Policy

De Blasio releases city’s plan to close Rikers, claims it ‘will not be easy’

Photo of Rikers Island courtesy of Wikimedia

June 22, 2017

De Blasio releases city’s plan to close Rikers, claims it ‘will not be easy’

By Devin Gannon

In April, Mayor de Blasio announced his support of closing the jail complex on Rikers Island after protests and calls from activists and public officials. In a proposal released Thursday, the mayor says closing Rikers will take at least ten years and will require a big decline in the number of inmates there, a drop in crime rates and significant funding. As the New York Times reported, according to the city’s 51-page report, in order to close Rikers within a decade, the population at the complex needs to drop to 5,000. Currently, the daily population is about 9,400, much lower than the average of 20,000 inmates the prison held during the 1990s.
Find out more

Policy

Top architects and engineers present solutions for NYC’s soon-to-explode population

June 21, 2017

Top architects and engineers present solutions for NYC’s soon-to-explode population

By Devin Gannon

As more and more people move to the Big Apple, the city is running out of room to house all of them. According to Mark Ginsberg of Curtis & Ginsberg Architects, even if the city were developed to the maximum capacity legally allowed, this would still only be enough room to house 9.5 million New Yorkers. Building up every square foot that has been zoned for development is impossible and the city’s population is projected to pass 9 million by 2040. At a real estate conference hosted by Crain’s last week architects from five different firms laid out their plan to serve the city’s swelling population and each focused on a specific borough.
See the proposals

LIRR will offer discounted fares for riders using Atlantic Terminal and Hunters Point Avenue

June 21, 2017

LIRR will offer discounted fares for riders using Atlantic Terminal and Hunters Point Avenue

By Devin Gannon

This week, Governor Cuomo called on the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to provide Long Island Rail Road riders a discounted fare for “enduring the inconvenience of a disrupted commute.” In response, the MTA said on Tuesday that the LIRR will offer fare discounts to commuters during Penn Station’s major repairs set to begin this July. The discount will average roughly 25 percent for those traveling to Atlantic Terminal in Brooklyn and Hunters Point Avenue in Queens. Plus, according to Crain’s, commuters will receive free morning rush hour subway transfers from those two stations. Starting this week, discounted monthly tickets can be purchased at station vending machines.
Find out more

Politicians push for Brooklyn’s General Lee Avenue to be renamed

General Lee Avenue and Robert E. Lee’s former home on Fort Hamilton, via Jeremy Bender/Business Insider

June 20, 2017

Politicians push for Brooklyn’s General Lee Avenue to be renamed

When four Confederate statues were removed in New Orleans last month, many sided with Mayor Mitch Landrieu's plan, but others felt it was an attempt to erase history. Nevertheless, the monuments all came down, prompting national elected officials to take notice--even here in NYC. As 6sqft previously explained, there exists a General Lee Avenue and a Stonewall Jackson Drive in Brooklyn's Fort Hamilton, the city's last remaining active-duty military base, and a group of local politicians has sent a letter to Army Secretary Robert Speer asking that they both be renamed, with Colin Powell and Harriet Tubman suggested as possible replacements (h/t Gothamist).
Get the full story

MTA dismisses idea to extend G train into Manhattan during L train shutdown

June 20, 2017

MTA dismisses idea to extend G train into Manhattan during L train shutdown

By Devin Gannon

Republican mayoral candidate, Paul Massey, unveiled a transit infrastructure plan Monday, that included an idea to create a G train loop that would travel to Manhattan to help commuters during the 15 month-L train shutdown next year. Although little details have been revealed, his plan would presumably travel through Midtown on the F train route, loop back into Queens on routes used by the M and R train and then reconnect with the G at the Court Square stop in Long Island City. While a notable idea, according to Crain’s the MTA looked over Massey’s plan and said its implementation would be impossible.
Find out more

City scales back storm-protection project in Red Hook

June 16, 2017

City scales back storm-protection project in Red Hook

By Devin Gannon

Flooding during Hurricane Sandy left many residents of Red Hook without basic services for weeks. While many had hoped the city’s $100 million initiative would help protect the Brooklyn waterfront neighborhood from a 100-year flood event, a new feasibility study shows the plan would actually only protect it from a 10-year flood event. As the Wall Street Journal reported, the city plans on scaling back the flood-protection system in Red Hook because of its high costs, and the study revealed a larger project could cost about $300 to $500 million more.
Find out more

