Policy

2,000 NYCHA Apartments Are Vacant Despite 270,000-Name Waiting List

Photo via Wiki Commons

June 25, 2015

2,000 NYCHA Apartments Are Vacant Despite 270,000-Name Waiting List

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Photo via Wiki Commons For many New Yorkers, public housing is the only affordable way to live in the city, but despite an ever-growing waiting list, thousands of these homes are sitting empty, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal about an audit of NYCHA by Comptroller Scott Stringer. At a release of the findings yesterday at the Raymond V. Ingersoll Houses in Brooklyn, Stringer said: "Even though 270,000 New Yorkers are on the waiting list for housing, desperate to put a roof above their heads, we found that NYCHA is sitting on over 2,000 apartments they identify as vacant." The audit shows that 1,366 apartments are empty awaiting repairs, and 967 are between tenants.
More audit findings ahead
‘Sofa So Good’ Is Finnish Designer Janne Kyttanen’s Latest 3D Printed Piece
June 24, 2015

‘Sofa So Good’ Is Finnish Designer Janne Kyttanen’s Latest 3D Printed Piece

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Finnish designer and conceptual artist Janne Kyttanen first fell in love with 3D printing while studying at Amsterdam's Gerrit Rietveld Academy. After graduating, he soon started imagining a future where products would be scaled down into digital files and people could just download any design they liked. His "Sofa So Good" piece is one of his latest and most intricate 3D printed designs, which joins a wide collection of objects he's created that includes lamps, tables and packaging as well as ping-pong paddles and futuristic shoes.
Learn more about sofa so good
Preservation Groups Push for a Lower East Side Historic District
June 22, 2015

Preservation Groups Push for a Lower East Side Historic District

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Of the city's many rapidly changing neighborhoods, the Lower East Side has for the most part maintained its historic architectural integrity. However, with looming projects like Essex Crossing and a slew of new condos set to rise along the area's most storied drags, the character of the neighborhood is starting to come under threat. As such, the Lo-Down reports that locals are now banding together in full force to curb development, with two neighborhood preservation groups asking the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to designate a Lower East Side Historic District.
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New Report Identifies 700 Miles of Unused Space Under Bridges and Elevated Platforms

Potential sites for the Under the Elevated project, via Design Trust for Public Space

June 19, 2015

New Report Identifies 700 Miles of Unused Space Under Bridges and Elevated Platforms

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The High Line may have revolutionized the adaptive reuse of the space atop elevated platforms, but what about that dead, dark space underneath? A new report from the Design Trust for Public Space in partnership with the Department of Transportation finds that the city has 700 miles of unused space under bridges, highways, and elevated subway tracks, much of which can be "transformed into valuable community assets such as small public parks, retail space and places for manufacturers to set up shop," according to Crain's.
READ MORE
Let’s Introduce Text Walking Lanes for Smartphone Addicts
June 17, 2015

Let’s Introduce Text Walking Lanes for Smartphone Addicts

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You've seen them. You've tried to get around them. You're probably one of them. In a world where there are more mobile phones than people, it's become commonplace to find folks paying more attention to what's on their phones than what's in front of them on the street. These so-called "text-walkers" are often a nuisance to other pedestrians as well as a danger to themselves (and their precious phones). A smart solution to this problem has appeared on the sidewalks of Antwerp, Belgium in the form of  "text walking lanes." These lanes, marked by simple white lines painted onto the sidewalk, designate a separate walking space for people who use their phones while walking.
More on text-walking lanes
Transfixing Spirulina Furniture Produces Free Heat, Light and Food
June 15, 2015

Transfixing Spirulina Furniture Produces Free Heat, Light and Food

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Jacob Douenias and Ethan Frier have been busy brewing up the next trend in green interior decor: spirulina-producing furniture. The cyanobacteria, commonly used for adding protein and nutrients to smoothies and other food, has made its way into the landscape of objects for the home, and here can be seen as the central feature in a spectacular series designed specifically for cultivating the living greens for practical purposes.
Learn more about this brilliant spirulina design
5Pointz Artists Sue Developer for Whitewashing Iconic Graffiti Facade

