“Please allow me to demolish this building so I can build luxury condos.” That, in a nutshell, is a derelict landlord’s request to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), according to Lower Manhattan District 1 Council Member Chris Marte. Speaking at a rain-drenched Feb. 20 rally to save the landmarked and vacant 150-year-old […]
Landmarked Soho building at risk due to loophole Read More »
The campaign to replace Erik Bottcher as councilmember for the 3rd Council District is up and running, with a special election slated for April 28. Endorsements are pouring in, but along with boosting their own candidacies, the candidates have another task – making people aware of the election in general. The candidates, all Democrats, are
Village special election less than two months away Read More »
ICE’s abuses of power, affordable housing, and the planned demolition and redevelopment of NYCHA’s Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses were front and center at the Chelsea Reform Democratic Club’s Zoom forum on Monday, Jan. 27, featuring the four candidates for the Democratic nomination for City Councilmember representing Council District 3. The candidates are Leslie Boghosian Murphy, an
These are the people running to replace Bottcher, who saw greener pastures elsewhere Read More »
The pathways of Greenwich Village—full of lovely old human-scale buildings—can transport a dreamy pedestrian back in time. The Village is not your typical tower-filled Manhattan streetscape, and you can thank the landmarks law for that. The 1965 Landmarks Law allowed for the protection of individual buildings, plus swathes of neighborhoods—“historic districts”—deemed special because of their
Hoping to recover from ex-Mayor Adams’ historic disdain for landmark preservation Read More »
Demolition must have hired a good PR firm. It gets mentioned as if it were renewal. In the language of planning documents and press releases, buildings are “cleared,” sites are “activated,” neighborhoods are “reimagined”, and in the case of public housing, it was referred to as “decanted”, a vocable usually reserved for wine! The verbs
The High Cost of the Wrecking Ball Read More »
I’d heard Fraunces Tavern mentioned so often as a place to visit that I assumed it wasn’t worth visiting. But earlier this year, a friend asked us to go for his birthday dinner. The historic Tavern includes a museum, four distinct bars, and a colonial dining room (the Tallmadge room) complete with long wooden tables
Drinking with Katherine: Fraunces Tavern Read More »
Ignoring community opposition, less than two weeks before ex-Mayor Adams’ term drew to a close, his administration gave the green light to the demolition of the landmarked Tony Dapolito Recreation Center at Clarkson and Varick Streets, as it approved the development of “Hudson Mosaic,” an apparently 350+-foot-tall tower at 388 Hudson Street, on a city-owned
On a freezing December afternoon, tenants and their advocates rallied outside 331 East 14th St, decrying their landlords’ years of efforts to force them out—subjecting them to broken locks and squatters, collapsed ceilings, no heat, no elevator, and no gas. One four-year tenant, Elliot, described enduring two winters without heat and the collapse of his
“New York City housing stock is being gobbled up by multinational investment companies, investment funds, and people who have tons of cash,” Brooklyn City Council Member Sandy Nurse declared. “To buy a home, it’s impossible, unless you have a million dollars.” Speaking on the steps of City Hall on Nov. 12, Nurse rallied an eager
End-of-year deadline for City Council to enact COPA legislation, by Phyllis Eckhaus Read More »
Last weekend, Bob Terry circled Washington Square Park with a stack of flyers in hand, eagerly inviting the people he passed to his upcoming event. However, the 75-year-old was seeking one demographic in particular. “You look like smokers—come to my event on Friday,” he said to a group of young people lounging on the grass.
