City Comptroller Aims to Stop Astoria Fuel-Powered Peaker Plant

Comptroller Stringer sent the letter in opposition to the Astoria Replacement Project because of the project’s reliance on fracked gas. On September 4, 2020, New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer sent a letter to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Division of Environmental Permits urging the DEC to review the NRG Energy’s Astoria Replacement Project. Comptroller Stringer raised concerns about the project due to the wellbeing and of Astoria residents and the … <Read More>


Comptroller Proposes Bike-to-School Plan for Low-Income High School Students

This plan includes free bikes and Citi Bike memberships and building one and a half miles of protected bike lanes around 50 New York City high schools in the next year. On September 3, 2020, New York City Comptroller Scott Singer proposed a bike-to-school plan as a sustainable, safe, and healthy transportation option for the city’s young people returning to school this fall amid the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.


City Announces Abrupt Changes to Return of In-Person Instruction at Schools

The delay comes less than a week before all students were scheduled to return to in-person instruction. On September 17, 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio, DOE Chancellor Richard Carranza, United Federation of Teachers (UFT) President Michael Mulgrew and Council of School Supervisors and Administrators (CSA) President Mark Cannizzaro announced a delay in the return to in-person instruction at NYC public schools. This is the second delay in the return to in-person instruction. Schools will physically … <Read More>


Lower Speed Limits, Traffic Cameras in School Zones Aim to Reduce Traffic Deaths

The City plans to expand the number of speed traffic cameras through 2021. On September 1, 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that through a coordinated effort between the Administration, the Department of Transportation (DOT), and the NYPD, speed limits will be reduced by five miles per hours on 25 miles of major streets, adherence to speed limits will be more strictly enforced, and speed cameras have been activated in all 750 school zones Citywide.


City Reaches Deal to Push Back Start of School Year Over COVID-19 Safety Concerns

Students will start their first week online and then return to blended learning on September 21nd. On September 1, 2020, Mayor Bill de Blasio and DOE Chancellor Richard Carranza announced a deal with the teacher’s union to push back the start of the 2020 – 2021 school year to provide schools more time to implement COVID-19 safety plans and upgrades. The deal ends talks of a teachers’ strike out of fear that NYC schools were <Read More>


City Planning Holds Public Hearing on 100% Affordable Mixed-Use Development in Brooklyn

The proposed mixed-use development looks to activate vacant land near the Halsey Street Subway station. On August 17, 2020, the City Planning Commission held a remote public hearing on a City application that would facilitate the construction of an eight-story mixed use development in the Ocean Hill neighborhood of Brooklyn. The site is currently a vacant, trapezoidal block situated mainly along Broadway to the northeast, Hancock Street to the southeast, and Saratoga Ave to the … <Read More>