Council Member Ritchie Torres. Image credit: NYCC/William Alatriste

UPDATE: On May 10, 2017, the City Council voted 45-4 to approve the extension of the moratorium on hotel-to-condo conversions within the Borough of Manhattan. Council Members Daniel Garodnick, David Greenfield, Steven Matteo, and Paul Vallone all voted in the negative. The Committee on Housing and Buildings previously voted 11-0 on May 8, 2017. The bill will now go to the Mayor’s desk for his signature.

City Council Committee heard testimony in considering an extension on the Manhattan moratorium on hotel-to-condo conversions. On May 2, 2017, the Committee on Housing and Buildings held a hearing on a bill to continue for two years a limitation on conversions of hotels to condominiums. The Manhattan hotel industry alone generates about $11.8 billion in economic activity and generates more than 65,000 jobs throughout the City. The industry contributed $1.8 billion in tax revenue to the City in fiscal year 2015. (more…)

Borinquen Court’s Main Entrance. Image credit: West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc.

West Side Federation will build new units adjacent to an existing, low-income residential building and add additional community and commercial space.  On August 13, 2015, the City Council approved West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure application to build a development around the pre-existing Borinquen Court building, which is a low-income residential building geared towards senior citizens and physically-disabled individuals.  The development would be located in Council District 8—represented by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito—on property bounded by Third Avenue, Alexander Avenue, 138th Street, and 139th Street in the Mott Haven neighborhood of the Bronx.  The additions would yield a three-winged structure with Borinquen Court at the center, a 122-unit building attached to its west end, and a 56-unit building attached to its east end.

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Council Member Ben Kallos

Last week, the City Council passed a resolution in support of allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to serve on their local community boards. The resolution throws City support behind Albany legislation that would amend the City Charter and Public Officers Law to let the teens become full voting members of their boards.

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