New York Note: Bottcher Enters NY-12 Race, Council Stated Meeting, Long Island City Rezoning

Council Member Erik Bottcher Enters Crowded Race for NY-12

City Council Member Erik Bottcher, a Democrat representing Chelsea, Greenwich Village, and Hell’s Kitchen, announced his campaign for New York’s 12th Congressional District, long held by retiring Rep. Jerry Nadler. Bottcher, a longtime L.G.B.T.Q. rights advocate in the Council and in state government, argues that his experience confronting right-wing harassment and working on mental health and housing policy prepares him to serve in Congress. He joins a crowded Democratic primary field that includes Jack Schlossberg, the grandson of President John F. Kennedy, Assembly Members Micah Lasher and Alex Bores, nonprofit founder Liam Elkind, former financial executive Alan Pardee, and journalist and lawyer Jami Floyd in a safely Democratic district that stretches from 14th Street to near the top of Central Park.

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NYC Council Passes and Introduces Legislation

At its November 12 Stated Meeting, the City Council advanced a package of citywide bills aimed at strengthening public safety, establishing rules for trash containerization, tightening home improvement permit requirements for contractors, reforming business licensing laws, and increasing transparency for community boards, borough boards, and advisory bodies. The legislation includes requirements for the Department of Transportation to add pedestrian lighting on at least 300 commercial corridors annually, a study of burial capacity and climate impacts at Hart Island, authority for the Department of Sanitation to charge a capped annual fee for on-street waste containerization with exemptions for certain affordable and regulated buildings, new disclosure rules for home improvement contractors, and transparency requirements for community and borough board bylaws. Additional actions included several rezonings in Queens and Brooklyn, resolutions recognizing Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Day and Black Solidarity Day, creation or expansion of several business improvement districts, and a new real property tax exemption for qualifying Cold War veterans and their surviving spouses.

Long Island City Rezoning Marks Largest in 25 Years

In addition to other legislation passed during its Stated Meeting, the City Council approved its largest rezoning in at least 25 years, the OneLIC Neighborhood Plan. The plan rezones 54 blocks in Long Island City to allow up to 14,700 new homes, including more than 4,000 affordable units under Mandatory Inclusionary Housing, and over 3.8 million square feet of commercial and industrial space. Adopted by a 45–0 vote, the rezoning was negotiated by Council Member Julie Won and the Adams administration in conjunction with an estimated $1.5 billion package of neighborhood investments, including new open space under the Queensboro Bridge, waterfront improvements, and infrastructure upgrades. It is expected to be the final neighborhood-wide rezoning advanced under the Adams administration.

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