Advocacy Alert: Say NO to Lifting the Cap
For the third time in recent years, there is a fast-moving proposal at the State level to lift the longstanding cap on residential development in New York City. Lifting the 12 FAR cap would potentially unleash a flood of development rights that are likely to yield more supertall superluxury development,
FRIENDS In the News
FRIENDS has been featured in recent news pieces covering the community opposition to the New York Blood Center/Longfellow commercial tower that would undo decades of community-minded human scale zoning on the midblocks in our neighborhood
Planning Together Without You
Tomorrow, the New York City Council will hold a hearing on Intro 2186, a legislation proposed by Council Speaker Corey Johnson called Planning Together: A Comprehensive Framework for New York City. This large proposal requires the city to undertake periodic citywide comprehensive planning and details a completely new process for the city
Proposals Chipping Away at the Midblock
One of FRIENDS’ earliest initiatives, led by our founder Halina Rosenthal, was the successful effort to bring contextual zoning to the midblocks of the Upper East Side. The R8B zoning district was mapped across vast swaths of our midblocks in 1985, hailed by the New York Times as “the most
IN THE NEWS: Developer Zoning Fraud
The issue of zoning fraud, heightened by the Buildings Department’s broken self-certification program, was highlighted today in an opinion piece published today in Gotham Gazette, by Diana Florence, the former head of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Construction Fraud Task Force.
Community Advocacy: Recent Victories and Ongoing Battles
On the heels of of the news regarding 200 Amsterdam, we thought this to be a good time to talk to you about zoning and development.
Breaking! City Council Passes 25-foot Limit to Uncounted Mechanical Void Spaces
FRIENDS is pleased to offer this extremely limited opportunity to venture behind the scenes at Central Park’s center stage: the Delacorte Theater.
“Fix Our Zoning Rules,” Say Manhattan Borough President and City Council Speaker
Last week, Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer and Council Speaker Corey Johnson wrote a letter, supported by the entire Manhattan delegation of the City Council, to Department of City Planning Chair Marisa Lago to encourage the agency to address and prevent the suite of loopholes being exploited by developers.
FRIENDS Testifies at City Council Hearing on POPS
On June 29th, the City Council’s Committee on Land Use held a hearing to discuss Intro. 1219-2016, a proposed bill that would require the Department of City Planning to report to the City Council about the status of Privately Owned Public Spaces, known as “POPS.”