Image credit: Office of the Mayor.

De Blasio Administration will focus on reducing rat population through different extermination measures. On April 17, 2018, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a new rat extermination plan for the NYCHA’s ten most rat-infested developments. The extermination plan is part of the Mayor’s $32 million Neighborhood Rat Reduction Program to reduce rat populations in the most infested City neighborhoods: ­­­­­­­Grand Concourse in the Bronx, Chinatown, East Village, and Lower East Side in Manhattan, and Bushwick and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn. This plan is also furthers the de Blasio Administration’s goal to preserve and strengthen public housing. (more…)

Image credit: LPC

Commissioners allowed demolition to proceed, but mandated that any material that can be retained or salvaged must be preserved. On July 12, 2017, Landmarks decided on application filed by the owners of the Beth Hamerdash Hagodol Synagogue, an individual City landmark, at 60 Norfolk Street on the Lower East Side.  The building was severely damaged by a fire in May of 2017, believed to have been set by a teenage arsonist who gained access to the building. The building’s roof collapsed in the fire, the interior was gutted, and that which was left standing sustained severe structural damage. The Synagogue sought a certificate of appropriateness to clear away rubble and take down the portions in danger of imminent collapse, then to remove what material remained, as those fragments would retain no architectural significance or integrity. (more…)

Illustration: Jeff Hopkins.

The United States Supreme Court’s June 25, 2013 decision, Shelby County v. Holder, struck down Section 4 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, eliminating a “preclearance” coverage formula that had subjected numerous jurisdictions with checkered voting rights histories to the U.S. Department of Justice’s oversight.  Although the decision allows Congress to create a new coverage formula, in today’s political climate that appears unlikely.   While the preclearance system was often associated with deep Southern states like Alabama and Mississippi, in 1971 three New York City counties – Bronx, Kings and New York – were added as covered jurisdictions, and since then the DOJ has blocked New York voting laws on several occasions to protect the rights of minority voters.  This article examines Shelby County v. Holder, its consequences for minority voting rights across the country, particularly in New York, and possible local remedies in the event of Congressional inaction.

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The NYPD to house Joint Operations Command Center in building adjoining One Police Plaza. In 2000, the New York Police Department planned to demolish a two-story building at 109 Park Row in Manhattan and replace it with a nine-story building. After September 11, 2001, the NYPD decided instead to renovate the existing building and create a $13.8 million, 22,000 sq.ft. Joint Operations Command Center. The command center would operate as a state-of-the-art crisis response situation room that would enhance the NYPD’s ability to respond effectively to emergency situations. The building, previously used as a 911 call center, parking garage, and storage facility, was vacated in 2000 to make way for the original construction project.

Chinatown residents, concerned about the project’s effect on traffic and parking, filed an Article 78 petition. They argued the project was subject to the City’s land use review process because it qualified as a site selection for a capital project. They also argued that the NYPD failed to prepare an environmental assessment statement as required by the State’s and City’s environmental review laws. (more…)

Council approved plan after City agreed to work with interest groups on related zoning and development issues. On November 19, 2008, the City Council approved the City’s plan to rezone 111 blocks in the East Village and Lower East Side of Manhattan. The plan calls for seven new zoning districts, including a 59-block residential area which would be rezoned to R8B, a category that limits building heights to 75ft. The area is, in general, bounded by East 13th Street, Avenue D, Delancey Street, and Third Avenue. 5 CityLand 123 (Sept. 15, 2008).

Prior to Council review, the City Planning Commission unanimously voted to approve the rezoning after a contentious public hearing. The Commission found that the height, setback, and bulk controls of the new contextual districts would help preserve the low- to mid-rise tenement and rowhouse character of the area. The Commission, contrary to the views of many who spoke in opposition, favored higher density districts along Chrystie Street, Delancey Street, and Avenue D, noting that the districts were located along wide streets well-served by public transit. The Commission dismissed the idea of including Chinatown and the east side of the Bowery in the rezoning, stating that each area had a distinctive character and, as such, each required its own planning analysis. The Commission also rejected the community’s call for anti-harassment provisions to be included in the proposed zoning text, noting that Local Law 7 of 2008 already affords tenants the protection the community had sought. (more…)