Subway trains at the Spring Street station twice struck passengers lying on the tracks on separate occasions. How fast should subway trains be moving when they enter a station? The faster the subway trains go, the more people the trains can carry and the quicker people will get to their destinations. Even a slowdown of a few seconds per train can slow the entire system. Speed is so important to the mission of the Transit … <Read More>
On October 4, 2022, the Appellate Division, First Department ruled in favor of the City in its appeal challenging a February Supreme Court ruling that halted the City’s development of the permanent open restaurants program.
Multiple lawsuits have challenged both the temporary and proposed permanent open restaurant programs. On August 18, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced a new enforcement initiative with multiple city agencies to remove abandoned outdoor dining sheds. The City’s temporary open restaurants program allowed for restaurants to build outdoor shed structures on sidewalks and in roadways to allow for safer outdoor dining during the pandemic. However, some of these structures have been abandoned by restaurants that have … <Read More>
Mayor Adams Addresses the Issue of Affordable Housing and Works Towards Building More Affordable Housing. On June 14, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams released Housing Our Neighbors: A Blueprint for Housing and Homelessness, his administration’s plan to address New York City’s affordable housing crisis. The Blueprint discusses making the City a welcoming and homely place where people can stay and grow together as a family by creating housing that is available and affordable for people … <Read More>
Community boards often do not have the same resources as City agencies to have hybrid hearings. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many changes on how state and city governments conducted business, including public hearings. New York’s Open Meetings Law was originally designed to promote transparency, requiring hearings to be held in person and open to the public, with notice about how to participate. After meetings went virtual due to the pandemic, discussions began about … <Read More>
On February 2, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced three new appointments of his administration connected to social services. The three appointments are: Gary Jenkins as Commissioner of the Department of Social Services (DSS); Lisa Fitzpatrick as Administrator of the Human Resources Administration (HRA); and the reappointment of Joslyn Carter as the Administrator of the Department of Homeless Services (DHS).