Gotham Gazette

The Place for New York Policy and politics

Hudson River Park

Hudson River Park

  • Building in the Wrong Places: A Pivotal Choice

    hudson river park aerial

    photo: Hudson River Park Trust


    Building sites for so-called "parks" or other misplaced uses in or over the water offshore is a ruinous policy. Unprecedented proposals now before the City Council to help finance such in-water construction by selling legally dubious "air rights" (supposedly unused development rights) from sites in the lower Hudson River--starting with Pier 40--or other public waterways to mega-developers would magnify this harmful policy's potentially catastrophic citywide impacts.

    Joanne Witty's ...

  • Building and Maintaining Parks in New York City: A Reality Check

    brooklyn bridge park bbp

    Brooklyn Bridge Park (photo via Henrik Krogius)


    Recently, there has been considerable focus on the idea that public parks are important to the health and wellbeing of New Yorkers. Mayor Michael Bloomberg invested $5 billion in parks during his 12 years in office after decades in which even caring for existing parks was a low city priority. Mayor Bill de Blasio has made his Community Parks Initiative a centerpiece of his agenda to reduce inequality in all aspects of city life. Since announced, the number of community parks targeted has increased from 35 to 67,

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  • No Fly Zone: Council Members Push Helicopter, Drone Regulations

    garodnick vallone drones

    Council members introduce drone legislation (photo: William Alatriste)


    Pointing to insufficient efforts on the part of the Federal Aviation Administration, New York City Council members are taking regulation of the city’s skies into their own hands.

    In asserting their authority with respect to helicopters and drones on a turf traditionally maintained by the federal government, council members may find themselves in ambiguous legal territory. But they tell Gotham Gazette that they are

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