It's time to get packing

From Crains:

New York City announced the closings of its mass transit and school systems, both the nation's largest, and ordered residents to leave some low-lying areas Sunday ahead of the massive storm approaching the eastern third of the U.S.

"You don't want to be overly panicked and overly prepared, but you want to be prudent; you want to do what's necessary," New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday in announcing the suspension of the city's subways, buses and commuter trains.

Rainfall is expected to start late Sunday or early Monday in New York. Hurricane Sandy was headed north from the Caribbean to meet both a snowstorm and a cold front, and experts said the rare hybrid storm that results will cause havoc over 800 miles from the East Coast to the Great Lakes. And one expert expressed concern about when the worst of the storm surge would hit: at high tide or at low.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he ordered an evacuation of the low-lying areas along the edges of the city including parts of lower Manhattan, sections of Brooklyn and Staten Island, and the Rockaways in Queens.

But, he said, those who didn't leave wouldn't be arrested.

190-unit facility...on City Island?

From the Bronx Times:

Community leaders on City Island are weighing legal action against a developer who plans a 190-unit assisted living and senior housing facility in the quiet, island community.

They charge the four-story, 190-unit violates local zoning law.

The project has been turned down by Community Board 10 and the Department of City Planning, but the developer plans to push an appeal with the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals.

The proposed facility would rise on a vacant lot at Schofield Street and City Island Avenue, and is being pushed by the Yonkers-based Italian Hospital Society.

A BSA hearing date has not been set, but a lawyer for the developer is scheduled to address CB 10’s November housing and zoning committee meeting, said Barbara Dolensek, vice-president of the City Island Civic Association.

“The structure being proposed is way too big and out of the tenor and the tone of City Island,” said City Island Civic Association president Bill Stanton.

He said he believes having such a large building standing could turn into a problem if the state health department ultimately rejects a license for the assisted living and housing facility for people over age 55.

190 units of anything on City Island just sounds bizarre. Add into the mix elderly people who need medical care, one main street that is a parking lot more often than not, lack of public transportation, etc., and you have to wonder what the developer is really trying to put there.