The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s (LPC) process for designating New York City historic districts is being used more and more to take the place of zoning. The designation of historic districts has been pursued to promote many different agendas: to address issues of height and scale, to stop new development and to limit development on vacant or near-vacant sites by purposefully including these sites within the boundaries of historic districts. These objectives are contrary to the … <Read More>
Commentary
Praise for Con Edison and the Utility Workers Union
The Consolidated Edison lockout began on July 1, 2012. Despite summer heat and record electric demand, Con Edison’s supervisors and auxiliaries kept the City functioning. Computers operated, elevators carried people up and down, lights stayed on, and offices remained cool. Compared to the impact of the three-day transit strike of 2005, the City functioned without a hitch. Both management and the union deserve credit. Striking is one thing; stopping the flow of electricity, gas and … <Read More>
The City Council Should Approve NYU’s Core Expansion Plan
If one were to draw a circle a mile in radius with the hub being Washington Square, and time-traveled back 50 years to 1962, included within the circle would be a low-rent failing commercial district along Lower Broadway; a darkened, empty loft factory area south of Houston Street; a bleak Hudson River waterfront in the shadow of a deteriorating West Side Highway; an industrial meatpacking district dead in the daytime and a slaughterhouse at night; … <Read More>
City Council Proposes Important Changes to Landmarks Law
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (“LPC”) has designated more than 1,400 individual landmarks and 107 historic districts. Approximately 29,000 buildings are under LPC regulation. With only five percent of that total comprising individual landmarks,95 percent are subject to LPC regulation solely because they are located within historic districts, regardless of individual merit.
With the proliferation of buildings subject to LPC regulation, both as individual landmarks and within historic districts, attention has increasingly focused … <Read More>
Livery Cab Law Dealt Judicial Blow
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s plan to grant livery cabs the right to accept street hails was derailed on June 1, 2012, when New York State Judge Arthur Engoron invoked the home rule clause of the State constitution and enjoined the City from implementing the State law passed in 2011. The State law would have allowed 30,000 liveries to accept street hails, a right currently enjoyed only by yellow cabs. Advocates for the law claimed that … <Read More>
Mundane Items Make Zone Green Text Amendment Important
The City Council has approved Zone Green. This comprehensive zoning text amendment will enable energy efficient cutting-edge design and construction of both new and existing buildings.
During public debate of the proposal, wind turbines, green houses, and solar panels received much attention. These elements are emblematic of the green building movement; however, it is the more mundane aspects that will have the most far reaching impact on reducing our carbon footprint.
New York City’s … <Read More>