With New York City mired in a historic affordability crisis, the Lower Manhattan Assembly race between Deborah Glick and challenger Ryder Kessler appears to be a microcosm of a broader debate among Democrats when it comes to development and housing: where to build, how much to build and how to make more units affordable.
With pieces dating back to the early 20th century, the city’s public schools are home to almost 2,000 works encompassing realistic murals depicting the city’s history, giant pieces on exterior walls, playground installations that teach children about sound, fanciful fences and wall installations with nooks and crannies for students to explore. Faith Ringgold, Keith Haring, Romare Bearden and Carrie Mae Weems are among the many prominent artists represented.
The Department of Homeless Services (DHS) is re-evaluating its guidelines for sheltering older homeless adults and people with significant health problems that make them especially vulnerable to COVID-19, who can under the current rules access private or semi-private rooms. More than 170 such residents being housed at a Radisson Hotel in lower Manhattan will need to move out by early next month.
One big problem with Community Benefits Agreements (CBAs), experts say, is that they’re not laws, but rather private contracts between a developer and community groups. And if those groups aren’t around to hold a developer accountable—or the developer isn’t around and there’s no successor clause—there’s little anyone else can do to enforce an agreement.
When COVID-19 hit, policymakers saw an opportunity: The city had interconnected affordable housing and homelessness crises; the city also had hundreds of empty hotels hemorrhaging cash. But a year after the state passed a law funding the conversion of hotels to affordable housing, not a single one has happened. The experience of the Paramount Hotel on West 46th Street illustrates why.
The number of available apartments for low- and middle- income New Yorkers reached a 30-year low in 2021, according to the results of a vacancy survey used to determine whether rent stabilization laws will remain in place in the five boroughs.
Tenant attorneys, advocates and policymakers say the delays that Nichols has encountered demonstrate the flaws of the city’s code enforcement program, and the limits of a housing court system that can move at a glacial pace when it comes to holding owners accountable for unsafe conditions.
“Concerns about the creation of ‘mega jails’ have hounded the plans to close the jails on Rikers Island since before the historic vote in 2019. It has served as a useful boogeyman for opponents of the Rikers closure plan, especially in Manhattan. It’s also a fabrication.”
“The Carbon Free and Healthy Schools plan would be transformational: it would institute energy audits and retrofits of each school, repair and replace HVAC systems, invest in climate resiliency upgrades, and electrify our fleet of school buses. It would make use of schools’ large rooftops to generate solar power and increase school buildings’ overall energy efficiency.”
Those convicted of a crime prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney can apply to have their closed case reviewed by the new Post-Conviction Justice Unit (PCJU), what reform-minded DA Alvin Bragg called a “significant priority” for his office. “If you’ve committed the wrong person, there’s someone else out there who’s still doing harm.”
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