John McCarten/NYC Council
Supporters of the Fair Chance for Housing bill rallied this week outside City Hall.
The New York City Council held a hearing Thursday to discuss the Fair Chance for Housing Act, which would make it illegal for landlords and realtors to factor in criminal backgrounds when considering a tenant. Supporters say stable housing is key to preventing recidivism, but critics have slammed the bill, citing safety concerns.
Gov. Kathy Hochul late last month vetoed a bill that would have required the state to collect and publicly report on the number of New Yorkers struggling to pay for utilities, including those behind on their water bills—which supporters say is essential to planning government relief programs to address those debts.
This fall, City Limits Accountability Reporting Initiative for Youth (CLARIFY) is working with nearly two dozen talented high school students from across the five boroughs, including bilingual participants reporting in both English and Spanish.
City Limits looked at complaints received between Oct. 1 and Nov. 21 broken down by community district and found the pattern is similar to previous “heat seasons,” with the greatest number of 311 calls found in neighborhoods in upper Manhattan and several districts in The Bronx.
A patchwork of agencies, stakeholders and community groups help provide language-specific educational materials and translation services around city elections, what experts say is essential to making sure residents aren’t locked out of the democratic process.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and Congressman Lee Zeldin have starkly different stances when it comes to energy policy and other environmental issues, at a time when New York is at a critical juncture in planning and implementing its ambitious plan to lower its carbon emissions.
City Limits is looking to speak to artists and arts groups across the five boroughs to get a better sense of the challenges they’re facing, and how government policies can help address those.
Retired HPD photographer Larry Racioppo spent months without electricity after Hurricane Sandy rebuilding his Rockaway Park home. His photos from that time, and of his neighborhood over the decade since, are the subject of an exhibit on display this month at the Rockaway Initiative for Sustainability and Equity (RISE) in Far Rockaway.
Residential rezonings, including one approved this summer for Edgemere, are poised to bring thousands of new apartments to the Rockaways over the next decade, but just a single hospital has served the peninsula since 2012. A new task force is being asked to create a roadmap for expanding local healthcare services, including a facility that offers trauma care.
The Housing Authority will host a series of public meetings starting Monday to solicit feedback on how it plans to carry out the voting process, in which NYCHA tenants will choose whether they want their development to take part in the Preservation Trust, which officials say will help raise desperately needed repair funds.
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