Image Credit: NYC Office of Environmental Remediation

The updated SPEED tool will give community a better understanding of development and environmental measures taken in their neighborhood. On April 23, 2020, The Mayor’s Office of Environmental Remediation released an update to its SPEED environmental mapping tool. The SPEED 2.0 environmental mapping tool allows New York City property owners, developers and community members to create maps of environmental information at a city, borough, neighborhood or site level. All of SPEED’s data is regularly updated to provide an accurate snapshot for each user. For access to SPEED click here. For help navigating the SPEED tool, click here. (more…)

Governor Cuomo addressing the COVID-19 Crisis Image Credit:
Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

Governor Cuomo further encouraging New Yorkers to telecommute and stay home. On March 18, 2020,  the Empire State Development Corporation issued guidance for Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Executive Order Number 202.6, which requires that to the maximum extent possible, all businesses and not-for profit entities throughout the state utilize work from home and telecommuting procedures. This executive order comes as an update to Executive Order 202, which, on March 7, 2020, declared a state of emergency over the COVID-19 outbreak.

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Alcohol ads will now be banned on City property, including at Wi-fi LinkNYC kiosks citywide. Image Credit: Epicgenius/Wikimedia Commons

The ban was created to protect the health of New Yorkers. On April 30, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced an Executive Order that immediately banned all alcohol advertising on City property, including bus shelters, newsstands, phone booths, recycling kiosks and Wi-Fi LinkNYC kiosks. The administration sought the ban to protect New Yorkers from exposure to alcohol advertisements which can lead to an increased likelihood and quantity of alcohol consumption. (more…)

Department of Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia at the CityLaw Breakfast on October 5, 2018. Image credit: CityLaw.

Sanitation determined polystyrene foam products were unrecyclable. Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia’s decision that expanded polystyrene cannot be recycled has been upheld by the Appellate Division. The decision paves the way for the City to ban the use of expanded polystyrene single service articles. (more…)

AC unit in NYC Apartment. Image credit: Traci Lawson on flickr.com.

Failure to install or dispose of an air conditioning unit correctly can lead to fines ranging from as little as $100 to $1000. It could be hard to survive the summer heat in New York without an air conditioning unit. There are a few tips New Yorkers should recognize about the installation and disposal of air conditioning units. The Department of Buildings has also provided a set of guidelines on their website for the installation of air conditioning units that could be accessed here. (more…)