Front page of Applicant Maps website. Image Credit: NYC DCP

The new free self-service map tool increases accessibility for the public and smaller owners and developers. On Thursday, April 11, 2019, the Department of City Planning Director Marisa Lago announced the release of a free, easy to use digital mapping tool that allows the public, smaller property owners and developers to build quality land use maps for their applications to the City Planning Commission for zoning changes. Prior to the release of this tool, creating area maps was a costly venture, and required specialized Geographic Information System software, and the ability to use it.

Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office

The agreement will result in more frequent maintenance services and repairs, benefitting nearly 400,000 NYCHA residents. On April 9, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Teamsters Local 237 President Greg Floyd announced that the City has reached an agreement for a tentative contract with the union for fair wages and work schedules for maintenance workers. The agreement secures fair wages for approximately 1,000 NYCHA maintenance workers and approximately 350 maintenance workers at various other City agencies. The agreement is retroactive and covers a period from December 17, 2017 through January 1, 2022. It is part of the de Blasio administration’s promise to restore a productive relationship with the City’s workforce.

Rendering of proposed new nine-story building at the corner of Brook Avenue and East 156th Street in the Bronx. Image Credit: CPC/Dattner Architects.

The development seeks to activate the streetscape in the area by removing the existing dangerous condition posed by a long-abandoned railroad trench. On March 27, 2019, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on an application by the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and developer Phipps Houses that will bring 54 units of affordable housing to the Melrose neighborhood of the Bronx. The application calls for the disposition of City-owned property, a rezoning, the grant of a special permit and designation of the proposed development site as Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, Option 1. The development site is located at the corner of East 156^th Street and Brook Avenue, across from Via Verde, a relatively recent environmentally-conscious residential complex, also built by Phipps Houses.

Image Credit: Joe Mabel/Wikimedia Commons

The independent, interdisciplinary panel will submit recommendations to be considered in the BQE reconstruction process. On April 3, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the formation of a new expert panel to evaluate reconstruction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) from the Atlantic Avenue interchange and Sands Street. This section of the BQE spans 1.5 miles and is among the most complex highway structures in the country. It is part of Interstate 278, an inter-state and inter-borough connector that has daily traffic exceeding 150,000 vehicles, including more than 15,000 trucks.

Hon. Jonathan Lippman answers audience questions at the 158th CityLaw Breakfast. Image Credit: CityLand

Former New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman, speaking at a CityLaw Breakfast on January 23, 2019, powerfully argued that the time has come to close Rikers Island, New York City’s notorious jail located on an island in the East River. Judge Lippman’s remarks echoed the 2017 recommendations of the Independent Commission on New York City Criminal Justice and Incarceration Reform which Judge Lippman chaired. Judge Lippman spoke at the breakfast in a question and answer format as a way to bring the audience into the conversation. Judge Lippman was questioned by Greg Berman, director of the Center for Court Innovation. A transcript of Judge Lippman’s passionate and persuasive remarks follows.

Image Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

The project will include the expansion of the Lower Manhattan shoreline and four capital projects devoted to the resiliency of Lower Manhattan neighborhoods. On March 14, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency (LMCR) Project. The project is one of the City’s responses to the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy was a turning point for the City to tackle infrastructure resiliency. Hurricane Sandy resulted in $19 billion of devastation for the City and particularly impacted Lower Manhattan. The storm resulted in power outages and flooding in homes, businesses, and tunnels. Since Hurricane Sandy, the City has worked to assess Lower Manhattan’s climate change impacts and risks and analyze coastal protection options for the area’s 3.3-mile shoreline.