City Planning Hears Application for Hotel, Affordable Housing in Belmont

The proposed hotel would be located near several cultural, academic and medical institutions within the Bronx. On March 3, 2021, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing for an application to build a hotel and a residential building on East 188th Street between Arthur Avenue and Hughes Avenue. Currently, the site consists of low-density residential and commercial buildings and a funeral home; none of the residential units are currently rent stabilized, and the commercial <Read More>


Mayor Announces Guidelines for Upcoming Open Culture Program

The newly announced program and its guidelines will allow artists and performers of all kinds to return to work safely. On February 8, 2021, Mayor de Blasio released guidelines for the upcoming Open Culture Program. The program will open up city streets for outdoor cultural performances and events throughout the five boroughs. The new program is modeled after a prior successful initiative lead by the city, the Open Streets Program. For CityLand’s prior … <Read More>


Reducing Racial Bias Embedded in Land Use Codes

Even though the Supreme Court struck down race-based land use controls over a hundred years ago in Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60 (1917) it has long been known that zoning continues to create or increase racial and economic segregation. Today communities across the U.S. are reexamining their zoning regulations to create more equal, equitable, inclusive, and resilient communities by removing requirements, limitations, or prohibitions that disproportionately and negatively impact individuals based on race … <Read More>


Housing Rights Civic Tech Competition Winners Announced

NYC[x] Co-Labs challenge hopes to address housing rights of NYC’s most vulnerable communities. On November 12, 2020, the New York Mayor’s Office of the Chief Technology Officer, the New York City Economic Development Corporation, the NYC Department of Housing Preservation and Development, the NYC Mayor’s Office to Protect Tenants, and the communities of Inwood and Washington Heights announced the winners and the honorable mentions for the NYC[x] Co-Labs Housing Rights Challenge. This challenge invited innovative … <Read More>


Mayor Announces $80 Million to Rebuild 70 Mulberry Street After Fire

The fire displaced several non-profits that served the Chinatown community. On July 2, 2020, Mayor de Blasio and Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) Commissioner Lisette Camilo announced $80 million in funding and the creation of an advisory committee to rebuild 70 Mulberry Street, the historic building and social service center that was ravaged by a five-alarm fire on January 23, 2020. 70 Mulberry Street, lovingly referred to as “The Heart of Chinatown,” housed five … <Read More>


Community Gardens to Be Classified as “Open Space” on City Planning Database

The bill will help protect community gardens and allow them to remain in the City. On March 29, 2020, Introduction 1652-A was enacted into Local Law 46 of 2020. Local Law 46 requires the Department of City Planning to reclassify tax lots currently used as GreenThumb community gardens on the Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output (“PLUTO”) database. The PLUTO database has information on the City’s tax lots. Currently, tax lots with GreenThumb … <Read More>