Photo via Garrett Ziegler/Flickr

June 15, 2015

5Pointz Artists Sue Developer for Whitewashing Iconic Graffiti Facade

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Photo via Garrett Ziegler/Flickr It's been 19 months since the 5Pointz graffiti mecca was secretly whitewashed overnight by the developers who have since razed the site to make way for the two residential towers that will replace it. Then, to pour salt in the wound, this past November G&M Realty announced that they planned to use the iconic 5Pointz name for their new project, infuriating the artists whose work adorned the building and leading them to launch a petition to stop the title. Now, the plot has thickened. Nine graffiti artists filed a lawsuit on Friday "seeking unspecified damages from the owner who whitewashed away their artwork," reports the Daily News. The plaintiffs claim they're owed financial compensation as they were not given the opportunity to retrieve their work, much of which could have ended up in museums or the artists' personal collections. The lost collection amounts to more than 350 graffiti pieces.
More details here
Camera-Equipped Intelligent Oven Knows Exactly How to Cook Your Meal
June 10, 2015

Camera-Equipped Intelligent Oven Knows Exactly How to Cook Your Meal

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Although it may look like a run-of-the-mill toaster oven, don't let its modest appearance deceive you. This little appliance will quickly turn a poor soul who can't fry an egg into a master chef—or something close to one. Invented by Ammunition Group, a team credited with bringing the iPhone, the FitBit, the GoPro, and Lyft to market, the June Intelligent Oven is a revolutionary kitchen appliance that harnesses the power of everything we digital age junkies love: computers, a HD camera, and a Google-like image search system that can determine what we're cooking and how it should be cooked.
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Wake Up to the Smell of a Hot Croissant or Cut Grass with This Olfactory Alarm Clock
June 2, 2015

Wake Up to the Smell of a Hot Croissant or Cut Grass with This Olfactory Alarm Clock

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Caffeine fiends were pretty excited when we featured the Bariseur, a hybrid coffee brewer-alarm clock that wakes you up with a fresh cup of Joe. But what if you're not a coffee drinker or if some mornings you'd prefer to rise with the aroma of the seaside rather than espresso? Don't worry, we've got you covered. SensorWake is a scent-based alarm clock that wakes you up with the aroma of chocolate instead of the sound of a blaring horn. It uses interchangeable scent cartridges that include the aforementioned seaside and chocolate, coffee, of course, hot croissants, peaches, rose, peppermint, and, curiously, dollars, among others. Each cartridge is good for about 60 wake-up calls, and the company claims it will have your eyes open in two minutes. If you're still snoozing in three minutes, a traditional sound-based alarm will go off.
Watch the product video and learn more here
Futuristic Pod Powered by the Wind and Sun–a Viable Housing Solution?
May 27, 2015

Futuristic Pod Powered by the Wind and Sun–a Viable Housing Solution?

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We've featured plenty of live/work and portable prefab spaces on 6sqft in the past, but this tiny house designed by Nice Architects might be one of the most efficient and adaptable housing solutions we've seen. Called the Ecocapsule, the sleek micro-house is a totally off-grid construction that's powered by solar and wind energy. Amazingly, at just 14.6 feet long and 7.4 feet wide, it has the potential to comfortably fit two adults. And on top of that, there's a kitchenette, a toilet, and a shower with hot water.
Find out more here
NYC Households Spend $130 a Month Funding the MTA
May 27, 2015

NYC Households Spend $130 a Month Funding the MTA

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Today's dose of disheartening news about the MTA comes via the Daily News, who reports that the debt-ridden city agency collects $4.8 billion a year from city taxpayers through taxes, fees, and the city budget. This comes out to $130 a month for the average New York household, even more than the cost of a monthly Metrocard, according to a new report by Comptroller Scott Stringer. Keep in mind this is in addition to the $5.3 billion they collect from fares and tolls.
Find out more here
Report Poorly Parked Cars and Bad Drivers with the ‘TowIt’ App
May 26, 2015

Report Poorly Parked Cars and Bad Drivers with the ‘TowIt’ App

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Few things are as enraging and unnerving as the way New Yorkers drive. And although no one wants to be a tattletale, there's finally a way to help better patrol bad drivers right from our smartphones. Called TowIt, this handy app allows concerned citizens to snap photos of motor violations, geo-tag them, and then send them in real-time for ticketing or towing by law enforcement and city officials.
Find out more and where to download the app
NASA-Inspired Green Wheel Lets You Grow Your Own Food Indoors
May 20, 2015

