Billboard Law Challenge Fails

Advertising companies sought to erect outdoor billboards in the Willets Point neighborhood. Mucho Media and other property owners in Queens’ Willets Point neighborhood sought to construct large advertising billboards on their property. For safety and aesthetic reasons, the City denied or ordered the removal of billboards in the Willets Point neighborhood. These actions were pursuant to the City’s zoning law that prohibits commercial billboards within two hundred feet of an arterial highway.



Rules Add Pest Management Duties

HPD adopted rules compelling owners to remediate indoor allergen hazards. The Department of Housing Preservation and Development adopted rules to require owners of multiple dwellings to investigate for and remediate indoor allergen hazards such as mold, cockroaches, mice, and rats. The new rules, which implement Local Law 55 of 2018, establish work practices for pest remediation, standards for tenant notifications, and procedures for submitting certifications of remediation and requesting extensions of time to correct violations.


Public Health: Tobacco, Sugars, Trans Fats and Salt

In the twentieth century, primary causes of death and disability in America changed from communicable diseases to chronic diseases. This shift was in part due to the successes of public health as better sanitary conditions and immunizations reduced the burden of communicable diseases.  The shift, however, was also due to changes in lifestyle and longer life expectancies that caused the rates of chronic diseases to increase.


City’s Airbnb Law Upheld

Broadway Hotel sued New York City claiming the Airbnb law was unconstitutional. The City served a summons on the Broadway Hotel on the Upper West Side of Manhattan for illegal transient occupancy. The New York City Airbnb law prohibited a class A dwelling from renting out rooms on a temporary basis. The City alleged that the Hotel was a Class A dwelling and was therefore prohibited from renting out rooms on a temporary basis for … <Read More>


Extra Money for Concrete Denied

Contractor claimed that the City contract restricted it to purchasing concrete from a single concrete supplier. In April 2014, Perfetto Contracting Co., an electrical contractor, successfully submitted a bid to the Department of Design and Construction for a contract to work on the Broadway Junction Transit Hub Enhancement Project. The contract required specific concrete designs to be procured from a NYSDOT-approved vendor. Perfetto began work in October 2014.