Councilmember Ben Kallos. Image credit: William Alatriste/NYC Council
The proposed Business Improvement District would be the 73rd BID established in New York City. On November 6, 2015, City Council member Ben Kallos issued a press release regarding the launch of a push to create a Business Improvement District on East 86th Street in Manhattan. The press release notes that a “District Needs Survey” was mailed out to community businesses, residents, and property owners last week.
Councilmember David Greenfield, chair of the Committee on Land Use. Image credit: William Alatriste/New York City Council
City officials questioned on policy to protect New York’s industrial sector. On May 6, 2015 the City Council Committee on Land Use held an oversight hearing on industrial land use policy in New York City with a focus on protecting and encouraging the City’s industrial sector from encroaching alternative uses. In his opening remarks, Councilmember and Land Use Chair David Greenfield emphasized as ineffective the City’s policy of designating Industrial Business Zones without changing the underlying zoning to protect industry from competing commercial uses and pointed out the importance of protecting the City’s industrial sector, comprising 10 percent of the local private sector workforce, frequently made of small businesses employing forty people or less, and paying significantly higher wages than the service sector.
Fordham Road Business Improvement District will expand to include One Fordham Plaza. Image Credit: Fordham Road BID
Fordham Road BID will incorporate One Fordham Plaza into the Bronx BID. On July 9, 2014, the City Planning Commission approved the Fordham Road District Management Association’s application to expand the Fordham Road Business Improvement District to include two new lots located directly to the east of the existing BID. The new lots are bounded by East Fordham Road to the north, East 189th Street to the south, Park Avenue to the east, and Washington Avenue to the west. The BID currently stretches along Fordham Road between Jerome Avenue to the west and Webster Avenue to the east. The BID lies within parts of Bronx Community Boards 5, 6, and 7; the expansion lots are located entirely within Community Board 6.
East Fordham Road Rezoning Project Area. Image Credit:Pictometry International Corp.
Central Bronx area rezoned is adjacent to the Bronx Zoo, the Bronx Botanical Garden, and Fordham University. The Council approved the Bronx Planning office’s proposed zoning map amendments affecting a 12 block area in the Central Bronx. The new zoning established height limits, protects neighborhood character, and reinforces existing commercial character. A major goal of the rezoning is to stimulate revitalization of the area through private investment, the construction of affordable housing and to create an attractive gateway to important Bronx cultural institutions.
On September 30, 2013, the Bronx Borough Office of the Department of City Planning (DCP) testified before the City Council’s Land Use Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises in support of the proposal to rezone an area along East Fordham Road, a major east-west thoroughfare passing through the central Bronx. The rezoning area is generally bounded by East 191st Street to the north, East 187th Street to the south, Southern Boulevard to the east, and Bathgate Avenue to the west. (more…)
Robert J. Kafin, Chair of GrowNYC.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote “In the spring, a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” May that always be so, but it is equally true today that for many New Yorkers spring also turns thoughts to Greenmarket, a collection of producer-only farmers markets that now blanket the City.
The first Greenmarket opened in July 1976 in a lot on Second Avenue at the Manhattan end of the Queensboro Bridge. Seven farmers sold produce at a once-a-week pop-up fair during the late summer season. Today’s Greenmarket has grown into a year-around program with 54 retail markets in all five Boroughs, where 230 family farms and fisherman from seven states bring regionally produced foods for sale to consumers.
The primary objectives of Greenmarkets are to promote regional agriculture by providing urban retail outlets for family farms, and to provide consumers in the City with convenient access to fresh, locally-produced foods. The 54 Greenmarkets occupy a diverse set of spaces, ranging from the great open plazas in Union Square to indoor spaces at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown and the Staten Island Ferry Terminals. Greenmarkets are also located on wide sidewalks on Queens Boulevard in Forest Hills and along Columbus Avenue behind the American Museum of Natural History, in church yards such as St. Stephen’s on East 82nd Street in Manhattan, in temporarily closed streets like Union Avenue beside McCarren Park in Brooklyn, and in parking lots such as the one at the Staten Island Mall.
In a Reader