NASA-Inspired Green Wheel Lets You Grow Your Own Food Indoors

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Growing your own food is the first step on the self-sufficiency journey, and it can never hurt learn having fresh food close at hand. But as we New Yorkers know, it's not always easy to create a lush garden on the fire escape. To tackle this subject, Italian studio DesignLibero created The Green Wheel, a rotary, hydroponic garden that provides a constant supply of micro-herbs and salad. Its futuristic aesthetics are sleek and modern; in fact, it takes direct inspiration from a 1980s NASA idea.
Learn more about this wheeled vegetable patch
Four Seasons Renovation Plans Shot Down by Landmarks Preservation Commission

Photo via Le Travelist

May 20, 2015

Four Seasons Renovation Plans Shot Down by Landmarks Preservation Commission

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Aby Rosen's plans to update the Four Seasons has been squashed by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission. According to Crain's, the only upgrade that received a nod from the commission was a request to change the carpet. Bigger renovations, like replacing a non-original fissured glass partition with planters and to replace a fixed walnut panel between the public and private dining rooms with a movable one, were all rejected. "There is no good reason why they should make these changes," said Meenakshi Srinivasan, the commission's chairwoman, Crain's reports. "There's no rationale. The space could function perfectly well without these changes, so why do it?"
Find out more
Community Board Wants Moratorium Placed on Central Park Skyscrapers Taller than 600 Feet
May 19, 2015

Community Board Wants Moratorium Placed on Central Park Skyscrapers Taller than 600 Feet

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Those looking to build a behemoth along Central Park may have to look elsewhere. The Manhattan Community Board Five's Sunshine Task Force has voted in favor of a resolution calling for an immediate, temporary moratorium on any new construction of 600 feet or taller that is not already undergoing public review, particularly with those threatening to cast shadows over Central Park in an area bounded by 53rd Street and Central Park South, and Fifth Avenue to Eighth Avenue. The board voiced their concerns and outlined the ban in a policy brief (via DNA Info) which made its way to the desks of the Department of City Planning and the mayor last week.
FInd out more here
May 19, 2015

Mayor’s Plan to Revamp the City’s Public Housing Addresses Disrepair and Need for Revenue

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Mayor de Blasio is expected to announce today the rollout of a ten-year plan to improve the city's debt-and-disrepair-riddled public housing. According to the New York Times, plan items include–perhaps most notably–the leasing of land within a number of housing complexes to developers; other items include the transference of some New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) employees (and the $90 million a year it costs the agency to pay them) to other city agencies and increased rents as well as higher parking fees for residents.
Find out how the mayor plans to shore up the city's public housing
City Council Announces New Task Force on Tracking and Preserving Affordable Housing

Image by Jorbasa Fotografie / Flickr 

May 14, 2015

City Council Announces New Task Force on Tracking and Preserving Affordable Housing

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City councilman Mark Levine announced Wednesday the creation of the Affordable Housing Preservation Taskforce, which will track existing affordable units across the city on the brink of becoming market rate. The task force is the latest in an effort to address the monumental task of preserving the city's affordable housing. According to Crain's NY, the 14-member task force, which will be led by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, will work with residents, landlords and nonprofits to identify buildings headed toward market rate rent status. Rent regulation, for example, stipulates that rent can only be raised by a certain percentage each year as set by the New York City Rent Guidelines Board.
More on the new task force
Charting the Property Taxes of the City’s 10 Most Expensive Apartments
May 11, 2015

Charting the Property Taxes of the City’s 10 Most Expensive Apartments

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Back in March, we learned that the owner of the $100 million apartment at One57 (the most expensive sale ever in the city) pays only $17,268 in annual property taxes– "or 0.017 percent of its sale price, as if it were worth only $6.5 million," as we noted. "In contrast, the owner of a $1.02 million condo nearby at 224 East 52nd Street is paying $24,279, or 2.38 percent of its sale price." Why does this happen? It's in part due to the 421-a program, which offers tax breaks for the inclusion of affordable housing and "lowers the billable-assessed value of a property to incentivize real-estate development," according to CityLab. It's also thanks to the city's haphazard system for assessing market values of condos and co-ops. In response to this growing issue of inequality, Mayor de Blasio announced just last week that he hopes to end 421-a for condos, as well as implement an even stricter mansion tax. To make the issue a bit more black-and-white, CityLab has put together two charts that show just how disproportionate the actual value of the city's ten most-expensive apartments is compared with their property taxes. As they note, "In NYC, billionaires pay 1/100th the average property-tax rate."
Find out more here
To Increase Affordability, Mayor de Blasio Wants to End 421-a for Condos and Up the Mansion Tax

