City Installs New Sewer and Water Mains in Southeast Queens

The project was completed 5 months early and $2.7 million under budget and is a part of the $1.9 billion program to improve street and flooding conditions in southeast Queens. On June 2, 2021, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection announced that a $20.5 million project to upgrade infrastructure, improve street conditions, and alleviate flooding in Hollis and Queens Village had been completed.


DEP Building Upgraded and Facade Maintained

The Brooklyn building houses the Department of Environmental Protection water tunnel and shaft maintenance staff. The Department of Design and Construction, along with the Department of Environmental Protection, announced the completion of the refurbishment and upgrades to the historic Flushing Avenue building at 350 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn. The $31.6 million project was funded by the Department of Environmental Protection while the Department of Design and Construction managed the construction of the project.



The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway: Time is Running Out

One year ago, in January 2020, the Expert Panel assigned by Mayor Bill de Blasio to study the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway issued its Final Report. Mayor de Blasio in 2019 appointed the seventeen-person Expert Panel* of which I was a member, following the angry rejection of New York City DOT’s plan for reconstructing the section of the BQE adjacent to Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo and Downtown Brooklyn. City DOT presented its plan publicly September 2019. The … <Read More>


DDC Announces Opening of New Library Branch on Roosevelt Island

The new site is ADA-compliant and meets LEED Silver Certification standards. On January 25, 2021, NYC Department of Design and Construction (“DDC”) Commissioner Lorraine Grillo announced the opening of a new library on Roosevelt Island. The new library, located at 504 Main Street, is located near its former site. The new 5,200-square-foot library is more than double the size of the former NYPL branch.


Reducing Racial Bias Embedded in Land Use Codes

Even though the Supreme Court struck down race-based land use controls over a hundred years ago in Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60 (1917) it has long been known that zoning continues to create or increase racial and economic segregation. Today communities across the U.S. are reexamining their zoning regulations to create more equal, equitable, inclusive, and resilient communities by removing requirements, limitations, or prohibitions that disproportionately and negatively impact individuals based on race … <Read More>