Policy

Mayor announces $1.35 billion plan to create 100,000 new jobs with a focus on the city’s middle class

Image via pexels

June 16, 2017

Mayor announces $1.35 billion plan to create 100,000 new jobs with a focus on the city’s middle class

By Michelle Cohen

Mayor Bill de Blasio has announced a plan to add 100,000 new jobs to the city's economy over the next 10 years, particularly positions that pay over $50,000 a year, with the intention of shoring up an increasingly hard-to-maintain middle class lifestyle, the Wall Street Journal reports. The city would contribute more than $1.35 billion toward job creation in already promising job sectors, what the mayor referred to as “good-paying jobs,” that pay or lead to being paid at least $50,000 a year. The mayor said at a news conference Thursday, “the job here is to lift the floor for everyone in this city, to make sure that a middle-class lifestyle really is available to everybody.”
Find out more

Policy

Trump hires family party planner Lynne Patton to run NY housing programs

June 16, 2017

Trump hires family party planner Lynne Patton to run NY housing programs

By Devin Gannon

President Trump appointed family friend Lynne Patton on Wednesday to oversee New York’s federal housing programs, despite her clear lack of housing experience. Patton, who formerly arranged tournaments at Trump’s golf courses and planned Eric Trump’s wedding, will head up the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Region II, which includes New York and New Jersey, and will oversee the distribution of billions of taxpayer dollars. As reported by the Daily News, Patton’s relationship with the Trump family dates back to 2009 when she first began as their event planner.
Find out more

June 15, 2017

City announces $106M plan to keep neighborhoods cool this summer

By Devin Gannon

After a few days of extreme heat, Mayor de Blasio launched a $106 million initiative on Wednesday to protect New Yorkers from the risks of dangerously high temperatures this summer. The Cool Neighborhoods program aims to lessen the effects of the “urban heat island effect,” a problem that occurs in New York City due to its abundance of heat-holding asphalt and concrete and lack of greenery. According to Gothamist, to reduce heat-related health risks and deaths, the city plans on planting more trees on streets and in parks, supporting forest restoration efforts and painting roofs of homes in vulnerable areas with reflective white paints.
Find out more

Architect claims SOM stole his design for One World Trade Center

June 15, 2017

Architect claims SOM stole his design for One World Trade Center

By Devin Gannon

An architect from Georgia sued architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) on Wednesday for allegedly stealing his design for One World Trade Center. Jeehoon Park says the firm has unfairly taken credit for the tower, a design he says he developed in 1999 as a graduate student at the Illinois Institute of Technology, as the New York Post reported. At 1,776 feet high, One World Trade Center, also known as the Freedom Tower, is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere and the sixth tallest in the world.
Find out more

Policy

MTA finally details its plan to deal with Penn Station repairs

Image by Kev Harb via flickr

June 13, 2017

MTA finally details its plan to deal with Penn Station repairs

By Devin Gannon

Image by Kev Harb via flickrWith six weeks of infrastructure repairs at Penn Station beginning in July, the “summer of hell” for commuters is quickly approaching. In response, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has finally announced its plan to deal with Amtrak’s plan to close some of the station’s 21 tracks for renovations. As Crain’s reported, the MTA will shift three nighttime trains to rush hour and add about 36 cars, while also offering transit alternatives like ferry and bus services. The shutdown will force the MTA to cancel or divert 15-weekday trains between 6 a.m. and 10 a.m., affecting nearly 9,600 LIRR morning commuters, set to begin July 10.
Find out more

June 13, 2017

New hotline lets tenants report illegal Airbnb listings

By Devin Gannon

In an attempt to crack down on illegal short-term rentals, Mayor de Blasio’s budget for the fiscal year 2018 allocates $1.6 million to expand the city’s Office of Special Enforcement, the department that inspects and fines landlords who rent entire apartments for fewer than 30 days. Adding to these efforts, an anti-Airbnb coalition made up of public officials and housing organizations/unions created a hotline for New York City tenants to report any illegal rentals, as reported by the Daily News. Beginning today, ShareBetter will start receiving actionable complaints.
Find out more

