Recently the City got some good news about Rikers Island, a change from the bad news of recent years. On August 2, 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio, together with Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte, announced that for the first six months of 2016 the frequencies with which staff used serious force on inmates and inmates seriously assaulted staff dropped by nearly half over the past year. Overall uses of force and assault numbers were also down … <Read More>
Search Results for: Agency Rule
Report Identifies Flaws in DOB’s Auditing of Professionally Certified Applications
Comptroller’s audit found that Buildings generally implemented adequate controls over construction permit applications, but issued three recommendations to ensure public safety. On June 17, 2016, the Officer of the Comptroller Scott Stringer released a report of an audit conducted on the Department of Buildings’ processing of construction permits. The audit determined that Buildings’ controls for the processing of application were implemented consistently, that there were appropriate separation of duties, and an adequate application tracking system. … <Read More>
Crane Safety Working Group Releases Recommendations
Recommendations include increased accountability, updated technology, wind requirements, and training reform. On June 10, 2016, the Crane Safety Technical Working Group released a report with 23 recommendations regarding crane safety. The working group was formed by Mayor de Blasio and Department of Buildings Commissioner Rick Chandler following February’s crane collapse in Tribeca, which affected New York Law School.
Ellen Hoffman: President of the New York City Tax Commission
Ellen Hoffman, a lawyer for 40 years, earned a JD from New York University School of Law in 1977 and an LLM in Taxation in 1978. She began her career in tax law at a private firm in New York City, when after 11 years, she felt the urge to do something different. Hoffman stumbled upon a posting for a tax attorney position with the New York City Department of Finance and, as Hoffman … <Read More>
NYC Landmarks Law and Regulation of Open Space
The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has jurisdiction over both buildings and landscape features on landmarks sites. But the Commission rarely directly regulates changes to landscape features. For routine landscaping changes and in urban contexts, the landscape features are rarely a concern. In other cases the landscape takes on central importance. This is especially true where there where the existing landscaping and natural land features figure prominently in the beauty and importance of the site. In … <Read More>
Rent Stabilization: Preserving Low and Middle-Income Housing
Rent regulation is not a new issue for New York City. But the headlines in June 2015 were far larger and the reactions more contentious than at any time in recent memory. For the first time in its 46-year history, the Rent Guidelines Board decided that there would be no increase in rents for one-year renewals on rent-stabilized apartments; it also limited increases on two year renewals to two-percent. Not surprisingly, tenants hailed the decision … <Read More>