“These bills are a common sense way to help new arrivals become self-sufficient and less dependent on costly city services. I hope that my colleagues of all political stripes can come together to support these operational fixes that will improve our city’s response to this challenging moment.”
Officials and environmental advocates want to increase the city’s tree canopy to 30 percent by 2035, up from the current threshold of 22 percent. Hitting the new benchmark may not be so straightforward: questions remain over maintenance, funding, and how to mobilize city dwellers to plant more trees.
Councilmembers are weighing a slate of bills to expand programs and resources that follow the model of social housing—deeply affordable homes built “for public good” rather than profit, what supporters say could help turn the tide in a city where increasing numbers of tenants are struggling to afford rent. But City Hall officials pushed back on some of the proposals, saying they could undermine Mayor Adams’ efforts to build new housing as quickly as possible.
City Limits rounds up the latest housing and land use-related events, public hearings and upcoming affordable housing lotteries that are ending soon.
“It should be abundantly clear that the stamp of a landmark designation alone does not keep a building standing. If financial viability and structural integrity are in question, landmarking should be postponed, until a game plan for rehabilitation is fleshed out.”
Advocates want the city to take a more proactive approach to lead paint inspections and enforcement, saying the current system contains loopholes that allow property owners to skirt the rules. Their push comes as the Health Department considers lowering the childhood lead-level threshold that would automatically trigger an investigation.
Adams stressed unity in her first speech as City Council’s new leader, saying the legislative body—the most diverse in the city’s history—would prioritize addressing the pandemic, including the recent shortage of tests and booster appointments, as well as public safety, healthcare equity and affordable child care.
‘We need fewer barriers to access and more affordable housing. With just over a year left in this administration, rezoning SoHo is an important legacy that shouldn’t be pushed off any longer.’
A state Supreme Court judge’s decision released Thursday could send the developers behind proposed four high-rises in Manhattan’s Two Bridges neighborhood back to square one.
From the banks of the East River to a NYCHA development uptown, Gale Brewer has resisted efforts by Bill de Blasio to undertake major development projects without going through ULURP.
City Limits uses investigative journalism through the prism of New York City to identify urban problems, examine their causes, explore solutions, and equip communities to take action.
Founded in 1976 in the midst of New York’s fiscal crisis, City Limits exists to inform democracy and equip citizens to create a more just city. The organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit funded by foundation support, ad sponsorship and donations from readers.
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