Image Credit: NYC Civic Engagement Commission.

All New Yorkers aged 11 and up can help decide how to spend $5 million of mayoral expense funding. On September 14, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams and Civic Engagement Commission Chair and Executive Director Dr. Sarah Sayeed announced the launch of NYC’s first ever citywide participatory budgeting process. “The People’s Money” will allow all New Yorkers ages 11 and up to decide how to spend $5 million in mayoral funds, with the goal of addressing local community needs across the five boroughs. The program will fund expense projects likes programs, events, and services, but not capital projects that require building new things that require construction or renovation. (read more…)

Mayor Eric Adams. Photo Credit: facebook.com/NYCMayor

Last month, Mayor Adams announced a new plan to bring automatic, weekly curbside organic waste collection to the entire borough of Queens. Residents can order free compost bins from the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY), and bins will automatically be sent to buildings with 10 or more residential units. (read more…)

Image Credit: NYC DOT

The city is launching two parallel public engagement campaigns, BQE Central and BQE North and South. On September 16, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams and Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez announced a public engagement campaign that will inform the administration’s efforts to improve the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE). With federal funding newly available through the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Mayor Adams intends to finance much-needed repairs to the BQE. (read more…)

Mayor Adams signs Local Law 82 into law. Image Credit: Office of Mayor Eric Adams.

Homeowners of a one, two, or three family residence are now eligible for a $150 tax rebate. On August 24, 2022, Mayor Adams signed Local Law 82 into law. The bill authorizes a one-time property tax rebate up to $150 to hundreds of thousands of eligible New York homeowners. The bill was introduced (Intro 600) and voted on by the City Council in early August, passing by a unanimous vote following a public hearing. (read more…)

Mayor Adams assists with the demolition of an abandoned dining shed at the press conference announcing the City’s new enforcement initiative on August 18th. Image Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

Multiple lawsuits have challenged both the temporary and proposed permanent open restaurant programs. On August 18, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced a new enforcement initiative with multiple city agencies to remove abandoned outdoor dining sheds. The City’s temporary open restaurants program allowed for restaurants to build outdoor shed structures on sidewalks and in roadways to allow for safer outdoor dining during the pandemic. However, some of these structures have been abandoned by restaurants that have now shut down resulting in abandoned structures that have gotten many quality of life and safety complaints. (read more…)