Susan M. Hinkson
Susan M. Hinkson serves as one of the five Commissioners on the Mayor-appointed Board of Standards and Appeals. Hinkson, who is trained as both an architect and an attorney, was born and raised in the Bronx. Her father served as a justice in the Bronx County Supreme Court and her mother was a musician in the theater. Hinkson said her mother probably thought she would also go into theater, but around age fourteen Hinkson declared that she wanted to pursue a career in architecture instead. Hinkson did some acting, however, and, drawn to the technical aspects of the theater, also worked on set and lighting design. While studying architecture at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Hinkson worked nights as a stage manager, and she is still a member of Actors’ Equity.
Architectural roots. Hinkson fondly recalls having crammed in an attic studio space at Pratt with three other students. Studying architecture before the shift had occurred to computer-assisted design, Hinkson learned to do everything by hand. She appreciates the human element of drafting, where the “brain is thinking with the fingers,” which she feels can be lacking from entirely computer-designed buildings. She said working by hand forced her to contemplate each line placement. (more…)
FRESH program would create incentives to encourage developing full-line grocery stores in underserved neighborhoods. On October 26, 2009, the City Council’s Zoning & Franchises Subcommittee heard testimony on the City’s proposed Food Retail Expansion to Support Health (FRESH) program. The program would provide zoning and financial incentives to encourage grocerystores in neighborhoods identified in a 2008 study as being underserved by stores offering a full range of fresh food. These neighborhoods are located primarily in northern Manhattan, southern Bronx, central Brooklyn, and areas of Queens.
The program would apply to manufacturing and commercial districts within the underserved communities. Stores qualifying for benefits would be required to provide at least 6,000 sq.ft. of space for food and non-food products, and at least 2,000 sq.ft. or 30 percent of space, whichever is greater, for perishable goods. Currently, grocery stores up to 10,000 sq.ft. are permitted in M1 districts, but under the proposal stores up to 30,000 sq.ft. would be permitted as-of-right. (more…)
City seeks to create a Special Willets Point District; local businesses file lawsuit. On April 21, 2008, the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development began public consideration for their proposal to rezone a 61-acre area in Willets Point.
The area, roughly bounded by the Van Wyck Expressway, Roosevelt Avenue, 126th Street, and Northern Boulevard, is known as the “Iron Triangle” for its predominantly industrial and auto service-related character. According to EDC, Willets Point is in desperate need of redevelopment and suffers from extensive environmental contamination, numerous building code violations, poor road and sidewalk conditions, and limited storm and sanitary sewer infrastructure. EDC’s proposal seeks to transform this area into a mixed-use district complete with residential, retail, hotel, convention center, entertainment, and commercial office uses. 4 CityLand 165 (Dec. 2007). (more…)
IDA also approves tax -exempt bonds for 2 health care entities and 1 private school. On October 9, 2007, the New York City Industrial Development Agency voted to provide financial assistance to four entities.
IDA awarded the Bronx Parking Development Company $225 million in tax-exempt bonds to finance the design, construction, and renovation of three new parking garages, two existing garages and six surface lots that would serve the new Yankee Stadium. According to IDA, the parking project will create approximately 555 construction and operational jobs. (more…)
The temperature was in the 90s the day Simeon Bankoff met with City- Land. Mr. Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council, a prominent city preservationist organization founded in 1971 as part of the Municipal Art Society, and operating independently since 1986, had just returned from a demonstration on the steps of City Hall. While most would have wilted, the charming and voluble Mr. Bankoff animatedly discoursed for over an hour on the Historic Districts Council, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, and the future of preservation in the City.
Raised in Manhattan Beach, Brooklyn, and a graduate of Stuyvesant High School, Mr. Bankoff has only left the city for the four years that he attended Sarah Lawrence College in Westchester County. After a series of positions with preservation- oriented organizations and as one of HDC’s first paid employees, Mr. Bankoff became its executive director in 2000. (more…)
