HPD’s Carol Clark on Affordable Housing Development and Historic Preservation

Carol Clark, Assistant Commissioner for Land Use and Local Governmental Affairs with the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development, serves as one of the agency’s vital ambassadors to the City Council. The Council must review HPD’s affordable housing development initiatives that involve the disposition of City-owned properties or the grant of tax exemptions. Clark arrived at HPD ten years ago with an extensive background in architecture, historic preservation, planning, and real estate … <Read More>


Council considers proposed living wage law

G. Oliver Koppell

Proposed local law would impose wage mandates on certain businesses receiving City economic development incentives. On May 12, 2011, the City Council’s Contracts Committee held a hearing on the proposed Fair Wages for New Yorkers Act. The proposal, Intro 251-A, would require employers connected to a development project receiving at least $100,000 in financial assistance from the City to pay employees a mandated “living wage” that would be linked to a … <Read More>


Leonard Wasserman Discusses Economic Development

Early in his adult life, Leonard Wasserman thought he would pursue a career in urban planning. His perspective changed, however, when he realized he was “better with words than colored pencils.” After college, Wasserman spent a little over a year at the Housing and Development Administration (the agency that later split into Buildings and HPD), but decided to take a leave from the ranks of the employed to attend Brooklyn Law School to focus on … <Read More>


Former FDNY firehouses offered for redevelopment

Proposal lists a $1 purchase price for Williamsburg firehouse. The New York City Economic Development Corporation issued requests for proposals for the two former Brooklyn FDNY firehouses that spurred controversy when DCAS proposed to sell the buildings at public auction. Opposition by local community boards and Borough President Marty Markowitz to the outright sale resulted in a compromise under which the City Council voted to limit future users to community facility providers and to prohibit … <Read More>