East New York to be a basement conversion "guinea pig"

From CBS 2:

“We’ll use East New York as the guinea pig of how this program can work and whether or not it will work,” said Councilman Rafael Espinal, who sponsored the pilot program. “If we’re able to create a successful program, then the hope is that we'll expand it citywide.”

The councilman said in East New York, 75 percent of basement apartments are being rented illegally, which he said is dangerous. So the pilot program will offer homeowners low-interest loans to renovate apartments to make sure they are safe.

Espinal told Kramer he worked with the FDNY and Department of Buildings to develop standards, making sure the apartments have sprinklers, adequate exits, windows and ventilation.

“There’s concerns about, for example, the fact that we have boilers and furnaces in the basement. The bill will allow for homeowners to wall-off those furnaces,” he said.

I'm sure East New York enjoys being referred to as a "guinea pig". Seriously, what elected official talks like this about a neighborhood, and to a reporter no less? And what 2-family homeowner is going to take out a loan to install sprinklers when they can just continue renting out their basements illegally for tax-free $$$ the way 75% of their neighbors do?

Did we land in Oz?

Council member wants to bring back sidewalk clothing bins

From CBS 2:

Sanchez said the Eddie Bauer winter gear was found discarded outside the 5th Avenue store on Sunday night. She wanted to know why the store would ruin the men’s merchandise so it couldn’t be worn when it could have done so much good.

“This is not a singular incident,” councilman Rafael Espinal said.

Espinal is working on a bill to fine companies that deliberately destroy and dump clothing.

“Incentivize the donation of clothing by creating bins to place in front of retail stores,” he said.

Didn't we just spend years trying to get rid of clothing bins on sidewalks?

Council Member wants more clubs to open

From City & State:

While aimed at illegal speakeasies, the law was often used in discriminating fashion. From targeting largely African American jazz venues at its inception to requiring mid-century musicians to carry a “cabaret card” to Rudy Giuliani’s use of the law as part of his “broken windows” policing, the selective nature of its use has found plenty of opponents, which is why the law’s repeal was widely championed throughout the city.

But while proponents were celebrating the move, a look at the legal implications suggests there’s much further to go for the city that never sleeps to dance away its insomnia. Specifically, the zoning for any establishment that wants to host dancing and music still needs to be addressed, which is not lost on City Councilman Rafael Espinal, who was the key sponsor of legislation to establish an office of nightlife and repeal the Cabaret Law.

Espinal added that he is looking forward to working with the office of nightlife and advocates “to explore our city's archaic zoning code to see how we can build on this progress."

Those “archaic” zoning laws have less to do with how long they’ve been on the books and more to do with a lack of clarity. While it’s been widely reported that only 97 out of the roughly 25,000 eating and drinking establishments in New York City had a cabaret license in 2017, unless the zoning changes, many of these establishments are still not permitted to allow dancing, even without any requirement to obtain a cabaret license, Derek Wolman, chairman of the restaurant and hospitality practice group at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron, wrote in an email to City & State.

New York City neighborhoods are zoned into three categories: residential, commercial and manufacturing. Within those zones are “use groups” that determine specifically where and how different businesses can operate within a zone. Making things difficult for proprietors who wish to hold music events is that they fall under “Use Group 12,” which spans both commercial and manufacturing.

Wolman broke it down in all of its complexity:

“Use Group 12 (eating or drinking establishment with entertainment and a capacity of more than 200 persons or establishments of any capacity with dancing) are permitted in C2 zoning districts (with Special Permit from the Board of Standards and Appeals), C3 zoning districts (with Special Permit from the Board of Standards and Appeals), C4 zoning districts (with Special Permit from the Board of Standards and Appeals) [permitted as of right or by special permit in C4 districts, depending upon location], C6 zoning districts [permitted as of right in C6 districts with conditions], C7 zoning districts, C8 zoning districts, M1 zoning districts [permitted in M1-5A, M1-5B, M1-5M, and M1-6M districts only as provided by special permit under Zoning Resolution Section 73-244], M2 zoning districts and M3 zoning districts.”

Yes, it means you can't keep sleeping children up at night with thumping music and you can't turn manufacturing space into clubs without jumping through hoops. Oh, the horror!

