Come September, the state’s highest court will consider Roberts v. Tishman Speyer, a suit challenging rent deregulation at Manhattan’s Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village. If the Court of Appeals upholds the decision of the Supreme Court’s Appellate Division, mega-developer Tishman Speyer will be deemed to have illegally deregulated apartments, promising financial compensation not only
Like the man says, “It’s déjà vu all over again.” Unless the State Legislature intervenes, on May 31, facing a more than $1.8 billion budget gap for 2009, the MTA will hike the base fare for NYC’s subways and buses to $2.50. That one-day Metrocard will now cost you $9.50; a month will run $103.
“Community planning” is the sort of innocuous, agreeable phrase that rarely evokes more than a yawn, the province of over-credentialed technocrats. To Tom Angotti, it’s a rallying cry for those left dispossessed and disenfranchised by what passes for New York City’s municipal land use planning process – most residents, by his lights. Read more…
As term limits and elections loom—with much of the current City Council scheduled for eviction in 2009—Mayor Bloomberg (along with more than a few members of the council) has indulged in an achingly long flirtation with the idea of repealing the limits that stand between him and a third term. But New York’s democracy also
At the liquor store, on the shelf behind the register next to the Johnnie Walker Red is a photo of a rally held on the sidewalk out front in early May. In the photo, people display handmade signs reading “Save Our Shops.” In addition to trying to hold on to community mainstays, however, some of
Springtime was full of grim news for New York City renters. In April, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner released an analysis showing that more than 500,000 New Yorkers are spending half or more of their income on housing. In May, the Community Service Society expanded on that observation with a report showing the trend that a
In his autobiography, Jacob Riis tells of being so inspired by a sermon from a local preacher that he considered abandoning journalism and becoming a minister himself. “We have preachers enough,” was the advice he received. “What the world needs is consecrated pens.” He took this to heart. “Then and there, I consecrated mine,” he
It starts with someone like Milagros Munoz. She has lived in East New York for nearly all of her 46 years. When her mortgage broker first showed Munoz, a dental assistant, the brick duplex a short walk away from the clinic where she works, she thought she’d finally found a home for her family. “When
Anderson Fils Aime kicks back and tells me a story. Back in May of this year, a month after he’d begun working as an organizer for the Pratt Area Community Council, he was at a community meeting when a woman approached him. “A resident comes in with this package saying, ‘My landlord’s trying to raise
The news came with a knock on the door just before 6 a.m. One of Max Abelson’s neighbors was out in the hall. Had he heard? It was all over the news. Starrett City was on the block. Read more…