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Now vacant in the Bloomberg administration: a job that requires being yelled at for hours on end, hosting countless public meetings, making decisions that will leave everyone mad at you. The pay: $125 a... READ MORE»
Almost indisputably, the mayoral race this year was a desert of big new ideas for New York City. Be it the lack of a competitive Democratic primary, the billions in budget gaps or the challenger's preference for blanket criticism over policy prescription, the incumbent and-at the time of this writing-presumptive winner, Michael Bloomberg, was never forced to offer much in the way of innovative... READ MORE»
Almost indisputably, the mayoral race this year was a desert of big new ideas for New York City. Be it the lack of a competitive Democratic primary, the billions in budget gaps or the challenger's preference for blanket criticism over policy prescription, the incumbent and-at the time of this writing-presumptive winner, Michael Bloomberg, was never forced to offer much in the way of innovative policy. This was particularly true in the realm of the... READ MORE»
Mike McKee was in the State Capitol Monday afternoon, eagerly awaiting Tuesday. For the past three years, the white-haired, bearded activist had devoted his efforts almost exclusively to passing sweeping new rent regulations in the State Senate that favor the city’s one million–plus stabilized tenants. As of early afternoon Monday, the chamber’s housing committee was slated to vote the next day on a far-reaching bill he had championed, and Mr. McKee was expecting a... READ MORE»
Mike McKee was in the State Capitol Monday afternoon, eagerly awaiting Tuesday.... READ MORE»
A State Senate forum on rent-regulation policy Thursday morning brought a long list of sharp criticisms of the existing system and calls for radical change, standard fare for events on this topic. Some samples: The rent-regulation system “needs a wholesale reform”; there is “absolutely no rationale” for high-income decontrol; the city should implement a “rent tax” to subsidize middle-income tenants who can’t afford increased... READ MORE»
It seems the far-reaching impacts of last week’s tremendous Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village court ruling will wait some time to take... READ MORE»
On Thursday morning, Alexander Schmidt, a partner at Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz, received a phone call from an appellate court clerk. A decision was on its way about Roberts v. Tishman Speyer, the clerk said, a major rent-stabilization case in which Mr. Schmidt represented a group of tenants suing the mega-landlord of Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village, Tishman... READ MORE»
The battle by tenant advocates to repeal a key rent regulation law favored by landlords just got a boost from a... READ MORE»
The battle by tenant advocates to repeal a key rent regulation law favored by landlords just got a boost from a Republican.... READ MORE»
Council Speaker Christine Quinn unveiled a plan today for the city to buy unsold luxury condominiums and turn them into subsidized housing for middle-income families. Speaking in her state of the city address this afternoon, Ms. Quinn said the initiative would “add thousands of new affordable homes." The announcement comes one year after Ms. Quinn first called for the creation of a new policy tool aimed at bolstering affordable housing options for middle-income families... READ MORE»
The path to rent-regulation reform in New York City may lie through Rochester. Tenants PAC, a political action committee whose stated mission is to strengthen New York's rent-regulation laws, has donated thousands of dollars to Democratic candidate Rick Dollinger, who's trying to regain a Senate seat in Rochester. The group has also sent money to Democratic Senate candidates running in and around Buffalo and Watertown. It might seem like a counterintuitive strategy. Rent regulations... READ MORE»
City Room has a Q-and-A thread going on rent-stabilization with housing lawyer Joel E. Abramson. Wonder why. ... READ MORE»
Conservative watchdog the National Legal and Policy Center has called on the Federal Election Commission to investigate Congressman Charles Rangel's rent-stabilized apartments in Harlem, including one used as a campaign office. Release on the FEC complaint here. More on the Rangel imbroglio in The Observer here and here. (Hat tip:... READ MORE»
In his colorful response today to a Times story on the four rent-stabilized apartments he rents, Representative Charles Rangel said repeatedly (as captured in video by The Observer’s Azi Paybarah) that the below-market-rate apartments are not a gift (which would need to be reported per campaign finance law). “If you’re paying the legal rent, and without the law, the rent could be higher, just what school did you go to that you could misinterpret... READ MORE»
