70 Mulberry Street, prior to the January 2020 fire. Image Credit: Google Maps
The fire displaced five non-profits and shut down a community hub. On October 5, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan to reconstruct 70 Mulberry Street in Chinatown. The City-owned building, which is a historic cultural and community hub for Chinatown, suffered severe damage from a fire in January 2020. (more…)
Image credit: NYC Department of Parks & Recreation.
This $30 million equity initiative will revamp and repair the beloved Brownsville neighborhood park. On March 31, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver joined to cut the ribbon on the second phase of the Betsy Head Park reconstruction. The popular park is located in Brownsville in Brooklyn. (more…)
Image Credit: NYC DOT
One year ago, in January 2020, the Expert Panel assigned by Mayor Bill de Blasio to study the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway issued its Final Report. Mayor de Blasio in 2019 appointed the seventeen-person Expert Panel* of which I was a member, following the angry rejection of New York City DOT’s plan for reconstructing the section of the BQE adjacent to Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo and Downtown Brooklyn. City DOT presented its plan publicly September 2019. The plan caused immediate outrage. (more…)
Image credit: NYC Department of Parks & Recreation.
The portion is part of a larger reconstruction project. On August 19, 2020, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation announced the completion of a portion of the Shore Road Bicycle Path in Bath Beach, Brooklyn. The newly repaved path was completed four months ahead of schedule, and spans approximately 2100 ft between Bay 8th and Bay 14th Street. The $575,000 in funding for this project was secured by City Council Member Justin Brannan. (more…)
Rendering of proposed flood resiliency infrastructure./Image Credit: DDC, Parks, DOT, DEP, and Mayor’s Office of Resiliency/CPC
Despite the project’s phased construction schedule, concerns with the project still exist among elected officials and community members. On November 4, 2019, the City Council Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting, and Dispositions approved two land use applications for the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, the City’s flood protection plan for Lower Manhattan. The Project will include a system of floodgates and walls along the project area, sewage improvements, and will elevate East River Park eight feet above the flood plain to protect the Park and have it serve as a flood barrier for nearby neighborhoods. The first application is for access onto private property adjacent to the proposed flood protection infrastructure for the City to conduct inspections, maintenance, and repair of the infrastructure. The second application is for a zoning text amendment to allow higher wall heights for the proposed floodwalls and gates at Stuyvesant Cove Park.
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