Artist’s rendering of the new Rego Park Branch of the Queens Public Library. Image Credit: DDC

The new library will be over double the size of the existing one. On July 28, 2021, Department of Design and Construction Commission Jamie Torres-Springer joined elected officials and the Queens Public Library President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott to reveal the design for the new Rego Park Library. Located at 91-41 63rd Drive, the new library will replace the current one-story library that has operated since 1975. The Rego Park branch currently serves nearly 200,000 people a year and lends approximately 190,000 items annually, making it one of the busiest library branches in Queens.  (more…)

Mayor de Blasio, Deputy Mayor Vicki Been and others at ribbon cutting for a new affordable housing development in the Bronx, part of the City’s record year for creating affordable housing citywide. Image Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

The City is on track to create and preserve 200,000 affordable homes by the end of Mayor de Blasio’s administration. On July 26, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Deputy Mayor Vicki Been announced that the City created and preserved 28,310 affordable homes in the 2021 fiscal year.  (more…)

The Northeastern Tower Annex. Image Credit: HPD

The building provides much needed affordable housing for seniors. On July 21, 2021, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD), other City and elected officials, community leaders and others participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony for Northeastern Towers Annex at 161-11 132nd Avenue in Jamaica, Queens. Northeastern Towers Annex is a 159 affordable-unit development for seniors.  (more…)

Image Credit: NYCEDC

The Bronx Museum, a cultural hub, is looking for a creative partner to help modernize the Bronx Museum.  On July 7, 2021, the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) released a Request for Proposals to solicit plans from interested architects to design a new South Wing Atrium and entrance for the Bronx Museum of the Arts in the Concourse Village section of the Bronx. (more…)

84-40 Avon Street, Queens. Image Credit: Google Maps

Owner of private elevator failed to perform annual safety inspections. Lisa Neuman is the owner of a single-family home located at 84-40 Avon St., Jamaica Estates, New York. A private elevator has been present in Neuman’s home since the 1990s.  Beginning in 2011, Neuman began receiving yearly notices from the Department of Buildings for failing to perform annual elevator safety inspections in violation of §28-304.6.1 of the Administrative Code, which became effective in 2008. Under Building’s rules, an owner who fails to file a test report for their elevator is subject to a civil penalty of $1,000 per year per elevator.  Buildings filed seven violations for the years 2009 through 2015, and fined Neuman $7,000. (more…)