Street cuts in Staten Island. Image credit: Staten Island USA.
Street cuts are still a problem in City streets undermining repaving efforts. On July 27, 2018, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a pilot program to prevent so-called “street cuts” on freshly paved streets. The pilot will mandate interagency cooperation and coordination to prevent fresh asphalt being marred with street cuts. According to Staten Island USA, street cuts are the name given to the patch job done in the wake of underground work performed by developers, plumbing contractors, gas and electric utilities, cable operators and other entities that wish to, or need to work below the streets. The announcement follows the “Pave Baby Pave” campaign launched in 2014 that has helped repave many City streets. (more…)
Edward’s unenclosed sidewalk café restaurant located at 136 W Broadway in Manhattan. Image credit: CityLand.
Operating a sidewalk café requires a public review process and approval from the city. Summer is here and many restaurants open sidewalk cafés to give people a breath of fresh air while enjoying a meal. To operate a sidewalk café, the business must have a food service establishment permit and each year the business must pay consent fees, which are essentially a “lease” for use of the sidewalk space.
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Public plaza at 140 Broadway, Manhattan in 1997. Image Credit: Alexander Garvin.
New York City routinely permits private property owners to acquire public land without paying for it. Does that shock you? It should! Let me explain how this happened.
In 1961 the Board of Estimate approved a new Zoning Resolution in which the public obtained access to and use of privately-owned open space in exchange for permitting certain owners to build additional floor area inside their building. For four decades people routinely used what became public open space. That changed quite dramatically after foreign terrorists crashed two airplanes into the World Trade Center.
In the aftermath of September 11th property owners began to worry about protecting their buildings from possible terrorist attacks. If they were not worried, their insurance companies were and demanded that they provide protection. In some cases the request for additional security came from the NYC Police Department. In no case, however, could anybody specify the form of that attack. Nor did they devise actions that protected against airplanes penetrating their property. The unspecified attack was expected to come from individuals or vehicles.
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Seminar Topics:
— The Changing Face of Open Space: Legal Issues Associated with Open Space in New York City
— Parking Garages, Lots and Off-Street Parking: Proposed New Manhattan Core Parking Rules
— Accommodating Expansion of Undeveloped or Underused Urban Land
When: Thursday, April 25, from 1:45 to 6:00 p.m.
Where: 185 West Broadway (between Worth & Leonard Streets), Auditorium
Credit: 4 Professional Practice transitional & non-transitional CLE credits. Non-credit option also available.
Cost: $275 general registration.
REGISTER TODAY
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Parking in Manhattan is a controversial subject. The Department of City Planning weighed in on the topic when, in December 2011, it released a study of parking within Manhattan’s core business districts. City Planning reported that there are fewer off-street parking spaces than there were years ago. In 1978 the Manhattan core had 127,000 off-street public parking spaces; in 2010 there were only 103,000.
The reduction in spaces resulted in part from environmental policies that I was involved with as a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council. In 1975 the City was not in compliance with the federal carbon monoxide standards, and I served as co-counsel in a Clean Air Act litigation against the City. The Beame Administration in 1977 settled the case by limiting the right to construct off-street garages, and by removing parking meters from midtown, actions which led to the City’s 1982 parking rules. Under these rules acres of surface lots disappeared, as for example, along Sixth Avenue in the twenties. (more…)
