Results tagged “planningdepartment”

A woman used to have to move to Alaska to find herself the center of attention of an overwhelmingly male population; now she just has to move south of Chambers St. According to an article in the New York Times, residential development of lower Manhattan and a booming financial sector economy have resulted in a population that is heavily skewed towards men.

Since 2000, men, mostly between ages 25 and 44, have accounted for more than three-fourths of the population increase in Lower Manhattan. As a result, according to a special census calculation, the sex ratio there increased to 126 men per 100 women in 2005, from 101 men per 100 women in 2000. In the rest of Manhattan, and in the city over all, there were only 90 men for every 100 women.

Continue reading "Boys Town"

Willie Neuman points out an interesting conundrum in today's Big Deal (third item). If a developer with a known history of building oversize and then biting the cost in sheer profits comes into your neighborhood and makes a play to build an oversize building there, what do you do? What if the property in question is an enormous pit? That's exactly what has happened in Borough Park where Mendel Brach, a specialist at the 'we'll build extra and just say teachers will live here' style of building development, is asking the city for a variance to build a 12-story building and 259-car parking garage at 886 Dahil Road in Borough Park, specifically over the area on the other side of the supermarket parking lot in the aerial shot above.

Neighbors said the abandoned building had been a scourge for years, attracting the homeless and people who illegally dump trash. A violation issued by the Buildings Department last Tuesday was taped to the gate, citing hazardous conditions and ordering the owners to clean up the building, shore up a weak wall and secure the entrances. It was the second such violation since the developers bought the building.

In a victory for the city's theater industry and possibly good ol' fashioned American kitsch, the city's Planning Department has ruled Cirque du Soleil doesn't qualify as "legitimate theater." Therefore, the developer Related Companies won't get a special bonus for building at a lot on the far western part of West 42nd Street. Take that, Canada - you may have better healthcare and be the home of Degrassi and some Americans may go there to avoid fighting in wars no one believes in, but you can't take away money better spent on Madame Tussaud's! Oh, wait, Madame Tussaud's is British - maybe Disney wants to build a huge Chronicles of Narnia Experience there. Anywya, Related says they will look at their plans again, but most people do not think Cirque will happen (at least at that location) because, as the TImes reports, "of the prohibitive size and cost." And Related adds that the property is "not for sale, as of right now." Dunh dunh dunh.