City Announces Play Streets Initiative and Open Streets Changes

The Open Streets and the new Play Streets initiatives encourage New Yorkers to go outside. On July 24, 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Play Streets, an initiative provided by the City, the Fresh Air Fund, Building Healthy Communities, and the Police Athletic League to provide children with fun, socially-distant outdoor activities on twelve Open Streets throughout the City. The Open Streets initiative provides more outdoor space for pedestrians and cyclists by limiting vehicular traffic … <Read More>




Mayor’s Office Expands Free Legal Help to Fight Evictions

The expansion provides free legal assistance for tenants in five additional ZIP codes. On December 13, 2019, the Mayor’s Office announced an expansion of the Right to Counsel program that provides free legal assistance to New Yorkers fighting eviction. The Right to Counsel program, implemented by a ZIP code by ZIP code approach, will be expanded to five more ZIP codes across the City.



$200 Million for New Boilers and Heating Systems Upgrade For NYCHA Developments

A $200 million investment will be used to replace boilers and upgrade heating systems at 20 NYCHA developments. On January 31, 2018, Mayor de Blasio announced the investment aimed at assisting NYCHA developments experiencing chronic outages. The $200 million investment is part of the Mayor’s investment in NYCHA including $2.1 billion in capital infrastructure and $1.6 billion in operating funds. The upgrades are expected to save NYCHA approximately $5 million per year in energy costs.