Mayor Announces Settlement with Landlord Over Illegal Evictions and Unlawful Short-Term Rentals

The property will be turned over to the City to be converted to affordable housing as part of the settlement. On February 23, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced that a settlement had been reached between the City and Gennaro Brooks-Church and Loretta Gendville, the owners of 1214 Dean Street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. The settlement comes after tenants were illegally evicted in 2020 and the couple operated illegal short-term rentals across nine buildings for four <Read More>


City Council Holds First Hearing on Permanent Open Restaurants Plan

Many elected officials raised concerns about DOT’s ability to handle the scale and capacity of a citywide permanent open restaurants program. On February 8, 2022, the City Council Subcommittee on Zoning and Franchises held a joint hearing with the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection on the proposed permanent open restaurant program. The proposed permanent open restaurant program will replace the temporary program and establish a new streamlined program for the creation, management and enforcement <Read More>


Mayor Adams Appoints Parks Leadership

On February 4, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced his appointments to lead the Department of Parks and Recreation. The appointments are Susan M. Donoghue as Commissioner of the Parks Department, and Iris Rodriguez-Rosa as First Deputy Commissioner. The appointments are the latest in Mayor Adams’ new administration. 


City Planning Holds Public Hearing for Five-Story Mixed Use Building in East New York

The new building would replace non-conforming commercial buildings from the 1970s. On January 19, 2022, the City Planning Commission held a public hearing for an application that would facilitate the construction of a five-story mixed use building with residential and retail uses at 1377 Sutter Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn. The rezoning will affect six lots on the northern side of Sutter Avenue between Autumn Avenue and Lincoln Avenue. The project site is currently <Read More>


Mayor Announces Affordable Housing Leadership Appointments

The three appointments are the latest to the new Adams administration. On January 30, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced his appointments for his administration’s affordable housing administration and policy team. The new appointees are Jessica Katz as the Chief Housing Officer; Adolfo Carrión Jr. as the new Commissioner of the Department of Housing and Preservation (HPD); and Eric Enderlin, who will continue to serve as the president of the Housing Development Corporation (HDC). The <Read More>