Peaceful protests, protected by the First Amendment, are fundamental to our constitutional system and to democracy. Peaceful protest marches and rallies have been instrumental in bringing about significant change in racial, gender, LGBTQ and economic equality; reproductive rights; climate policy; capital punishment; housing; criminal justice, and voting rights. Yet in recent years appropriate venues have been unavailable for large peaceful protests, raising the question of whether City practices inappropriately limit the exercise of First Amendment … <Read More>
Search Results for: Vision Zero
COMPLETE VIDEO: 151st CityLaw Breakfast with TLC Commissioner Meera Joshi
At this morning’s 151st CityLaw Breakfast, Taxi and Limousine Commission Chair Meera Joshi spoke on what’s changed and what hasn’t in for-hire vehicles. She acknowledged the biggest change in the industry to be size. The volume of taxis and for-hire vehicles has increased over the years, also increasing the number of daily trips taken in the City. Manhattan sees the largest number of trips.
Commissioner Joshi reflected on TLC’s increasing efforts for taxi safety, … <Read More>
Three-Quarter Housing: Council Seeks to Address Blight [UPDATE: City Council Approves Legislation]
UPDATE: On February 1, 2017, the City Council voted 47-0 to approve four bills that would help protect tenants of three-quarter houses in New York City. During the vote, Council Member Donovan Richards called three-quarter houses a wide spread problem that would not be cured by the bills and that the City would need to track progress on the issue to determine future responses. Council Member Ritchie Torres called predatory operators of three-quarter houses the … <Read More>
Rent Stabilization: Preserving Low and Middle-Income Housing
Rent regulation is not a new issue for New York City. But the headlines in June 2015 were far larger and the reactions more contentious than at any time in recent memory. For the first time in its 46-year history, the Rent Guidelines Board decided that there would be no increase in rents for one-year renewals on rent-stabilized apartments; it also limited increases on two year renewals to two-percent. Not surprisingly, tenants hailed the decision … <Read More>
IPSIG Agreements: A Vehicle to Rehabilitate Vendors
Under ordinary circumstances the City may not enter into a contract with a vendor when the City finds that the vendor is not responsible because of tax, criminal, financial, ethical or performance reasons. It may not always be in the City’s interests, however, to refuse to deal with the vendor. One option available to the City that allows the City to continue to do business with such a vendor is an Independent Private Sector Inspector … <Read More>
CUNY Forum Focuses On Affordable Housing Issues
Elected officials and real estate professionals debate solutions and strategies to City’s affordable housing shortage. On October 1st, 2014 the City University of New York’s CUNY Forum series held a panel discussion titled “Affordable Housing and Social Justice in NYC”. The panel featured Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer, Vishaan Chakrabarti of SHoP Architects and Associate Professor at Columbia University, Real Estate Board of New York President Steven Spinola, and Council Member Jumaane D. Williams. The … <Read More>