Mayor de Blasio via @KevinCase via photopin cc; One57 © Wade Zimmerman courtesy of Agence Christian de Portzamparc (ACDP)

May 7, 2015

To Increase Affordability, Mayor de Blasio Wants to End 421-a for Condos and Up the Mansion Tax

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From the onset, Mayor de Blasio has been extremely vocal about his plan to add 200,000 units of affordable housing over 10 years, 80,000 of which will be new construction. Though many feel this is an arbitrary number, backed up by no data as to where the units will be, the Mayor seems committed to reforming current policies to reach his goal. And after months of speculation, he has revealed his planned changes to the city's 421-a tax incentive program, which is set to expire in June. According to the Times, under his proposal, the controversial tax would no longer apply to condo projects (to understand the logic behind this decision just look at the $100 million sale at One57 that received the tax abatement). But it would apply to new rental projects, which would have to have apartments for poor and working-class residents make up 20 to 30 percent of the building in order to qualify for city tax breaks. It would also extend the abatement from 25 years to 35 years. Another part of the overhaul is to eliminate so-called poor doors. De Blasio also wants to up the city's mansion tax. Currently, home sales over $1 million are subject to a 1 percent tax, but de Blasio proposes adding an additional 1 percent tax for sales over $1.75 million, as well as a third 1.5 percent tax for sales over $5 million. He estimates this will bring in an extra $200 million a year in tax revenue, money that would be allocated to affordable housing programs.
More details ahead
Combine Life, Work and Sleep in a 7x7x7-Foot Catch-All Pod
May 7, 2015

Combine Life, Work and Sleep in a 7x7x7-Foot Catch-All Pod

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As New Yorkers we're used to multi-tasking; we eat while we work, we text while we walk, check our e-mail while we brush out teeth. So why not bring all of our urban dweller idiosyncrasies under one very, very small roof? The creation of Yazdani Studio of CannonDesign, this tiny 7x7x7-foot pod is actually a space designed for young entrepreneurs who can't turn it off. But given the habits of most of New York's labor force (yes, you), and the fact most of us are used to squeezing into smaller than average quarters, this petite pod could prove a boon to the work-obsessed—or what finally pushes them over the edge.
Find out more here
Organize Your Music by City with Spotimap
May 7, 2015

Organize Your Music by City with Spotimap

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Next time you really feel like getting in that "New York State of Mind," just organize your playlist to include only NYC-centric songs. This would normally be an arduous task, but thanks to a new Spotify-based mapping program called Spotimap, you can sort and stream music relevant to a specific city simply by clicking on it, marked by a green musical note, on a map. As CityLab reports, once a user clicks a city, a list of songs about that place will pop up based on this highly detailed Wikipedia list. For New York, the map offers 2,707 songs about the city, sorted in alphabetical order.
Find out more here
Landmarks Greenlights 190 Bowery Restoration Plan with Iconic Graffiti Intact
May 6, 2015

Landmarks Greenlights 190 Bowery Restoration Plan with Iconic Graffiti Intact

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After several weeks of back and forth on whether or not the new owner of 190 Bowery, Aby Rosen’s RFR Realty, would keep its iconic graffiti, it's now official that the historic Germania Bank Building will remain in all its tagged glory. As Yimby reports, the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the proposed restoration and conversion to an office building with ground-floor retail. The plan, conceptualized by preservation architecture firm Higgins Quasebarth & Partners with the help of MdeAS Architects, "calls for restoration of metal gates, wooden doors, stained glass, and other elements, but not removing the graffiti or cleaning the façade."
More on the approved plans here
3D-Printed Hawks and Owls Are Scaring Away NYC Pigeons
May 5, 2015

3D-Printed Hawks and Owls Are Scaring Away NYC Pigeons

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Are you in the "rats with wings" camp of not being too fond of New York City pigeons? Well then you'll welcome this modern take on the "pigeon scarecrow." The Observer recently took a look at the 3D-printed hawks and owls from Robox, noting that "they’ve found that pigeons are so frightened by the watchful and intimidating gazes of the 3D printed birds that even the incentive of food isn’t enough to convince stray pigeons to stick around in their presence." But if you happen to be a pigeon lover, have no fear, these little objects are seen as a much better way to curb the spread of diseases from pigeons than traps and repellents.
Find out how you can get your own 3D-printed pigeon scarecrow
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