Hobbled by a bad back and recently returned from vacation, the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s General Counsel Mark Silberman sat down with CityLand to talk about his role at the Commission and Landmarks’ role in the City. He brings a perspective on the broader role of historic preservation nationally and in our culture.
A young environmentalist. Raised in Illinois and a graduate of the University of California at Santa Cruz, Silberman began his career in government … <Read More>
Albert K. Butzel did everything he could to avoid going to law school. After graduating from Harvard College, Butzel spent a year in Paris trying to become, as he put it, Ernest Hemingway or F. Scott Fitzgerald. He made a deal with his father, who was an attorney, that he would go to law school if he did not succeed as a fiction writer. About a year later, Butzel enrolled at Harvard Law School.
Having … <Read More>
Developer sought to extinguish deed restriction on Upper West Side property. The City, through the Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s Asset Sales Program, sold 330 West 86th Street in Manhattan to the building’s tenants. Because the property had been designated as an Urban Development Action Area Project, the deed stated that the tenants could only rehabilitate or conserve the existing dwellings, or construct new dwellings permitted by existing zoning laws. The deed also required … <Read More>
Developer not required to submit a recorded easement or restrictive declaration ensuring rooftop access to adjoining buildings to meet open space requirements. A developer agreed to purchase 144 North 8th Street from Iqbal LLC and two affiliated entities, along with the unused development rights from Iqbal’s adjoining tax lot, to facilitate the construction of a 16-story mixed-use building in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. In order to meet open space requirements for the 16-story design, the developer needed … <Read More>
TOMORROW IS PRIMARY DAY. DON’T FORGET TO VOTE IF YOU HAVE COMPETITIVE CONGRESSIONAL OR STATE LEGISLATIVE CONTESTS WHERE YOU LIVE.
State Commission Meets to Approve New Budget
The Independent Redistricting Commission met in Albany on June 20 to adopt a new budget and to let the public know that they would be busy at work preparing a report to send to the state legislature by end the of the year. The meeting, which lasted less … <Read More>
EVENTS
June 18 Conference- N.Y. Redistricting: What Happened and What’s Next?
New York Law School will host a conference on redistricting from 9:30 to Noon at the school (located at 185 W. Broadway in Manhattan’s Tribeca neighborhood). Panels will focus on the 2014 constitutional amendment, the post-2020 process and what happened, and next steps for a new constitutional amendment before the post-2030 process gets underway. 2022 Court Special Master Jonathan Cervas will keynote the event. … <Read More>