“Over the last few years the growing clout of developers has gradually chipped away at the city’s resolve to protect its architectural legacy. The agency most responsible for defending that legacy, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, has sometimes been accused of putting developers’ interests above the well-being of the city’s inhabitants.A proposal before the commission to tear down several buildings in the Greenwich Village Historic District is shaping up as a crucial test of whether those critics are right. A hearing on the issue is scheduled for Tuesday morning, and New Yorkers would do well to follow the proceedings if they care about the city’s future.”
Long Island Considers Secession Plan
“Looking to whack Albany with a political two-by-four, Suffolk Comptroller Joseph Sawicki and Dowling College agreed to launch a new feasibility study on the economics of Long Island seceding to become the 51st state.”
Harlem Rezone Gets Further Scrutiny
“The controversial rezoning of 125th St. in Harlem faces additional scrutiny Tuesday at a public hearing before the City Council’s subcommittee on zoning and franchises. Several Council members said they intend to question whether the new zoning makes inadequate provisions for affordable housing and whether new height limits for office and residential towers are set too high.City Councilman Tony Avella (D-Queens), chairman of the subcommittee, said Monday that he remains opposed to the rezoning plan “as it’s currently formed.”
In the meantime..
Citizen’s Group Challenges Rezone With History
The City Charter, the document that lays out the rules of city government, has traditionally been the domain of municipal lawyers and few others. Its pages are a tangle of esoteric language and run-on sentences.But in a decision born of desperation and perhaps a touch of naïveté, a former male model, a human rights lawyer and two law school students plunged headlong into the document on a recent Friday evening as part of an effort to oppose the proposed rezoning of 125th Street in Harlem.”