DOB Announces Penalties for Over 400 Property Owners for Late Parking Structure Report Submissions

On January 18, 2024, the Department of Buildings announced that over 400 property owners had received initial penalties for failing to submit required engineering inspection reports for parking structures located on their properties. Through the Periodic Inspection for Parking Structure (PIPS) program, 1,056 properties in Lower Manhattan, Midtown, and the Upper West Side were required to submit inspection reports to the Department of Buildings before January 1, 2024. 


Parks and CUNY Announce Initial Findings of Positive Impacts of Community Parks Initiative Investments

On January 23, 2024, the Parks Department and the City University of New York Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy shared the findings of a large-scale study of the public health impacts of the Community Parks Initiative. The Community Parks Initiative is an equity-based investment program to build and renovate parks, infrastructure, and community programming in underserved neighborhoods. The program, which launched in 2014, has improved 65 parks citywide, with another 22 projects <Read More>


Landmarks Designates Joseph Rodman Drake Park and Enslaved People’s Burial Ground

On December 12, 2023, the Landmarks Preservation Commissioner voted to designate the Joseph Rodman Drake Park and Enslaved People’s Burial Ground as a landmark. The park is located on the block with Oak Point Avenue to the north, Drake Park South to the south, Longfellow Avenue to the west and Hunts Point Avenue to the east. Drake Park was opened in 1910, and contains two colonial-era cemeteries. Prior to European settlement, Hunts Point was home <Read More>



DOT Announces Return and Expansion of “Trick or Streets” for Halloween 2023

Image Credit: DOT

On October 11, 2023, the Department of Transportation announced the return of “Trick or Streets,” the Halloween-season expansion of the Open Streets program. Last year, “Trick or Streets” restricted car access on nearly 100 streets on Halloween night to provide more open space for pedestrian access when many families would be out for trick or treating.