Manhattan District Attorney-Elect Alvin Bragg. Image Credit: CityLand.

Today, December 3, 2021, Alvin Bragg, Manhattan District Attorney-Elect, spoke at the 176th CityLaw Breakfast. Professor Ross Sandler, Director of the Center for New York City Law provided opening remarks. President and Dean of New York Law School Anthony W. Crowell held a conversation with District Attorney-Elect Bragg. This Breakfast was sponsored by ConEdison, Greenberg Traurig, and Verizon, and co-sponsored by the Wilf Impact Center for Public Interest Law and the Criminal Justice Institute. This was the tenth virtual CityLaw Breakfast as in-person events are not feasible at this time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (more…)

Image from the second mayoral debate featuring several of the mayoral candidates. Image Credit: WABC-TV

The Mayoral Election will help shape the City’s land use and housing policymaking decisions. Between now and June 20th, early voting is available for the NYC Primary, in which New Yorkers will help decide who will be the next Mayor of New York City. Over the course of their campaigns, mayoral candidates have developed and shared their positions on a variety of land use and housing issues including developing affordable housing, handling the eviction and homelessness crisis, revising land use review processes, how to develop underutilized space, NYCHA, and building inspections.  (more…)

Mayor Bill de Blasio, DSNY Commissioner Edward Grayson and Director Ben Furnas of the Mayor’s Office of Sustainability pose with a compost collection bin following the return of the Curbside Composting Program. Image Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

The new version of the Curbside Composting service will make free composting services available to New Yorkers and the improved Program includes significant expansions. On April 22, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that New York City will be resuming its Curbside Composting Program, which was originally halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Earth Day announcement also included significant expansions to community composting, reuse, and hazardous waste disposal programs operated by the Department of Sanitation. (more…)

Image from DCP Open House website, comparing a stretch of Eastchester Road in the Bronx with what it could possibly look like after the Metro-North train station construction and other land use changes. Image Credit: NYC DCP

The Department’s ongoing study uses community feedback to assess land use needs in the East Bronx. On April 30, 2021, the Department of City Planning released a new public engagement website for four new future Metro-North train stations in the east Bronx. The Metro-North Stations are planned for the Hunts Point, Parkchester/Van Nest, Morris Park and Co-Op City neighborhoods and will connect with Penn Station and locations further north. Currently, there is information for the Morris Park and Parkchester/Van Nest stations, with information about the Co-Op City and Hunts Points stations to be provided at a later date. (more…)

Governors Island. Image credit: Trust for Governors Island.

The six new appointees will help oversee the Trust’s planning , operations, and development decisions. On April 14, 2021, Mayor de Blasio announced new appointments to the Trust for Governors Island Board of Directors. The appointments are Donnel Baird, Alice Blank, Lisa Garcia, Grace Lee, Michael Oppenheimer, and Matthew Washington. The appointed members have a combined wealth of knowledge and backgrounds in the fields of green technology, climate science, environmental justice, architecture, business, government, and advocacy. The appointments will be overseeing the Trust’s activities in planning, operations, and development of Governors Island. (more…)