COMMENTARY: CityLaw Breakfasts Return to New York Law School

Here is welcome news. This Fall CityLaw Breakfasts will return to in-person breakfasts at the Events Center at New York Law School. Covid-19 compelled the Law School to go remote and the CityLaw Breakfasts followed into cyberspace. The Law School has in the interim rebuilt the sound and video systems in the large and comfortable Events Center on the second floor of the Law School. We will be back with in-person breakfasts this Fall.


$9 Million Invested to Upgrade Morrison Avenue Plaza in the Bronx

The upgrade is scheduled to be completed in winter 2021. On October 30, 2020, the NYC Department of Transportation, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, and the NYC Department of Design and Construction announced the beginning of a $9 million project to expand and beautify Morrison Avenue Plaza located at the southeast corner of Morrison Avenue and Westchester Avenue in the Soundview neighborhood in the Bronx.


$75 Million Enhancement of Staten Island Bluebelt Underway

Bluebelts improve the health of local waterways and increase nearby property values by managing stormwater and reducing flooding while protecting natural spaces. On October 1, 2020, New York City Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Vincent Sapienza, Department of Transportation Commissioner Polly Trottenberg, and Department of Design and Construction Commissioner Lorraine Grillo announced that construction began on a $75 million enhancement of the Bluebelt program in the Mid-Island area of Staten Island.


Council Holds Hearing on DOT COVID-19 Response

Council looks to revamp the private street mapping process in hopes of addressing private streets in disrepair. On September 8, 2020, the City Council Committee on Transportation held a public hearing on the Department of Transportation’s response to COVID-19, the Open Streets Program, and two introductory bills. The bills would effectively establish permit requirements for the mapping of private streets and additionally provide for their maintenance. The bills are sponsored by Council Members Steven Matteo, … <Read More>


Lower Speed Limits, Traffic Cameras in School Zones Aim to Reduce Traffic Deaths

The City plans to expand the number of speed traffic cameras through 2021. On September 1, 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that through a coordinated effort between the Administration, the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the NYPD, speed limits will be reduced by five miles per hours on 25 miles of major streets, adherence to speed limits will be more strictly enforced, and speed cameras have been activated in all 750 school zones Citywide.


DOT, DDC, DEP and Elected Officials Celebrate “Great Street” Grand Concourse Renovation

Phase 4 of the project will begin in April 2021. On August 12, 2020, the Department of Transportation, Department of Design and Construction, and Department of Environmental Protection, along with Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. and Council Member Vanessa Gibson, announced the completion of Phase 3 of the reconstruction of Grand Concourse in the Bronx.