Department of City Planning. Image credit: DCP
All land use applications and general inquires will be handled at new address; the City Planning Commission, however, will continue holding public meetings at 22 Reade Street. As of November 23, 2015, the Department of City Planning is no longer conducting its operations at 22 Reade Street in the Civic Center neighborhood of Manhattan.
The Manhattan Bank Building in Long Island City, Queens. Image credit: LPC
Building was known as “Queens’ first skyscraper”. On May 12, 2015 the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to designate the former Bank of Manhattan Company’s Long Island City branch building at 29-27 Queens Plaza North as an individual City landmark. Also known as the Queens Clock Tower, the building was designed by architect Morrell Smith, a Queens native, and first opened in 1927. The proposed landmarking first received a public hearing on April 21, 2015.
Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan. Image credit: CityLand
(Editor’s Note: The Department of Education recently released statistics on the first round of 2015 admissions for New York City’s examination high schools. According to their report, offers to join the 2015-2016 incoming class at Stuyvesant High School counts just ten African-American and twenty Latino students. The following by Professor Aaron Saiger of Fordham University’s School of Law was published in the January/February issue of CityLaw.)
New York City is experiencing one of its periodic flare-ups over its eight selective “examination” high schools. As in the past, attention has focused upon what a United Federation of Teachers task force calls “the profound inequity in the admissions demographics” at the exam schools. UFT, Redefining High Performance for Entrance into Specialized High Schools 3 (March 2014). This inequity results from these schools’ practice of admitting students based exclusively upon scores on the standardized Specialized High Schools Admissions Test. Because the exam schools now function as one component in the broader current system of citywide high school choice, however, it is possible to argue that their test-only admissions in fact enhance the diversity of the system overall, their racial demographics notwithstanding.
Mayor Bill de Blasio delivers the 2015 State of the City address at Baruch College. Image Demetrius Freeman/Mayoral Photography Office
Affordable housing issues, including rent-regulation, mandatory inclusionary zoning, and more were highlighted in the speech. On February 3, 2015 Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered his second State Of The City address from Baruch College. The Mayor spoke at length about the affordable housing crisis facing New York City and the programs his administration has begun or will propose to address the problem.
Independence Day commemorates the United States’ declaration of independence from Great Britain. Significant events occurred in New York City during the Revolutionary War, and many historic figures were from, and are buried here. In celebration of Independence Day, CityLand has created a list of some historic landmarks designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission that have a connection to the Revolutionary War era. Happy 4th of July from all of us here at the Center for New York City Law.
New Utrecht Reformed Church, Brooklyn. Image Credit: Friends of Historic New Utrecht.
New Utrecht Reformed Church
Location: 18th Avenue at 83rd Street, Brooklyn
Date: 1828, original 1677
LPC Designated: March 15, 1966 and expanded on January 13, 1998
The original church was founded in 1677. During the Revolutionary War the church was used by the British as a hospital, a prison, and a riding school during the British occupation following the Battle of Long Island. The British troops held target practice on the Church’s weathervane, and the headstones at the nearby cemetery. The Church’s Liberty Pole was constructed in 1783 to commemorate the British departure. The Pole has been replaced several times but has been surmounted by the same eagle.
