Image credit: New York City Council.
Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council, in creating competing charter revision commissions, avoided endorsing the central reason why the City could benefit from charter revision: ending term limits for council members. Term limits arguably may have had a healthy impact on the mayoralty, but not so with the council. Two four-year terms for council members resulted in instability of council membership and leadership and a lack of institutional discipline that has produced a council weaker than it should be. (read more…)
Image credit: NYC Office of the Comptroller.
[The following guest commentary is a response to Airbnb’s commentary published here.]
New Yorkers are facing a growing affordability crisis, and over the years my office has examined many factors that have proven to contribute to the burden of rising prices – including, most recently, a report on the impact of Airbnb on New York City rental prices. (read more…)
Image credit: Airbnb
NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer recently released a report on Airbnb in New York City that is wrong on the facts, wrong on the methodology and wrong in its conclusions. (read more…)
Jeffrey A. Kroessler
The Landmarks Preservation Commission has calendared the AT&T Building at 550 Madison Avenue for a public hearing. As well it should. Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, the skyscraper with a distinctive Chippendale top was the first post-modern addition to the skyline when completed in 1984. It is as emblematic of its time as the Woolworth Building (Cass Gilbert, 1913) and the Chrysler Building (William Van Allen, 1930). (read more…)
Michael Devigne
The final legislative session of 2017 saw an active NYC City Council scrambling to pass almost 40 bills before the term’s end. Among these legislative actions was the passage of a zoning text amendment for the creation of a special permit that will limit self-storage facilities in NYC’s Industrial Business Zones (IBZ’s). City Council’s vote in favor of the new special permit is a victory for the industrial and manufacturing sectors, albeit an imperfect victory marred by compromises that will likely raise more questions about industrial retention in the future. (read more…)