Low income neighborhood is in the city's crosshairs

From the NY Times:

As the gateway to a half-dozen subway lines, the sprawling Broadway Junction transit hub commands a prime location at the crossroads of six neighborhoods and serves as the unofficial welcome center in a fast-growing part of New York City.

The problem? It is anything but welcoming.

The dingy warren of passageways and platforms linking the A, C, J, Z, M and L are so packed that rush hour turns into a crawl. Outside, bus stops and a Long Island Rail Road station are plopped down in a depressing terrain of trash-strewn streets, chain-link fences rimmed with barbed wire and panhandlers camped out on sidewalks.

“You could do way better than this,” said Roody Fevry, 32, an exterminator who lives nearby. “It’s like nobody cares.”

Now Broadway Junction may finally get the makeover it has long needed. City officials are taking steps to create a destination stop with nearby restaurants, stores, gyms and other commuter-friendly amenities. Their aim is to turn the tired station and the surrounding area into a bustling economic center for a swath of Brooklyn that has long struggled with unemployment, poverty and crime.

The city’s Economic Development Corporation recently began a $200,000 study to identify potential avenues of economic growth in and around the transit hub — including office, retail and educational uses. A group of elected officials and community leaders has also been convened to come up with a vision for the area. The Brooklyn borough president, Eric Adams, and City Councilman Rafael L. Espinal Jr., a Democrat who represents the area, are the co-chairmen.

Office of Nightlife created

From Crains:

The City Council voted Wednesday in support of a measure to establish an official Nightlife Advisory Panel and Office of Nightlife, which will reach out to the city's clubs and entertainment venues in hopes of reducing regulation on small operators.

The board will consist of representatives from the Council and the mayor's office with ties to the industry, and will deliver a host of policy recommendations within 18 months. The office will seek to monitor trends and changes within the field and make appropriate suggestions to City Hall. Mayor Bill de Blasio supports the measure.

Brooklyn Councilman Rafael Espinal, who sponsored the bill, described it as a way of giving underground venues and small-dollar local establishments a chance against larger businesses.

Espinal said he hopes to turn next to repealing the city's cabaret license statutes, which forbid establishments to obtain special permits in order to allow dancing.

Our Lady of Loreto is in court

From AM-NY:

It has arrived in the form of a showdown between a faith-based group determined to level a 109-year-old church to erect affordable housing and residents who want to preserve their neighborhood’s patrimony while providing a hub for Brownsville culture.

Brooklyn Supreme Court Judge Bernard Graham issued a temporary stop to the demolition of the magnificent, albeit deteriorating, Our Lady of Loreto Roman Catholic church on April 26.

A final decision on the historic architectural gem is expected to be handed down on May 9.

Catholic Charities Progress of Peoples Development Corporation (CCPOP), which leases the site from the Diocese of Brooklyn, wants to demolish the 1908 Italian Renaissance church at Sackman and Pacific streets to erect an unknown number of “energy-efficient units for low-income families” in a city where almost 60,000 people are homeless.

Members of the Brownsville Cultural Coalition and others long to landmark the church, which was closed to parishioners around 2008, and repurpose the shrine built by an all-Italian team of craftsmen into a cultural center for residents woefully short in community spaces for the arts.

Housing is important, said Miriam Robertson, executive director of the Brownsville Cultural Coalition, but Brownsville also needs to honor and preserve an important and elegant monument to its immigrant roots and history.

The pro se lawsuit that resulted in the current stay of demolition charges that multiple defendants failed to abide by a 2010 “letter of resolution” concerning the property. The letter of resolution stipulates “the Church itself shall not be demolished, reconstructed or damaged,” and was signed by the then CCPOP CEO and other parties. The church, said the resolution, “is not on the portion of the site of the modified project” slated for homes.

The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission, said a commission spokeswoman, “has carefully reviewed this building several times over the past few years and each time determined not to advance it for further consideration due to a lack of support from critical community stakeholders, including the Council member,” for the district, Rafael Espinal.

DeBlasio pushing forward with basement legalization pilot

From PIX11:

A large number of Queens civic leaders gathered at State Sen. Tony Avella's office this afternoon to speak out passionately.

According to State Sen. Avella, Mayor Bill de Blasio, who several years ago first talked of legalizing basement apartments, is now revisiting the issue as a solution to the city's affordable housing crisis.

