Should Airbnb comply with a subpoena for customers’ records?
Apartment-share company Airbnb pledged this week to fight a subpoena from state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for records of its 225,000 New York customers who have rented rooms in their private...
View ArticleShould 1M apartments get a rent freeze?
Democratic mayoral nominee Bill de Blasio wants to impose a one-year moratorium on rate hikes for the 1 million New Yorkers who reside in rent-stabilized apartments. A de Blasio spokesman noted that...
View ArticleDo you support Bloomberg’s plan to remake midtown east?
The City Council on Tuesday has its first hearing on Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ambitious, end-of-term plan to rezone 73 blocks around Grand Central Terminal. The plan would allow developers to buy the...
View ArticleDoes 1 World Trade Center deserve to be called America’s tallest skyscraper?
On Tuesday morning the official arbiter of building heights around the world ruled that 1 World Trade Center will rank as the nation’s tallest building when it opens next year. That verdict had been in...
View ArticleWas the city right to kill the midtown east rezoning plan?
The Bloomberg administration said it would withdraw its proposal to rezone midtown east in light of opposition from the City Council to the plan that would have spurred the construction and renovation...
View ArticleIs Mayor de Blasio asking for too much affordable housing at Domino?
Early in his tenure, Mayor Bill de Blasio is in a showdown with developer Two Trees Management over the builder’s plan for the Domino Sugar site in Brooklyn. The plan, negotiated with the community,...
View ArticleShould the New York State Pavilion from the World’s Fair be rescued and...
The New York State Pavilion, a centerpiece of the World’s Fair that opened in Queens 50 years ago today, was named a “national treasure” on Tuesday by the National Trust for Historic Preservation in a...
View ArticleDoes a pair of pink tenements on East 64th Street deserve to be saved from...
On Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission denied permission to tear down two historic tenements on the Upper East Side, throwing out the landlord’s claim that it could not make money on the...
View ArticleIs the 1% increase for one-year lease renewals fair?
On Monday evening, the Rent Guidelines Board voted to increase rent for nearly 1 million rent-stabilized apartments in the city, despite calls for a one-year freeze from Mayor Bill de Blasio and other...
View ArticleShould developers be able to build “poor doors”?
The city has approved Extell Development Co.’s request to have separate entrances in an Upper West Side development, one for market-rate purchasers and another for residents who will live in one of the...
View ArticleShould the Freedom Stone go back home?
The 20-ton cornerstone laid a decade ago at Ground Zero for what was then called the Freedom Tower now resides in a private company’s front yard on Long Island, according to The Wall Street Journal....
View ArticleShould noncity residents pay a pied-a-terre tax?
The Fiscal Policy Institute is proposing an annual tax surcharge on New York City properties worth $5 million or more that are owned by nonresidents. The tax of 0.5% to 4% would raise about $665...
View ArticleIs it fair to post names of ‘bad landlords’?
New York City officials will publicly post the names of landlords found to have harassed tenants, hoping the shaming will be a deterrent. Mayor Bill de Blasio signed a bill on Tuesday that will require...
View ArticleWhat do you think of 1 World Trade Center?
The massive 1 World Trade Center, the centerpiece of the rebuilt office complex, was savaged by the New York Times’ architecture critic, who called it “symmetrical to a fault” and lamented that it has...
View ArticleAre Mayor Bill de Blasio’s housing goals economically feasible?
Declaring that “the city has for decades let developers write their own rules when it came to building housing,” Mayor Bill de Blasio demanded Tuesday that they provide more public benefits if they...
View ArticleShould condo buyers be required to disclose their identities?
Condos across the city are being acquired anonymously through shell companies or limited-liability companies. In fact, there is no law requiring buyers to identify themselves. A New York Times series...
View ArticleWhat is the fate of accused murderer Robert Durst?
After an HBO documentary turned up new evidence about the disappearance of real estate scion Douglas Durst’s first wife and the deaths of two other women he knew, he was arrested by federal agents on...
View ArticleShould landlords have to make their buildings’ amenities available to all...
City Council legislation introduced this week would require landlords to give all tenants in their buildings access to amenities such as the pool and fitness center. At some buildings in the city,...
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