Opportunity to develop food-related or wholesale industrial use on 9.75- acre site near Fulton Fish Market. On June 2, 2011, the Economic Development Corporation issued an open request for proposals for the redevelopment of a City-owned site in Hunts Point, Bronx. The unimproved 9.75-acre parcel fronts Halleck Street and Food Center Drive, and is within the Hunts Point Distribution Center which includes the Hunts Point Produce Market, the Hunts Point Meat Market, and the New … <Read More>
Audit faults Buildings on self-certification program
Comptroller found that Buildings did not audit requisite percentage of professionally certified building permit applications. City Comptroller John C. Liu issued an audit report on Buildings’ compliance with its rules governing the internal auditing of professionally certified building applications. The audit found, among other things, that Buildings audited a “significantly lower” number of applications than required, and that Buildings’ borough offices in Brooklyn and Queens failed to fully review certain audit applications.
The professional certification … <Read More>
Council Member Brad Lander on Current Initiatives Affecting Land Use in the City
Council Member Brad Lander, chair of the City Council’s Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses Subcommittee, draws from his experience as a public policy advocate when executing his duties.
Originally from St. Louis, Missouri, Lander in 1991 earned a liberal arts degree from the University of Chicago. He then earned a master’s degree in Social Anthropology at the University College London in the United Kingdom, where he worked with community groups to research how a … <Read More>
The Legislature’s Taxi Plan is Bad for New York City
The taxi/ livery plan the legislature passed in Albany is sure to fail because it ignores economic reality. Giving 30,000 liveries the right to accept street hails will disappoint supporters, disrupt beneficial relationships, and likely ruin cab service for everyone.
The law’s purpose is to provide street hail service in areas presently without street hail service. But street hail service is only viable in dense areas where cabbies know that riders regularly appear. Taxis nowhere … <Read More>
Council considers proposed living wage law
- G. Oliver Koppell
Proposed local law would impose wage mandates on certain businesses receiving City economic development incentives. On May 12, 2011, the City Council’s Contracts Committee held a hearing on the proposed Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. The proposal, Intro 251-A, would require employers connected to a development project receiving at least $100,000 in financial assistance from the City to pay employees a mandated “living wage” that would be linked to a … <Read More>
Eighteen-block West Clinton rezoning modified
- West Clinton proposed zoning. Image: Courtesy of NYC Department of City Planning.
Proposal would permit as-of-right residential development along east side of Eleventh Avenue. On June 7, 2011, the City Council’s Land Use Committee approved the Department of City Planning and Manhattan Community Board 4’s proposed West Clinton Rezoning in Clinton, Manhattan. The eighteen-block rezoning area is generally bounded by West 55th Street to the north, West 43rd Street to the south, portions of the … <Read More>