Should NYC legalize Airbnb?
Airbnb contributes an estimated $1 billion to the city’s economy. And yet technically, it’s illegal. A 2010 law passed in Albany prohibits New Yorkers from renting out their apartments for short-term...
View ArticleShould food composting be mandatory in New York City?
The Bloomberg administration says it will expand a food-composting pilot project citywide and that a future mayor should make the practice mandatory. That would compel residents to separate food scraps...
View ArticleShould developers be required to include affordable apartments in their...
Developers have the option of including affordable housing in exchange for the right to build larger projects in certain areas of the city. But a study released last week showed developers rarely do...
View ArticleShould Airbnb comply with a subpoena for customers’ records?
Apartment-share company Airbnb pledged this week to fight a subpoena from state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for records of its 225,000 New York customers who have rented rooms in their private...
View ArticleShould 1M apartments get a rent freeze?
Democratic mayoral nominee Bill de Blasio wants to impose a one-year moratorium on rate hikes for the 1 million New Yorkers who reside in rent-stabilized apartments. A de Blasio spokesman noted that...
View ArticleDo you support Bloomberg’s plan to remake midtown east?
The City Council on Tuesday has its first hearing on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ambitious, end-of-term plan to rezone 73 blocks around Grand Central Terminal. The plan would allow developers to buy the...
View ArticleDoes 1 World Trade Center deserve to be called America’s tallest skyscraper?
On Tuesday morning the official arbiter of building heights around the world ruled that 1 World Trade Center will rank as the nation’s tallest building when it opens next year. That verdict had been in...
View ArticleWas the city right to kill the midtown east rezoning plan?
The Bloomberg administration said it would withdraw its proposal to rezone midtown east in light of opposition from the City Council to the plan that would have spurred the construction and renovation...
View ArticleIs Mayor de Blasio asking for too much affordable housing at Domino?
Early in his tenure, Mayor Bill de Blasio is in a showdown with developer Two Trees Management over the builder’s plan for the Domino Sugar site in Brooklyn. The plan, negotiated with the community,...
View ArticleShould the New York State Pavilion from the World’s Fair be rescued and...
The New York State Pavilion, a centerpiece of the World’s Fair that opened in Queens 50 years ago today, was named a “national treasure” on Tuesday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in a...
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