units with 25 percent of them affordable, a 700+ seat public school and a new, elevated promenade. If the rezoning is approved, construction is anticipated to begin in 2020 with a completion date in 2034, but no official timeline has been set.
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Amid decline in ridership, MTA boosts service on six train lines

The 7-train will be getting the biggest boost in service this spring, photo via Wikimedia

November 14, 2017

Amid decline in ridership, MTA boosts service on six train lines

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In an attempt to increase subway ridership, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority next spring will add trains to six lines: the 2, 3, 7, N, W, and Q trains. The boost in service comes after data released by the MTA revealed that riders are opting for alternative transportation, like Uber, Lyft or Citibike, instead of dealing with the often delayed and disrupted subways and buses. According to amNY, the additional trains, which will cost the MTA $5 million annually, will run on nights and weekends, times when the authority believes demand is not being effectively met.
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Second phase of Penn Station track work will not bring a winter of hell

Amtrak workers setting concrete on track 10 at Penn Station this summer, image via Amtrak

November 14, 2017

Second phase of Penn Station track work will not bring a winter of hell

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Amtrak announced on Monday its plan for the second phase of track renewal projects for Penn Station, set to begin this winter. Between January 5 and May 28 of next year, there will be continuous single-track closures, affecting Amtrak and commuter train operation at the Midtown transit hub. While similar to the infrastructure repairs that took place for eight weeks this past June, dubbed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as the “summer of hell,” the impact will be less severe for commuters and most of the work will take place on the weekends.
More here
Brooklyn Queens Connector unveils first streetcar prototype

Photo courtesy of Friends of the BQX

November 13, 2017

Brooklyn Queens Connector unveils first streetcar prototype

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A group of public officials and advocates joined the Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX) today to unveil the inaugural prototype of the streetcar proposed to run between Astoria and Sunset Park. First backed by Mayor Bill de Blasio in February 2016, the BQX project, expected to cost $2.5 billion, would connect Brooklyn and Queens along the East River. Despite significant setbacks, including a bleak assessment about the finances and logistics of the project from Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen in April, BQX supporters are urging the de Blasio administration to make the project a priority during his second term.
See the streetcar
MTA’s new cardless fare system could benefit low-income New Yorkers

Image via WNYC

November 13, 2017

MTA’s new cardless fare system could benefit low-income New Yorkers

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Not only would the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s new electronic fare payment system make commuting more efficient, it might also save money for low-income straphangers. According to amNY, advocates and experts say the new “contactless” technology could make the system more equitable through a policy called fare capping: riders pay per ride until the daily or weekly capping rates are reached, with every ride being free after that.
Find out how it works
Sign up to testify at city hearings about controversial monuments

Photo via Public Domain

November 10, 2017

Sign up to testify at city hearings about controversial monuments

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The commission created by Mayor Bill de Blasio to review possible "symbols of hate" on city property will hold a series of public hearings this month to get feedback from New Yorkers about controversial monuments. In August, the mayor created the Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments and Markers, a group tasked with a 90-day review of all potentially offensive symbols, following the white supremacist-led violence in Charlottesville, V.A. Two months later, the city launched an online survey as a way for the public to weigh in on the issue. To get further input on this controversial issue, the commission will hold public hearings in every borough throughout this month, allowing residents to testify at them (h/t NY Daily News).
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Flying Ubers coming in 2023 after NASA partnership

A recently-released rendering of what Uber’s flying taxi, to begin testing in 2020, might look like. (Credit: Uber Technologies via AM New York).

November 9, 2017

Flying Ubers coming in 2023 after NASA partnership

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6sqft reported recently on testing of the CityAirbus self-piloted flying taxi by Airbus. There's already competition ahead, it seems: Uber reported Wednesday that the company is joining the U.S. National Aeronautical and Space Administration (NASA) in the development of software for managing flying taxi routes–essentially "flying Ubers." In what represents the first formal services contract by NASA dealing with low-altitude airspace, Uber plans to begin testing proposed four-passenger, 200-miles-per-hour flying taxi services in Dallas/Fort Worth, with more testing planned for Los Angeles in 2020 in advance of the 2028 Olympics.
So when can I call one?
MAP: Explore the women’s suffrage movement through the lens of NYC landmarks
November 8, 2017

MAP: Explore the women’s suffrage movement through the lens of NYC landmarks

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To commemorate the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote in New York State, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission released an interactive story map that highlights places where suffragists lived and worked in New York City. The map, called NYC Landmarks and the Vote at 100, designates 43 sites associated with impactful activists, organizations, and institutions. Explore significant sites like the Cooper Union, the Panhellenic Tower, the New School for Social Research and much more, while learning about their role in the suffrage movement.
Explore the map here
DXA Studio proposes prismatic glass addition for Willem de Kooning’s former Union Square home
November 8, 2017

DXA Studio proposes prismatic glass addition for Willem de Kooning’s former Union Square home

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Just a week after the pair of buildings at 827-831 Broadway was landmarked, not only for their cast-iron architecture but for their long cultural history that most notably includes serving as home to world-famous artist Willem de Kooning, the developer/owner has put forth a proposal for a four-story prismatic glass addition and landscaped roof terrace. Though the architects at DXA Studio say the modern topper's reflectivity is representative of two phases of de Kooning's work--his 1960s rural and pastoral landscapes as seen through the reflection of surrounding plantings and his late 1950s urban landscapes through the building reflections--local groups are not so convinced.
All the details ahead
StuyTown will be Manhattan’s largest solar power producer after $10M rooftop panel investment
November 8, 2017