Policy

Controversy builds over proposed elevated path in Central Park

June 12, 2017

Controversy builds over proposed elevated path in Central Park

By Devin Gannon

Central Park’s Belvedere Castle will undergo major renovations beginning this summer and early fall, to fix the 146-year-old structure’s cracked pavement, leaking roof and plumbing issues. While the plan to give the castle a face-lift was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission last month, the plan to make its path handicap-accessible has not yet been approved. According to the New York Times, preservationists are concerned about the Central Park Conservancy’s proposal to build a ramp-like elevated walkway to the castle’s entrance, saying it would alter the experience of Central Park.
Find out more

Despite recent concerns, Transport Workers Union endorses BQX streetcar

June 12, 2017

Despite recent concerns, Transport Workers Union endorses BQX streetcar

When a leaked memo about the Brooklyn Queens Connector (BQX) surfaced a couple months ago, it painted a less-than-optimistic picture of the proposed $2.5 billion streetcar due to major construction challenges and doubts that Mayor de Blasio's plan to self-fund the project through taxes from higher real estate values would pan out. Despite these concerns, however, the Transport Workers Union Local 100 endorsed the 16-mile streetcar project today, according to a press release from Friends of the Brooklyn Queens Connector.
All the info right this way

Proposed state Senate bill would ban brokers from using ‘SoHa’ in listings

June 9, 2017

Proposed state Senate bill would ban brokers from using ‘SoHa’ in listings

By Devin Gannon

As real estate developers and brokers continue rebranding neighborhoods with new nicknames, some community members fear this gentrifies and strips the history away from their nabes. Like NoLo (SoHo + Nolita + Lower East Side) and DoBro (Downtown Brooklyn) before it, SoHa, the new branding moniker for South Harlem, has been met with resistance from residents. According to Crain’s, newly elected state Senator Brian Benjamin, a native of Harlem, talked with so many residents that opposed the term SoHa, he has introduced a bill banning people, specifically brokers, from using the nickname as a marketing tool.
Find out more

De Blasio denies funding half-priced MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers

Image by Ged Carroll via flickr CC

June 8, 2017

De Blasio denies funding half-priced MetroCards for low-income New Yorkers

By Devin Gannon

Despite months of lobbying efforts by transit advocates and public officials, Mayor de Blasio declined to fund a $50 million program for half-price MetroCards for low-income riders. The mayor has previously said the city could not afford the pilot program, and also shifted the responsibility for funding the program to the state, since Governor Cuomo oversees the MTA. As the Gothamist reported, a study released by the Community Service Society of New York and the Riders Alliance, the NYPD arrested 5,137 New Yorkers for fare evasion between January and mid-March of this year, 90 percent of whom were black or Latino.
Find out more

City Planning Commission officially approves Midtown East Rezoning

Conceptual image depicting all of the proposed sites of the East Midtown rezoning fully built out, via CityRealty

June 7, 2017

City Planning Commission officially approves Midtown East Rezoning

By Devin Gannon

The City Planning Commission unanimously approved the long-awaited rezoning plan for Midtown East on Wednesday, which will rezone 78 blocks in hopes of modernizing the neighborhood. The plan, which was released last August, follows Mayor Bloomberg’s failed attempt to rezone the area in 2013. According to the Real Deal, the proposal would create 6.5 million square feet of new office space over the next twenty years. This would potentially encourage taller and more modern office towers, attracting more commercial and corporate tenants.
Find out more

Policy

The MTA considers a ‘car-free busway’ as L-train alternative

L train via Wiki Commons

June 7, 2017

The MTA considers a ‘car-free busway’ as L-train alternative

By Devin Gannon

L train via Wiki Commons To mitigate the nightmare commuters will face during the 15-month L-train shutdown, the MTA and the Department of Transportation presented four possible alternatives that would make a portion of 14th Street a car-free busway. Streetsblog NYC reported that during a Manhattan Community Board 6 meeting on Monday, the agencies laid out the following options: a standard Select Bus Service (SBS) along 14th Street, enhanced SBS that includes turn and curb restrictions, a car-free busway in the middle lanes along 14th and a river-to-river car-free busway. Agency officials predict between 75 and 85 percent of the daily 275,000 daily L riders will use other subway lines, with bus service possibly absorbing between 5-15 percent of displaced trips.
Find out more

Join the New York Times Cities for Tomorrow conference, July 10-11!

