A portion of the Hudson River Greenway. Image Credit: NYC DOT.

The City Council’s Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure heard testimony regarding creation of a citywide Greenway Master Plan, the first such plan since 1993. On Wednesday, June 28th, the City Council’s Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing on oversight and management of the city’s public space. The hearing included consideration of Int. 0291-2022, a bill which would require the Department of Transportation to partner with the Departments of Parks and Recreation, City Planning, Design and Construction, and Environmental Protection, as well as a private, non-profit development corporation, to create a citywide master plan for the construction and maintenance of greenways in all five boroughs. This is the first attempt to create such a plan since 1993. (more…)

Image credit: New York City Council.

Advocates highlighted the public health and equity issues New Yorkers face when struggling to find a public restroom. On Wednesday, June 28th, the City Council’s Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure held a hearing on a bill which would be the first step in expanding the number of available public bathrooms in New York City. The bill, Int. 258-2022, would require the Departments of Transportation and Parks to collaborate on a report identifying at least one location for a new public bathroom in each zip code. The report would be completed by June 1, 2023. The bill was introduced in April by its lead sponsor, Council Member Rita Joseph. (more…)

Image credit: New York City Council.

The program follows the concept of the Open Restaurants program. On December 10, 2020, the City Council passed two bills designed to provide arts and cultural institutions across the city with more access to public spaces in response to the damage to the City’s cultural sector because of the COVID-19 pandemic.  (more…)

Council Member Chin was pleased to announce deeper affordability, senior housing and the preservation of two Lower East Side institutions in Go Broome project. On February 27, 2020, the full City Council unanimously approved with a companion resolution, GO Broome LLC’s application to rezone and develop a large-scale, mixed use development on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Chinese-American Planning Council and the Gotham Organization Inc. partnered to propose a development with mixed-income, intergenerational housing, commercial retail space and community facility space. The proposed development would be across the street from Essex Crossing and bound between Broome Street to the north, Grand Street to the south, Suffolk Street to the east and Norfolk Street to the west. The application was previously approved by the City Council Committee on Land Use On February 13, 2020, and City Planning on January 21, 2020. Read CityLand’s prior coverage of the Go Broome Street Development here.

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Rendering of 1050 Pacific Street in Brooklyn. Image Credit: CPC.

The new building is intended to revitalize a largely vacant block along Pacific Street in Brooklyn. On May 2, 2019, the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises voted to approve a rezoning of the western portion of a block bounded by Pacific Street to the north, Dean Street to the south, Franklin Avenue to the east, and Classon Avenue to the west in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The applicant proposed to rezone the area from a manufacturing district, M1-1, to a mixed-use residential and manufacturing district, M1-4/R7A. The rezoning will facilitate a new eight-story development at 1050 Pacific Street with 103 residential units and ground floor commercial space. The development is located a block away from 1010 Pacific Street and is also part of Brooklyn Community Board 8 and Department of City Planning’s M Crown study. (more…)