StuyTown will be Manhattan’s largest solar power producer after $10M rooftop panel investment

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The new owners of the massive East Village residential complex now known as StuyTown plan to spend over $10 million to install 10,000 solar panels on 56 buildings in the complex, the Wall Street Journal reports. Blackstone Group and Canadian investment firm Ivanhoé Cambridge bought the storied complex for $5.3 billion in October 2015. As 6sqft previously reported, the solar investment is part of an effort by Blackstone, one of the world's largest private equity firms, to generate energy cost savings in its global commercial real estate portfolio. The panels will provide enough power for about 1,000 apartments each year–about nine percent of the units in the 80-acre complex–which Blackstone says will triple Manhattan's solar power generating capacity and make it the largest private multifamily solar installation in the U.S.
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Parks Department approves Central Park’s first monument to historic females
November 6, 2017

Parks Department approves Central Park’s first monument to historic females

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On the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote in New York state, the NYC Department of Parks and Recreation will make an announcement today that it's moving ahead with a proposal to erect a monument to Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony in Central Park. First reported by West Side Rag, the statue of the two suffragists will be Central Park's first monument to historic women and only the sixth in the entire city. It will be placed on the mall, which runs from 66th to 72nd Streets in the middle of the park, and will be unveiled on another important date--the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote nationally on August 26, 2020.
Get the full story
Mayor de Blasio doubles planned senior housing to 30,000 affordable apartments

Photo via NYC.GOV

November 1, 2017

Mayor de Blasio doubles planned senior housing to 30,000 affordable apartments

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Mayor de Blasio announced yesterday a new housing program, "Seniors First," that aims to double the city's commitment to senior housing over the mayor's extended 12-year Housing New York plan, with the goal of serving 30,000 senior households by 2026. This isn't the first time de Blasio has turned his focus to the affordable housing challenges for seniors; earlier this year he announced plans for two initiatives, including an Elder Rent Assistance program that would provide 25,000 seniors with monthly rental assistance of up to $1,300. And jumping on the bandwagon, too, are private developers. The Wall Street Journal reports that a Florida-based private-equity firm purchased a high-profile Brooklyn Heights apartment building--previously belonging to the Jehovah’s Witnesses--for about $200 million with plans to convert it into luxury senior housing.
Read more about the plans
Mayor de Blasio announces new $250M program to keep Mitchell-Lama developments affordable
October 27, 2017

Mayor de Blasio announces new $250M program to keep Mitchell-Lama developments affordable

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Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Thursday that the city will invest $250 million to protect 15,000 Mitchell-Lama apartments from going to market rate. The investment is part of the city's initiative to create or preserve 300,000 units of affordable housing by 2026. The new program will address over 15,000 Mitchell-Lama homes where affordability is at risk over the next eight years.
Find out more
Barry Diller’s Pier 55 offshore park plan is back on with backing from Cuomo

Photo: Pier 55, Inc./Heatherwick Studio.

October 26, 2017

Barry Diller’s Pier 55 offshore park plan is back on with backing from Cuomo

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In September, 6sqft reported that billionaire IAC Chairman Barry Diller was giving up on the $250 million project that promised to bring a futuristic offshore park and cultural destination to the Hudson River’s dilapidated Pier 54. Since its beginnings in 2014, the seemingly ill-fated project, known as Pier 55 (or sometimes “Diller Park”), was beleaguered by opposing factions–eventually revealed to be funded by prominent New York real estate developer Douglas Durst–that blocked its progress at every turn. Diller, who had imagined the project as a new Manhattan waterfront icon to rival the nearby High Line, had had enough. In a cautiously optimistic turnaround, it was announced Wednesday that the media mogul–now backed by his recent legal foes and Durst in addition to Governor Andrew Cuomo–was renewing his commitment to move ahead with the project, according to Crain's. Diller said in a statement, "I have had countless people tell me how much they were looking forward to having this new pier, and how unfortunate were the circumstances of its cancellation."
So what happened?
MTA will test floor-to-ceiling protective barrier on L-train platform

Photo of the L-train via Wikimedia

October 25, 2017

MTA will test floor-to-ceiling protective barrier on L-train platform

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As part of its NYC Subway Action Plan aimed at enhancing the straphanger experience, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will install a floor-to-ceiling screen at the L-train’s Third Avenue station to prevent people from jumping or being pushed onto the tracks. As a pilot program, the new screen doors will be put into place in 2019 during the train’s shutdown and are expected to be ready in 2020 when the L-train resumes service. As the New York Post reported, the authority is still working on a design that could work in different sized-stations in the future.
More ahead
City launches online survey for New Yorkers to weigh in on controversial monuments

Photo via

October 25, 2017

City launches online survey for New Yorkers to weigh in on controversial monuments

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Almost two months after Mayor de Blasio announced the 18-member Mayoral Advisory Commission on City Art, Monuments and Markers, formed to assess controversial statues and public art on city-owned property, his administration has now revealed that they'll be welcoming feedback from all New Yorkers. According to the Daily News, the city has launched an online survey for the public to weigh in on which markers classify as "symbols of hate" and which should be kept, relocated, or altogether removed. In addition, survey participants can suggest if a monument should receive a contextual or educational plaque, as well as suggest ideas for totally new monuments.
More details ahead
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