One Vanderbilt. Image credit: Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates PC
Early in January 2017 the City of New York began the official public approval process for a proposal to rezone East Midtown Manhattan. The proposal was based in part on a report by the East Midtown Steering Committee co-chaired by the Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and the District 4 Council Member Daniel Garodnick.
The new 2017 proposal is the third proposal for rezoning East Midtown. In 2013 the Bloomberg Administration proposed to rezone East Midtown, but was forced by opposition to withdraw the proposal. In 2015 the City rezoned the limited area along the Vanderbilt Corridor adjacent to Grand Central Terminal. Both the current 2017 proposal and the 2015 adopted Vanderbilt Corridor rezoning are an improvement over the Bloomberg Administration’s withdrawn proposal; a developer cannot just write a check to receive bonus floor area, but must build an improvement to the public realm. Still, both the new proposal and the Vanderbilt Corridor rezoning represent “zoning-for-dollars,” and take zoning in a wrong direction. How might we do better? (more…)
217 West 57th Street. Image Credit: Google Maps.
Ice fell from tall crane following ice storm. On December 17, 2019, a citizen complained that ice was falling from Central Park Tower, a 98-story building at 217 West 57th Street in Midtown, Manhattan. Upon arrival, the Department of Buildings officer witnessed ice formations on crane and hoisting equipment operated by Lend Lease Construction. With the assistance of the New York Police Department, the Buildings officer closed the streets around the crane and hoist after determining that the only way to remove the ice would be to move the crane and hoist, which would cause more ice to fall to the streets below. (more…)
Rendering of the proposed pedestrian bridge. Image Credit: NYC Economic Development Corporation
Court rejected argument that the new bridge would have significant environmental impact. The City proposed to build a pedestrian bridge in Clara Coffey Park in East Midtown, which would span the FDR Drive at Sutton Place South and East 54th Street. The bridge will occupy about 25 percent of the current Clara Coffey Park and is part of the City’s plan to link the entirety of the Manhattan waterfront. (more…)
Anjappar restaurant at 116 Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. Image Credit: Google Maps.
A Manhattan restaurant received health inspection during busy hour which resulted in five summonses with $900 penalties in total. Anjappar is an Indian cuisine restaurant located at 116 Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan. On July 3, 2018, while the restaurant was preparing a large order, an inspector from the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene made an unannounced visit. The inspector observed in Anjappar’s kitchen near an operating stove approximately eight pounds of cooked chicken in metal containers at room temperature. The inspector tested the meat and found it was above the required temperature. The inspector also observed that the waste pipe connected to a dishwasher was contaminated by accumulated grease, and that water leaking from an air conditioner was being improperly disposed of in a bucket on the kitchen floor. (more…)
Sam Schwartz
This week there has been a renewed interest in Sam Schwartz’s revised congestion pricing plan which is being pushed by a group called Move NY. Read CityLaw’s great profile on Mr. Schwartz that details his plan. This was originally published on April 18, 2013.
Sam Schwartz is the president and CEO of Sam Schwartz Engineering, a firm that specializes in transportation planning and engineering. Schwartz’s new congestion pricing proposal, “Move New York,” offers a novel approach to the controversial subject.
Sam Schwartz was born and raised in Brooklyn, attended Brooklyn Technical High School, graduated from Brooklyn College where he majored in physics, and earned a Master of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1971, Schwartz began working with the City’s Department of Transportation, as a junior engineer. He rose to be DOT’s Chief Engineer and First Deputy Commissioner.
In 1990, Schwartz left the DOT to teach classes at Cooper Union. Schwartz also began writing columns for the Daily News under the pen-name “Gridlock Sam.” In 1995, Schwartz opened his own engineering firm called Sam Schwartz Engineering. The firm is involved in projects throughout the globe, including a revolutionary streetcar system in Aruba, powered solely by battery and hydrogen fuel cells.
(more…)
