The new play equipment at Saw Mill Playground in Mott Haven. Image Credit: NYC Parks Department
The playground provides new community amenities and improves the health of the Harlem River. On June 7, 2019, the Department of Parks and Recreation announced the completion of an $8 million upgrade to Saw Mill Playground in the Mott Haven section of the Bronx. The playground is located on East 139th Street between Brook and Willis Avenues.
Gregory Russ is the new NYCHA Chair. Image Credit: Minneapolis Public Housing Authority
Russ has worked with municipal housing authorities across the country, including in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Minneapolis. On June 18, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio and U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson announced Gregory Russ as the new Chair of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA). The national search for a new chair began in January after an agreement was made between NYCHA, HUD and the Southern District of New York (SDNY). Under the agreement, a federal monitor was appointed to supervise the reform of NYCHA’s operations. The agreement resolved federal claims against NYCHA for violating health and safety regulations.
Image Credit: New York Senate.
The law places limits on various mechanisms through which landlords of rent-regulated units can raise rent and provides many other protections for tenants. On June 14, 2019, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo signed into law the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act of 2019, which Cuomo called “the most sweeping, aggressive protections in state history.” The legislation extends and strengthens rent protections for tenants across the state and went into effect before the expiration of the existing rent regulations on June 15, 2019. The new legislation makes the rules permanent, repeals high-rent vacancy deregulation and vacancy and longevity bonuses, reforms rent increases for major capital improvements and individual apartment improvements, creates protections for tenants across the state, and allows communities outside of the City to opt into rent stabilization. Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins sponsored the bills with many co-sponsors in both the State Senate and State Assembly.
An overhead view of the vacant disputed property. Image Credit: Google Maps
City claimed condemned property designated as wetlands was overvalued at $10 million. In 1985, seven acres of property covering six blocks in the Oakwood Beach section of Staten Island was donated to a yeshiva. The yeshiva’s plans for the property included development of a school and synagogue. Due to fiscal setbacks and a freshwater wetland designation, the yeshiva in 1991 sought and the City approved a hardship exemption in development of the planned school and synagogue. The yeshiva never actually began development on the property.
Five of the seven buildings designated as individual landmarks on June 11, 2019. Image Credit: Google Maps
Commissioners commented on the importance of communicating the benefits of landmarking to the public. On June 11, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to designate seven buildings as individual landmarks on Broadway south of Union Square. The buildings are located at 817 Broadway, 826 Broadway, 830 Broadway, 832 Broadway, 836 Broadway, 840 Broadway, and 841 Broadway. The seven buildings were constructed between 1876 and 1902. The buildings housed garment manufacturers, book publishers, and even a movie studio and reflected a time when Manhattan was continuing to grow north.
Recreational boating on the Schoharie Reservoir in the Catskill Mountains. The Schoharie Reservoir is one of 19 DEP-owned reservoirs across the state that supply New York City with water. Image Credit: NYC DEP
New rules include an expanded recreational boating season and an e-cigarette ban. On May 31, 2019, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) published the final updated rules governing recreation access to over 137,000 acres of water and the surrounding watershed lands. The rules were created to protect the water supply and promote outdoor recreation and go into effect on June 30th.
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