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 or class. (more…)
Heat Seek, winner of the NYC[x] Co-Labs Housing Rights Challenge, operates by using sensors around the apartment or home to detect the temperature. The sensors and temperature logs help provide proof that a landlord or property owner is not providing legally required heating to tenants. Image Credit: Heat Seek, www.heatseek.org/explore-the-tech
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 and tech-enabled solutions to address the housing rights of New York City’s most vulnerable communities. Submissions were solicited from startups, technologists, and innovators from across the globe. To read more about the competition, click
here. The winners of the Housing Rights Challenge are
Heat Seek and
Justfix.nyc with an honorable mention going to
3×3. (more…)
70 Mulberry Street, prior to the January 2020 fire. Image Credit: Google Maps
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 nonprofit organizations that provided Chinatown with essential community services such as hot meals for seniors, arts and cultural activities, and ESOL classes. As Council Member Margaret Chin explained, “after the fire, Chinatown immediately lost critical senior, cultural, career development, youth, and adult literacy services that immigrant families depended on for generations.” (more…)
Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel/Image Credit: John McCarten/NYC Council
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 community gardens are classified on PLUTO as “vacant lots.” Under Local Law 46, these tax lots will be reclassified under a new category that indicates that the lot is being used as a community garden. The law, sponsored by Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel, was proposed to protect community garden tax lots from being used for development.
(more…)
Map of the Battery Playscape once it is completed. Click map for larger image. Image Credit: NYC Parks
The Battery Playscape will cover 1.5 acres of waterfront space at the east end of Battery Park in lower Manhattan. On March 12th, 2020 NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, Battery Conservancy President Warrie Price, and local elected officials and community members broke ground on the Battery Playscape reconstruction project. The Battery Playscape will be located at State Street and Peter Minuit Plaza in lower Manhattan. (more…)
