70 Mulberry Street, prior to the January 2020 fire. Image Credit: Google Maps

The fire displaced several non-profits that served the Chinatown community. On July 2, 2020, Mayor de Blasio and Department of Citywide Administrative Services (DCAS) Commissioner Lisette Camilo announced $80 million in funding and the creation of an advisory committee to rebuild 70 Mulberry Street, the historic building and social service center that was ravaged by a five-alarm fire on January 23, 2020. 70 Mulberry Street, lovingly referred to as “The Heart of Chinatown,” housed five nonprofit organizations that provided Chinatown with essential community services such as hot meals for seniors, arts and cultural activities, and ESOL classes. As Council Member Margaret Chin explained, “after the fire, Chinatown immediately lost critical senior, cultural, career development, youth, and adult literacy services that immigrant families depended on for generations.” (read more…)

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams Image Credit: NYC City Council

Public Hearing hinges on interest rates and how property tax deferments affect the City budget. On June 18, 2020, the City Council officially introduced two bills that would defer July 1, 2020, property tax liabilities for COVID-19 impacted property owners. One bill addresses the tax liabilities of primary residences and the other addresses the tax liabilities of businesses affected by the pandemic. The bills were originally heard as preconsidered bills at the June 10, 2020, Committee on Finance public hearing.

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Council Member Chin was pleased to announce deeper affordability, senior housing and the preservation of two Lower East Side institutions in Go Broome project. On February 27, 2020, the full City Council unanimously approved with a companion resolution, GO Broome LLC’s application to rezone and develop a large-scale, mixed use development on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. The Chinese-American Planning Council and the Gotham Organization Inc. partnered to propose a development with mixed-income, intergenerational housing, commercial retail space and community facility space. The proposed development would be across the street from Essex Crossing and bound between Broome Street to the north, Grand Street to the south, Suffolk Street to the east and Norfolk Street to the west. The application was previously approved by the City Council Committee on Land Use On February 13, 2020, and City Planning on January 21, 2020. Read CityLand’s prior coverage of the Go Broome Street Development here.

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Rendering of proposed flood resiliency infrastructure./Image Credit: DDC, Parks, DOT, DEP, and Mayor’s Office of Resiliency/CPC

Despite the project’s phased construction schedule, concerns with the project still exist among elected officials and community members. On November 4, 2019, the City Council Subcommittee on Landmarks, Public Siting, and Dispositions approved two land use applications for the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, the City’s flood protection plan for Lower Manhattan. The Project will include a system of floodgates and walls along the project area, sewage improvements, and will elevate East River Park eight feet above the flood plain to protect the Park and have it serve as a flood barrier for nearby neighborhoods. The first application is for access onto private property adjacent to the proposed flood protection infrastructure for the City to conduct inspections, maintenance, and repair of the infrastructure. The second application is for a zoning text amendment to allow higher wall heights for the proposed floodwalls and gates at Stuyvesant Cove Park.

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Speaker Corey Johnson Image Credit: CityLand

After modifications and a lengthy Stated Meeting, Borough Based Jails passed despite significant opposition. On October 17, 2019, the City Council voted to approve the City’s Borough Based Jails System application with modifications. The approved plan includes four jail facilities located at 124-125 White Street in Manhattan, 745 East 141st Street in the Bronx, 126-02 82nd Avenue in Queens and at 275 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn and closure of the Rikers Island detention facility.

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Image Credit: William Alatriste

Intro 30-A gives HPD liens a stronger position. On August 14, 2019, City Council passed Intro 30-A providing that the City’s Department of Housing Preservation and Development’s (“HPD”) orders to vacate the premises, and the subsequent costs to relocate the displaced tenant would now be considered high status tax liens on the property. The law is intended to discourage the negligence of building owners and give HPD an ability to recover relocation expenses of those tenants that were forced to vacate. These liens will have a first position over all other liens and encumbrances on the building and lot except for other tax liens and assessments.

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