Wide Support Expressed for Designation of Former Tammany Hall [Update: City Council Land Use Committee Voted Unanimously for Designation]

Speakers largely emphasized the role of Tammany in New York City’s social and political history. On June 25, 2013, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a hearing on the potential designation of the former Tammany Hall, at 100 East 17th Street off of Union Square, as an individual City landmark. Landmarks calendared the building on May 14, 2013. The building was Tammany’s second headquarters, replacing a meeting hall on 14th Street. Built at the height … <Read More>


Preserving the Past While Looking to the Future: LPC Executive Director Kate Daly on Community Outreach and Partnership, and her Career and Goals at Landmarks

 

Kate Daly, the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s Executive Director oversees all of the agency’s operations, including its budget and personnel. She plays an important role in shepherding properties through the landmarking process, from the initial stages through designation. She is pivotal in the outreach process to communities and property owners, meeting with and educating people about the responsibilities and benefits of landmarking.

Daly came to Landmarks in 2002 after completing her graduate degree in historic … <Read More>


BSA Approves Ohel Chabad Lubavitch Variances Over Community Opposition

BSA approval contingent upon several conditions, and restrictions of the hours of operation and access to gravesites. The Congregation Ohel Chabad Lubavitch owns the property at 226-10 Francis Lewis Boulevard, Queens adjacent to the Montefiore Cemetery where the Lubavitch spiritual leader Rebbe Menachem M. Schneerson and his predecessor Rebbe Yosef J. Schneerson are buried. Daily visitors numbering in the several hundreds use the property to access the graves of the Lubavitch leaders.  In 1994 … <Read More>


East Midtown Rezoning: Looking For Extra Zoning Rights? They’re For Sale

A disarmingly simple plan for rezoning Manhattan’s office district running from Grand Central Terminal north to about 58th Street has been approved by the Planning Commission and will come to a Council vote around the time of the November election.

It has three key components:  1) The City almost doubles the allowable floor area for new buildings on large sites along the major thoroughfares; 2) it sells to the landowner the right to build the … <Read More>


Willets Point Proposal Heard at City Planning Commission

23-acre proposal will include environmental cleanup, expressway ramps, affordable housing, and retail and entertainment complex. The City Planning Commission held a public hearing on land use actions to facilitate Phase 1 of the Willets Point Development Project on July 10, 2013. The application was submitted by the New York City Economic Development Corporation and the Queens Development Group, LLC, a joint venture of Sterling Equities and Related Companies. Phase 1, to be split into … <Read More>


New York City’s Parking Odyssey: A Play in Several Acts

Traffic congestion in 2013 stems in large part from how the City has allocated street space among motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, CitiBike stations, pedicabs, and horse-drawn carriages. While changes to address street space allocations can be anticipated, the logic and purpose of the allocations have changed over time.

Act I – Suffocation on the Streets

Facing public streets “choked” with cars, the City in 1950 amended the 1916 Zoning Resolution to require developers of residential buildings … <Read More>