Comptroller Report Finds Airbnb Usage Contributed to High Rent Problem

On April 2018, New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer issued a report on the impact of Airbnb on City rents. The report looked at how the home-sharing company impacted rent in the City over the period of 2009 to 2016. The report found that rental rates increases during this time period can be attributed to Airbnb.


Eric Garner’s death: No Justice, No Peace

Three years have passed since Eric Garner’s choking death at the hands of police officer Daniel Pantaleo, and the episode remains unresolved. The grand jury’s secrecy and its decision not to indict anyone, along with Comptroller Scott Stringer’s unusually swift civil settlement with the Garner Family, have left the public with insufficient answers and a sense that justice has been denied. Civil rights organizations and governmental investigators have made additional attempts to obtain information, but … <Read More>


City Council Resolution Supports Landmarking the Coney Island Boardwalk

The City Council resolution has garnered unanimous support by the Council’s Members and other elected officials. On May 4, 2016, the City Council Land Use Committee will hear testimony on a resolution to urge the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate the Riegelmann Boardwalk—most commonly known as the Coney Island Boardwalk—as a New York City Landmark. The resolution, sponsored by Brooklyn Council Member Mark Treyger, is a way to protect the Boardwalk from physical alterations, which … <Read More>


Comptroller Releases Findings of Lost City Revenue in Audit of Department of Finance

The audit report reveals that the misclassification of 140 properties has deprived the City of $1.7 million annually in lost property tax revenue. On February 18, 2016, the Office of the NYC Comptroller publicized the results from its audit of the New York City Department of Finance.  The audit sought to investigate whether the Department of Finance had implemented procedures that adequately safeguard against the misclassification of Brooklyn property sites. The Comptroller’s Office and DOF … <Read More>


Comptroller Releases Report Critical of East New York Rezoning Plan

The report predicts that almost 50,000 residents of the affected Brooklyn neighborhoods would be priced out of neighborhood.  On December 3, 2015, Comptroller Scott M. Stringer issued a report—Mandatory Inclusionary Housing and the East New York Rezoning: An Analysis—on the proposed East New York rezoning plan’s effect on housing affordability in the East New York and Cypress Hills neighborhoods of Brooklyn.  The report claims while supply of housing units in the rezoned areas … <Read More>


Astoria Cove Developers Testify Before City Council

Council Members questioned the developers on the project’s affordability and use of union labor. On October 20, 2014 the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a public hearing on the proposed Astoria Cove development project. The project, which would create a new mixed-use development of 1,700 apartments, commercial space, a school, a supermarket, and parks, was approved by the City Planning Commission over opposition by both Queens Community Board 1 and Queens Borough <Read More>