Image Credit: NYC DOT

One year ago, in January 2020, the Expert Panel assigned by Mayor Bill de Blasio to study the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway issued its Final Report. Mayor de Blasio in 2019 appointed the seventeen-person Expert Panel* of which I was a member, following the angry rejection of New York City DOT’s plan for reconstructing the section of the BQE adjacent to Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo and Downtown Brooklyn. City DOT presented its plan publicly September 2019. The plan caused immediate outrage. (read more…)

Mayor Bill de Blasio and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie visit a residence in the Bronx where tree roots have damaged the sidewalk. Image Credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

The City will stop issuing violations to homeowners for damage caused by street trees. On September 10, 2019, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the City will stop issuing violations to homeowners for damage caused by city street trees. Over the next three years, the Department of Transportation and Parks Department plans to boost sidewalk repairs under the Trees and Sidewalks program to address approximately 5,500 priority sites throughout the City. (read more…)

Mayor Bill de Blasio announces comprehensive plan to renovate NYCHA apartments and preserve public housing in New York City. Image credit: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

The plan will be divided into three programs to address the $24 billion in capital need for repairs and renovations. On December 12, 2018, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a comprehensive plan named NYCHA 2.0 to renovate and preserve NYCHA housing, aimed to resolving $24 billion in vital repairs. NYCHA 2.0 is a ten-year plan that will deliver renovations for 175,000 residents, fund essential capital repairs across the rest of NYCHA’s portfolio, and launch new repair strategies for lead paint, mold, elevator, heat, and vermin issues. (read more…)

Mayor Bill de Blasio announces repairs. Image Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

The repairs will be made possible through public-private partnerships. On November 18, 2018, Mayor de Blasio announced that NYCHA has committed to $13 billion in repairs to 62,000 of its units. The renovations include new kitchens and bathrooms,  replacement of windows, elevators, boilers, and roofs, and improvements to common areas. The repairs will affect approximately 140,000 residents, who will “retain all their rights as public housing residents, pay rent limited to 30 percent of their income, and remain in their buildings during the renovations,” according to the press release. (read more…)

Program seeks to keep aging tenants in their homes. On April 30, 2018, the Housing Preservation & Development Commission announced a new preservation program tool named Aging in Place. The program will offer apartment and common area modifications to residents of buildings undergoing City financed rehabilitation. The modifications aim to increase safety and comfort in the home and reduce risks of falls. The program was created in collaboration with the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Department for the Aging, and the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities. (read more…)

Nora Machine is one of the world’s most advanced tunnel-boring machines. Photo: NYC Water.

The DEP commences the largest repair project in the history of the New York City’s water system. The New York City Department of Environmental Protection has since 1992 been monitoring two leaking sections of the Delaware Aqueduct—one in the Orange County town of Newburgh, and the other in the Ulster County town of Wawarsing. The leaks release an estimated 20-30 million gallons of water per day.  All of the data gathered shows that the leak rate has remained constant and the cracks have not worsened since DEP began monitoring the two leaks in 1992.  In 2010, the City announced a plan to address the leaks by building a permanent 2.5 mile bypass tunnel around the leaking section of the aqueduct in Newburgh. The 2.5-mile bypass will be constructed 600 feet below the Hudson River—from Newburgh on the West Shore to Wappinger Falls on the East Shore.  (read more…)