East Harlem Redevelopment Greenlit by City Council

City Council approved with modifications a redevelopment plan that will bring 3 high school facilities, 315 affordable housing units, a new park and playground, retail space, and job opportunities to East Harlem. On August 24, 2017, the City Council voted 41-0 to approve a modified land use application for the redevelopment of a full city block in East Harlem. The application for redevelopment from the New York City Education Construction Fund and AvalonBay Communities was … <Read More>


COMPLETE VIDEO: The 144th CityLaw Breakfast with Carmen Farina

On Friday August 25, 2017, the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School hosted the 144th CityLaw Breakfast. The event speaker was New York City Department of Education Chancellor Carmen Farina. Commissioner Farina was welcomed by Anthony Crowell, President and Dean of New York Law School and introduced by Ross Sandler, Professor of Law and Director of the Center for New York City Law.

Chancellor Farina began by noting that … <Read More>


City’s Adult Use Zoning Rules Upheld

The Court of Appeals, after 22 years of litigation, upheld the City’s adult use zoning rules and dismissed the complaint challenging the rules. In 1994 the City’s Department of City Planning completed a study of sexually focused businesses: adult video and bookstores, adult live or movie theaters, and topless or nude bars. The study led to the passage in 1995 of a zoning amendment barring adult establishments from residential and most commercial and manufacturing … <Read More>


City Council Green Lights Two 14-Story Affordable Building in Longwood

The City Council approved the construction of 474 low-income affordable units in Longwood, Bronx. On July 20, 2017, the New York City Council voted 46-0 to approve the construction of two new 14-story mixed-use buildings at the intersection of Whitlock Avenue and east 165th Street in the Bronx’s Longwood neighborhood. The applicant, Ader Group, LLC, requested a zoning map amendment to change the project area from an M1-1 zoning district to an R8A/C2-4 zoning district, … <Read More>


City Planning Holds Hearing on Skyscraper East Harlem Development [UPDATE: Application Found to be Appropriate]

UPDATE: On June 21, 2017, the City Planning Commission the application from the New York City Education Construction Fund and AvalonBay Communities to redevelop a city block in East Harlem to be appropriate. The proposed development would shift the Marx Brothers Playground to the center of the block and facilitate the construction of two buildings at either end. The eastern building would rise eight stories and contain two public high school relocated from other <Read More>


CityLaw Profile: Frederick Schaffer, Chair of the Campaign Finance Board

In February 2017, Mayor Bill de Blasio appointed Frederick Schaffer as the Chair of the City’s Campaign Finance Board. The Board, which will be thirty years old next year, is responsible for enforcing New York City’s campaign finance law, monitoring campaign contributions and disclosures, overseeing the public matching funds program and enforcing the rules. Schaffer takes the reigns as the Board heads into the 2017 mayoral campaign.

Schaffer was born and raised in Brooklyn. One … <Read More>