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One of Governor Kathy Hochul’s first moves in office was to pause her predecessor’s plans for a $2 billion AirTrain at LaGuardia Airport and ask the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to come up with other options. On Wednesday, the Port Authority released sketches for 14 alternatives, including light rail, bus routes and subway extensions. It’s now seeking community input before moving forward. — Gothamist
A questionnaire detailing the options and the factors being considered in evaluating the proposals was sent to more than 70 key stakeholders, including elected officials and community organizations. The alternatives include two potential subway extensions, five potential routes for fixed guideways... View full entry
The white-striped crosswalk sits on top of a hump of asphalt. Pedestrians barely notice as they rush across, but drivers are in for a bumpy ride if they do not slow down. The crosswalk in northern Manhattan was raised four inches in the fall to try to slow traffic and make pedestrians more visible as they navigate a busy intersection where 26 people — including 14 pedestrians — have been injured in motor vehicle crashes in the past five years. — The New York Times
Following a surge in traffic deaths in New York, in which a total of 273 people, citywide, were killed in crashes last year, the highest since 2013, Mayor Eric Adams wants to raise hundreds of crosswalks across the city. With more people on the streets, occupying outdoor spaces opened up due to... View full entry
Ice believed to have fallen more than 1,400 feet from a Midtown condo crushed the roof and smashed the windshield of Deneice O’Connor’s car as she drove up Sixth Ave., the shaken motorist said Saturday. “It just crashed down on me. I immediately thought a body had fallen on my car,” O’Connor, 35, told the Daily News. — Daily News
The ice is believed to have fallen from the SHoP Architects-designed 111 W. 57th Street supertall, one of the world's thinnest skyscrapers and tallest residential buildings in the Western Hemisphere. It is a prominent fixture along “Billionaires’ Row”. Police have also reported that... View full entry
When Mayor Eric Adams named a commissioner last week to oversee New York’s parks department, he spoke of how important the city’s green spaces were for recreation and contemplation, especially during the pandemic. But he also acknowledged having no particular agenda or master plan for the more than 30,000 acres of parkland under his control. — The New York Times
In response, all five of New York’s borough presidents have come together calling for Mayor Adams to plant a million new trees by 2030, reviving former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s Million Trees NYC initiative. In addition, they also asked Adams to honor his campaign pledge to allocate 1 percent... View full entry
New York City's LaGuardia Airport opened its second skybridge to passengers on Jan. 28, marking the final milestone of the nearly six-year renovation of Terminal B. The old airport was notorious for its poor condition; former Gov. Andrew Cuomo called it "outdated, overcrowded and unworthy of the Empire State." — Construction Dive
With construction costs, the HOK and WSP-designed Terminal B renovation is valued at $8 billion. According to a spokesperson for LaGuardia Gateway Partners, the overall project is now about 95% complete. The final portion of the original terminal must be demolished in order to open the remaining... View full entry
Cornell Tech, Cornell University’s urban campus for technology research and education, has announced the completion of the first phase of its Roosevelt Island campus development in New York City. This news comes following the recent completion and opening of the Snøhetta-designed Verizon... View full entry
Construction work in New York — city and statewide — remains the most deadly profession in the country. A total of 41 laborers died on the job in New York state in 2020, a decrease from 2019. However, fewer workers climbed scaffolding and pounded nails during the pandemic, so the rate of deaths still rose. — Construction Dive
According to an analysis of data from the New York Department of Buildings, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conducted by the labor group New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH), workplace deaths in... View full entry
When it opened in 2008, the loftily named Bronx Hall of Justice was billed as the crown jewel of New York’s court system — the biggest courthouse in the state, sheathed in glass and housing enough courtrooms to handle dozens of criminal and civil cases each day.
All these years later, the verdict is that it’s more like a broken-down jalopy.
— The City
Numerous problems including flooding, failed fire alarms, shattered glass windows that appear out of nowhere, and floor collapses stemming from a built-over underground stream have befallen the Rafael Viñoly-designed Bronx Hall of Justice for more than a decade. The courthouse building has... View full entry
A prominent figure in the history of urban planning in New York City has passed away as The New York Times is reporting the death of architect Paul Willen at his home in Vermont on February 2nd. Willen was a staple in the city’s high-stakes world of Manhattan development schemes after his... View full entry
Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul announced on Friday a sweeping plan to deploy teams of police officers and social workers into New York City’s subway, pledging to remove homeless people who shelter on trains and platforms, some of whom have contributed to escalating violence in the system. — The New York Times
According to the new plan, the police will have a direct mandate to enforce rules against lying down, sleeping, occupying more than one seat, littering, aggressive behavior towards riders, smoking, and open drug use. In addition, mental health professionals with the power to order involuntary... View full entry
Bjarke Ingels Group’s Wildflower Studios has been given the green light for construction in Queens, New York. Designed for the Robert De Niro-led Wildflower Development Group, the new seven-story building will contain a vertical commercial film, television, and creative studio. Located in... View full entry
Big changes to the Big Apple’s alfresco restaurant scene are on the table — including a plan to get rid of its popular, but controversial, outdoor dining sheds.
The head of the city Department of Transportation’s Open Restaurants Program told a City Council committee on Tuesday that the makeshift structures won’t be allowed to remain standing after the COVID-19 pandemic eases.
— New York Post
The makeshift structures will be allowed to remain in place until July, according to Department of Transportation’s Open Restaurants Program director Julie Schipper, who said a more thorough application process would be enacted that would do away with “these full houses … in the... View full entry
Rents in New York City approached all-time records last month as inventory grew increasingly scarce. The median rental in Manhattan cost $3,467 last month, according to the New York Post, which cited the latest report by appraisal firm Miller Samuel. That was up a little over 2 percent from $3,392 in December, but it represented a 23 percent spike from January 2021 — falling just $5 short of the January record set in 2020, when the median rental was $3,472 per month. — The Real Deal
The median rental in Manhattan in January was just shy of the $3,540 peak in April 2020. Prices in Northwest Queens and Brooklyn also rose last month, up 28 percent and 11.1 percent year-over-year respectively. The Real Deal notes that the major force behind price growth in the housing market is... View full entry
In an effort to encourage New Yorkers to get back on subways, buses, and trains -- particularly following the sharp decline in ridership due to the pandemic -- the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced a pilot fare program that is "more affordable, more flexible and more fair." — NBC New York
The fare capping pilot will feature free, unlimited rides after 12 OMNY taps, New York’s contactless fare payment system that will replace the MetroCard on the New York City subway in 2023. Under this program, no OMNY user would pay more than $33 per week, which is the current price of a... View full entry
Writing about Twin Parks in 1973, The Times’s former architecture critic, Paul Goldberger, speculated that the project might “turn out to be important in the history of housing design.” [...] design, however compassionate, can mean only so much against the obstacles that make up the housing problem today.”
The calculus is the same half a century later. But the South Bronx isn’t. Gradually, it has been remade. Progress isn’t impossible, it’s a process.
— The New York Times
Both observed South Bronx developments, 1490 Southern Boulevard and a transformation of the Lambert Houses, are seen as examples of high-quality and effective public housing that offers residents more than just desultory amenities. The Times critic broke down the new-ish developments by... View full entry
