Chief Public Realm Officer Ya-Ting Liu. Image Credit: Mayor Eric Adams/Twitter.

On February 16, 2023, Mayor Eric Adams announced the appointment of Ya-Ting Liu as the City’s first Chief Public Realm Officer. The role of the Chief Public Realm Officer will be to coordinate between government, community organization and the private sector to develop public spaces citywide. The Chief Public Realm Officer will help execute a plan to invest $375 million to develop public spaces citywide, as well as help develop the city’s permanent outdoor dining plan in partnership with the City Council. For more information about the permanent outdoor dining plan, click here.  (more…)

Subway trains at the Spring Street station twice struck passengers lying on the tracks on separate occasions. How fast should subway trains be moving when they enter a station? The faster the subway trains go, the more people the trains can carry and the quicker people will get to their destinations. Even a slowdown of a few seconds per train can slow the entire system. Speed is so important to the mission of the Transit Authority that the Transit Authority has committed billions of dollars to upgrades which will allow for increases in train speed and carrying capacity. On the other hand, safety is also a paramount priority, and as speeds increase so do stopping distances. (more…)

Mayor Adams announces his administration’s affordable housing team. Image Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

The three appointments are the latest to the new Adams administration. On January 30, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced his appointments for his administration’s affordable housing administration and policy team. The new appointees are Jessica Katz as the Chief Housing Officer; Adolfo Carrión Jr. as the new Commissioner of the Department of Housing and Preservation (HPD); and Eric Enderlin, who will continue to serve as the president of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC). The three appointments were announced as Mayor Adams finishes his first month in office. (more…)

Image of current districts under the FRESH program. One of the Mayor’s proposed zoning amendments will expand the FRESH program in outer boroughs. Image Credit: NYC DCP

Commissioners raised concerns about the removal of special permits as a way to vet out illegitimate massage parlors. On October 20, 2021, the City Planning Commission voted to approve two applications proposed by the City to support small businesses and promote healthy food options and fitness. The two applications, the FRESH Program Expansion and the Health and Fitness Text Amendment, were part of a series of zoning proposals proposed earlier this year.  (more…)

Even though the Supreme Court struck down race-based land use controls over a hundred years ago in Buchanan v. Warley, 245 U.S. 60 (1917) it has long been known that zoning continues to create or increase racial and economic segregation. Today communities across the U.S. are reexamining their zoning regulations to create more equal, equitable, inclusive, and resilient communities by removing requirements, limitations, or prohibitions that disproportionately and negatively impact individuals based on race or class. (more…)