On August 11, 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a local law that guaranteed legal representation for low-income tenants facing eviction in New York City’s Housing Court. One of the bill’s major champions was Andrew Scherer, Policy Director of the Impact Center for Public Interest Law at New York Law School, who began fighting for housing justice decades earlier.
Search Results for: Review
Postmodern Icon to be Considered as Individual Landmark
Tower’s design, which flamboyantly rejected the precepts of the International Style, generated tremendous publicity and controversy. On November 28, 2017, Landmarks voted to add the former AT&T Building, at 550 Madison Avenue to its calendar, formally commencing the designation process. Designed by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, the building is considered an icon of Postmodernism. The building, built between 1978 and 1884, is just old enough to be considered under Landmarks’ rules mandating that only … <Read More>
Follow-Up Comptroller Audit Finds Previously Cited Privately Owned Public Spaces Still Non-Compliant
Audit reveals that Department of Buildings did not inspect non-compliant POPS locations. On November 22, 2017, the Office of the City Comptroller Scott Stringer released a report of a follow-up audit to determine whether the Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS), previously found noncompliant in an April 18, 2017 audit, now provided all required amenities, and what action if any were taken by the Department of Buildings to bring these POPS into compliance. To read CityLand’s… <Read More>
Panel Discusses Right to Counsel for Eviction Cases in NYC Housing Court
On November 2, 2017, the Impact Center for Public Interest Law and the Center for New York City Law hosted a discussion on the newly enacted local law which will insure that all low income persons facing eviction will have counsel in Housing Court. Professor Andrew Scherer, Policy Director of the Impact Center, moderated the panel featuring: Marika Dias, Director of Tenant Rights Campaign at Legal Services NYC (LSNYC); Carmen Vega-Rivera, Tenant Leader of … <Read More>
Council Eases ULURP Requirements for Certain Government Officials
City Council passed a bill that would exempt certain government entities from pre-application requirements for zoning text amendments. On August 24, 2017, Council Member Margaret Chin introduced Int. No. 1685, exempting certain government officials from the Department of City Planning’s “time-consuming” pre-application process. “This bill would allow Borough Presidents, Mayoral Agencies and the Land Use Committee of the City Council to file applications for zoning text amendments without filing a pre-application statement.” The bill … <Read More>
New Filings and Decisions Charts for October 2017
CityLand tracks these applications through the review process to a final decision. The majority of these decisions are available on the Center for New York City Law’s CityAdmin database (found at www.CityAdmin.org).