Currently, there are over 100,000 cellar or basement apartments being rented illegally city wide.

Here is the statement to PIX11 News from Melissa Grace, Deputy Press Secretary, Mayor’s Press Office de Blasio administration:

"Any legalization of basement apartments would be based on their meeting safety codes to protect residents. A multi-agency working group, including HPD, DOB, FDNY, and DCP, is working with Councilman Espinal and multiple community-groups active in East New York to study the feasibility of a basement legalization pilot program in that community."

Council members want hostels to come back

From AM-NY:

Several City Council members are pushing to legalize youth hostels in New York City, five years after a citywide crackdown wiped them out.

In 2010, the state legislature passed the "Illegal Hotels Bill" that outlawed using residential units as hotel rooms, shutting down virtually the entire hostel industry in New York. Fifty-five hostels across the city were shuttered for either violating zoning laws or operating under conditions that the city deemed dangerous.

Former City Council member Mark Weprin introduced a bill in February to regulate hostels, allowing them to open and operate in commercial zones. After Weprin resigned in June to work for Gov. Andrew Cuomo the bill was taken up by Council Member Margaret Chin.

Like Weprin, Chin also claimed that the city lost millions in revenue over the past few years because many young travelers can't find affordable accommodations and skip the city.

"What we're doing is resolving this unintended consequence in legislation that would allow hostels to operate in a reasonable manner and take advantage of this pool of global tourism," said Paul Leonard, a spokesman for Chin, a Democrat who represents lower Manhattan. A spokesman for Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the administration is reviewing the legislation and has no official position yet.

Other sponsors of the bill are council members David Greenfield, Jumaane Williams, Rafael Espinal Jr. and Karen Koslowitz.

About five hostels currently operate in the city but they categorize themselves as hotels on the city's books while advertising as hostels or offer "hostel-like" amenities, with the exception of the nonprofit organization Hostelling International that received a special permit by the city in 1989 to operate as a hostel.

If there are hostels operating legally in NYC, then why do we need new laws to make them more available? There is already a pathway to operation.

Viv protecting jailed illegal aliens

From Capital New York:

City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito announced legislation that would further reduce the city's cooperation with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

The measure was announced on Thursday and has the support of council members Danny Dromm, Rafael Espinal, and immigration committee chair Carlos Menchaca.

The bill would prohibit the city from honoring civil immigration detainers unless a warrant has been issued by a federal judge. It would also force ICE officers out of Rikers Island and would stop Department of Correction officers from being able to assist federal officials with enforcement efforts such as raids.

If passed, it would mean the New York Police Department and D.O.C. would no longer honor detainer requests issued by ICE unless a federal judge had issued a warrant for the individual.

They even bribe each other!

From Crain's:

Some of the most likely candidates to become the next New York City Council speaker are spreading campaign cash to other campaigns, in an apparent early effort to curry favor and votes among potential colleagues in 2014.

Over the past several months, Queens Assemblyman Mark Weprin, who is jockeying to be selected speaker by his council peers, has given out seven $1,000 donations. The $7,000, most of it doled out in recent weeks, has gone to members of the Assembly running for the City Council who are not only likely to win their races, but have a relationship with Mr. Weprin from his own days as a member of that body. Recipients include Assemblymen Rafael Espinal and Alan Maisel of Brooklyn, Councilman Vincent Gentile of Brooklyn, Costa Constantinides of Queens, Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson of the Bronx, Mark Levine of Manhattan, and Manhattan Assemblyman Micah Kellner.

Not to be outdone, speaker's race rival Dan Garodnick, has given more: nearly $18,000. The Manhattan councilman, whose campaign account is flush from an aborted citywide run for comptroller, has given the $2,750 maximum contribution for a primary to six different candidates. Most of it was paid earlier this month. The recipients include Mr. Constantinides, Ms. Gibson, Mr. Levine, Bronx Council candidate Andrew Cohen, Brooklyn's Chris Banks and Manhattan Councilwoman Rosie Mendez. He also has given $500 to Bronx Councilman Andy King, and $750 to Bronx Councilman Ydanis Rodriguez.
Another likely contender, Bronx Councilman James Vacca, has given three donations to council campaigns: $2,700 to Mr. Cohen, $1,000 to Ms. Gibson and $1,375 to Mr. King.