DOB Releases Second Annual Construction Safety Report

On March 28, 2022, the Department of Buildings released its next construction safety report for the calendar year 2021. The report highlights and provides analysis for safety trends across the city, provides data regarding incidents and provides descriptions of significant construction incidents, including all nine construction-related fatalities from 2021. 


DOB Announces Results of Construction Safety Campaign

DOB inspectors visited almost 7,500 constructions sites over the summer. On September 13, 2021, Department of Buildings Commissioner, Melanie E. La Rocca released the results of the new Zero Tolerance Construction Safety campaign, where Department inspectors swept construction sites citywide to check for proper safeguards. The campaign launched in early June following seven construction-related fatalities between January and May 2021.


Major Staten Island Project OK’d by City Planning Despite Significant Opposition; City Council Up Next

The proposed zoning actions were largely disapproved by the Community Board, the Borough President, and even Staten Island’s appointee to the City Planning Commission. The Department of City Planning, along with the Department of Housing Preservation and Development and the Department of Citywide Administrative Services filed an application requesting several ULURP actions to help implement the goals of the Bay Street Corridor Neighborhood Plan. The Neighborhood Plan is a comprehensive plan to … <Read More>


City Planning Releases North Brooklyn Industry & Innovation Plan

The Department of City Planning released a comprehensive plan which seeks to update zoning and other land use strategies to stimulate spaces for new jobs and economic activity in the area. On November 19, 2018, the Department of City Planning released the North Brooklyn Industry & Innovation Plan which sets land use goals and tools for businesses in the area to promote growth and expansion. The Plan is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 10-point … <Read More>


City Planning Commission Considers Rezoning Near Brooklyn Botanical Garden

If approved, the rezoning will make way for construction of over 500 new apartments in Crown Heights. On September 26, 2018, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing on a rezoning application for Franklin Avenue in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. The rezoning would allow construction of two new 16-story buildings at 40 Crown Street and 931 Carroll Street. Both buildings are a block east of the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.


Needed: Large Venues for Large Protest/Rallies in New York City

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>