Ferris Wheel and Staten Island Revitalization Project Approved

Council gives go ahead for world’s largest Ferris wheel and outlet complex.  On October 30, 2013, City Council unanimously voted 45-0 to approve the construction of the largest Ferris Wheel in the western hemisphere, which along with other developments, is intended to transform Staten Island’s St. George Waterfront. The New York Wheel (the Wheel), designed and manufactured by Starneth, will be built just north of the Richmond County Bank Ballpark, and will provide … <Read More>


Medicaid: 5 Million New Yorkers, $53 Billion and Growing

Fiscal year 2010 Medicaid spending by the fifty states, excluding administrative costs, exceeded $389 billion dollars.  New York State led the states in total spending at $52 billion dollars. Medicaid costs are now the largest driver of state and local spending in New York State. Recent changes in State law have helped reduce the local costs, but Medicaid continues to dominate State and local expenses.

Congress in 1965 established Medicaid under Title XIX of the <Read More>


Proposed local laws directed toward DOT’s bike projects

Intros would create formal outreach and reporting requirements for proposed bike lanes and any major transportation project. On September 26, 2011, the City Council’s Transportation Committee held a public hearing to consider three proposed local laws concerning the Department of Transportation’s outreach efforts for proposed bike lanes, and addressing consultation and reporting requirements for major transportation projects.

Intro 412, introduced by Council Member Lewis Fidler in November 2010, would require DOT to notify and request … <Read More>


Robin Stout on the Future of the Moynihan Station Project

I n 2005, Robin Stout was appointed President of the Moynihan Station Development Corporation, the Empire State Development Corporation’s subsidiary charged with transforming the James A. Farley Post Office Building into a new train hall named for the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan. Stout, a Columbia Law School graduate, spent nine years at Stroock & Stroock & Lavan LLP before joining the ESDC as Senior Counsel to the 42nd Street Development Project in 1990. Transforming … <Read More>


IDA approves $46M in tax and other benefits

Proposed office tower for 125th St. Image: Swanke Hayden Connell Architects.

Major League Baseball project in Harlem is among the beneficiaries. On March 6, 2008, the New York City Industrial Development Agency held a public hearing on proposed public subsidies to private entities, including a joint venture between Vornado Realty Trust and California Urban Investment Partners. The joint venture was established to build a 21-story office tower on 125th Street and Park Avenue, directly southwest … <Read More>


DOT’s Schaller on Making Congestion Pricing a Reality

Bruce Schaller, DOT’s Deputy Commissioner for Planning and Sustainability, stands on the front-lines in the battle over the City’s congestion pricing plan. Hand-picked by Mayor Bloomberg a month after the City announced its intention to charge vehicles entering or leaving Manhattan below 86th Street, Mr. Schaller must present and implement a plan that satisfies City, state, and federal officials.

As a transportation consultant, he analyzed the impact of East River bridge tolls for the Straphanger … <Read More>