
Governor Andrew Cuomo welcomes the United States Naval Hospital Ship Comfort to New York City Image Credit: Darren McGee
USNS Comfort and Billie Jean King Tennis Center to be utilized as Corona outbreak strains hospital system. On March 31. 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the Billie Jean King Tennis Center in Flushing Meadow, Queens will be converted into a temporary hospital facility. The facility will hold up to 350 patients and will treat COVID non ICU patients beginning on April 7th, 2020. The conversion of this facility is intended to relieve some of the needs and overcrowding at the Elmhurst Hospital.
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Rendering of 244 East 106th Street. Image Credit: HPD/Ascendant Neighborhood Development.
On July 12, 2023, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing for a new supportive housing development at 244 East 106th Street in East Harlem. The site is currently a vacant lot on the south side of East 106th Street between Second and Third Avenues. The building is part of the ShareNYC pilot program where the city is exploring the creation and implementation of shared housing. Shared housing consists of housing units with two or more independently occupied rooms with a common kitchen and bathrooms. (more…)

Smoke and pollution from Canadian wildfires over Times Square on June 7, 2023. Image Credit: Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul
On June 7, 2023, Mayor Eric Adams and city officials discussed the city’s ongoing air quality issues as a result of smoke pollution from wildfires in Canada that has drifted down over much of the East Coast and Midwest. An air quality health advisory has been issued for today for the New York City Metro area by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. (more…)

Coney Island, along with the City’s other public beaches, opens for Memorial Day weekend. Image Credit: NYC Parks/ Malcolm Pinckney
This past weekend, City beaches opened for swimming for the summer. From May 27 to September 10, 2023, swimming is permitted when lifeguards are on duty from 10 AM to 6 PM, and prohibited when lifeguards are off duty. All beaches are free and open to the public. (more…)
by Caroline G. Harris, Esq. Goldman Harris LLC and Eric Vath, Esq. Goldman Harris LLC

A slide from the presentation of the City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality at the City Planning Commission featuring an ESS on the Barclays Center. The application was certified on April 24, 2023. Click to enlarge. Image Credit: DCP
To meet the climate goals of the 2016 Paris Agreement, New York State and New York City have adopted aggressive energy efficiency goals. The Mayor’s 2022 City of Yes program announced numerous initiatives to make the city sustainable, resilient and equitable. One of them, the City of Yes: Carbon Neutrality, aims to reduce our reliance on carbon-based fuels by modernizing the zoning rules to make our homes, businesses, electric power grid and waste stream much cleaner. A key element of the Carbon Neutrality initiative is to support an increase in the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. To be successful, the program will require changes in the City’s zoning resolution. (more…)