In a swerve from precedent, the Rent Guidelines Board’s two tenant members dismissed Tuesday’s preliminary vote as a sham, casting a vote of no confidence in both the board and Mayor Eric Adams.
“I’m surprised, I’m baffled, I’m angry,” said City Councilmember Sandy Nurse, who represents East New York, where the city ran an earlier basement conversion pilot in 2019. The area is excluded from the new program, which will only apply to 15 of the city’s 59 community districts.
Whether in Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Forest Hills, or Rego Park, the sentiment was the same: parks are great, but transit is needed more. If there is the opportunity for both, all the better.
The proposal would build 1,400 income-restricted apartments—on top of 1,100 already in the works—on the Flushing waterfront just east of Citi Field. It also includes a privately financed stadium for the New York City Football Club.
The framework proposes to “increase density and allow housing in appropriate, key areas,” as part of a plan to rezone approximately 300 blocks of the neighborhood.
City Limits habló recientemente con varias familias sobre cómo era vivir en el refugio, el primer centro de acogida en el que la ciudad ha colocado a un gran número de familias inmigrantes con niños. Todas se quejaron del frío que hacía en las tiendas, de la lejanía y de la inaccesibilidad.
City Limits recently spoke with several families about what it was like to live at the shelter, the first congregate facility in which the city has placed large numbers of immigrant families with children. All complained about the cold inside the tents, the remoteness, and inaccessibility.
Local Law 97 is one of the most ambitious—and divisive—climate measures enacted in any U.S. city. While some co-op boards see the mandate as an opportunity to make sustainable upgrades to their buildings, others say it will drain their financial reserves.
“Instead of turning a blind eye to the suffering of basement and cellar apartment dwellers, disproportionately low-income and from immigrant communities, we must find the political courage to face this challenge by legalizing and making them safe.”
Under New York’s climate law, “disadvantaged communities” that have borne the brunt of pollution and other environmental issues are being prioritized for funding and climate-related benefits. But swaths of Southeast Queens didn’t make the cut, what local leaders say was an oversight.
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