June 7, 2017

Join the New York Times Cities for Tomorrow conference, July 10-11!

How do the greatest cities succeed? Find out on July 10–11 when The New York Times convenes the world’s foremost industry experts, policymakers, developers, creative visionaries, entrepreneurs and others at Cities for Tomorrow, the must-attend event for leaders who are shaping the urban environments of the future. 6sqft readers will receive a special 20% discount for the conference.
full details here

An NYU project hopes to virtually track 10,000 New Yorkers for 20 years

June 5, 2017

An NYU project hopes to virtually track 10,000 New Yorkers for 20 years

By Devin Gannon

Beginning this fall, a research project led by a neuroeconomic professor from New York University will follow 10,000 New Yorkers for two decades in hopes of understanding the future of big data and human decision making. The Human Project, developed by Paul Glimcher, will gather a ton of data from residents, including medical records, diet, credit card transactions, social interactions, sleep, educational achievement, blood work, stool and urine samples and even more. As the New York Times reported, the goal is to create an atlas of the entire human experience. With a $15 million budget, the project hopes to start making some findings by 2020.
Find out more

Waterfront Alliance’s ‘Harbor Scorecard’ says if your NYC neighborhood is at risk for severe flooding

June 2, 2017

Waterfront Alliance’s ‘Harbor Scorecard’ says if your NYC neighborhood is at risk for severe flooding

By Devin Gannon

This week marked the beginning of hurricane season and experts predict storms will be worse than usual, especially following President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate accord on Thursday. To better inform New Yorkers about the risks of rising sea level and storm surges, the Waterfront Alliance, a nonprofit that works to protect waterfronts, released a Harbor Scorecard, as reported by the Brooklyn Eagle. The interactive scorecard lets users view each neighborhood by its waterfront safety and coastal resiliency. The group found that more than 400,000 New Yorkers face a 50 percent risk of a major flood by 2060.
Find out more

Policy

U.S. officials argue 650 Fifth Avenue is a secret front for the Iranian government

Image via Google Street View

June 2, 2017

U.S. officials argue 650 Fifth Avenue is a secret front for the Iranian government

By Devin Gannon

Image via Google Street View For the past few years, the federal government has claimed that the tower at 650 Fifth Avenue, owned by nonprofit the Alavi Foundation, is controlled by the Iranian government, which would violate U.S. sanctions. Since the court decision that allowed the government to seize the 36-story building was overruled last year, a trial has kicked off again this week to determine if the organization was funneling money to Iran. As reported by amNY, the government must prove the office tower, worth just under $1 billion, is a front for the Iranian government and will do so using emails, letters and journal entries from an Alavi board member.
Find out more

Policy

Despite revised capital plan, MTA does not increase spending for subway improvements

May 25, 2017

Despite revised capital plan, MTA does not increase spending for subway improvements

By Devin Gannon

While just a few days ago Governor Cuomo announced his “aggressive” action plan to combat the chronic problems of the city’s subway service, the MTA’s new version of its capital plan released Wednesday shows barely any increase in spending for system improvements. As the New York Times reported, the agency increased its current five-year capital plan from $29.5 billion to $32.5 billion, adding $1.6 billion in debt. However, instead of allocating funds for subway service improvements, spending instead will go towards projects seen as priorities for Cuomo, like electronic tolling at bridges and the next phase of the Second Avenue Subway.
Find out more

‘Sounds of New York’ uses city noise to improve your focus

May 24, 2017

‘Sounds of New York’ uses city noise to improve your focus

By Devin Gannon

As a tribute to New York City, Breather, a company with rentable workplaces worldwide, developed a website that lets you listen to the sounds of different city neighborhoods and iconic Big Apple locations. Called Sounds of New York, ambient noises play in the background to help workers concentrate on their daily tasks. Enhance your productivity by listening to the atmospheric sounds of the Strand bookstore, McSorley’s Ale House, Zabar's, the Comedy Cellar, the Oculus, or Harlem’s Apollo Theater all from the comfort of your office.
Find out more

92
93
94
95
96