The NY Times has some new news on the Battery Maritime Building. They pose the question, "What if you had a majestic skylighted, columned hall in a Beaux-Arts ferry building at the tip of Manhattan and were required to use it as a public space? What would you do with it?"
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EVENT: Into anime? It's your lucky weekend, the New York Anime Festival is in town! There will be previews, screenings and panels galore. Check out their website for more details. All Weekend // Jacob Javits Convention Center [655 W 34th St] // $30 day pass, $55 weekend pass SHOP: FIT and the Design Mavens come together for a 3 day shopstravaganza. Tons of designers we're not cool enough to have ever heard of will be...
The Governors Island Preservation and Education Corporation is having a public meeting tonight to share the five designs for the island so far. The designers will be presenting and the public can offer feedback. The meeting is at 6:30PM at FIT (Reeves Great Hall, 28th Street and 7th Avenue), and you can see the designs here and wonder if you agree with what the NY Times' architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff thought about them, as he offered his opinion in today's paper.
The five conceptual proposals for redeveloping Governors Island, "The Park at the Center of the World," have been floating for over a week now. Maybe you saw the technicolor article in last week's New York Magazine. Or maybe you've swooned among the large-scale paradise boards on display at the Center for Architecture.
Last night, the Rent Guidelines Board voted 5-4 to propose rent hikes for rent-stabilized apartments on the order of 2-4.5% for one-year leases and 4-7.5% for two-years leases. Loft rent increases would be 2-4% for one-year leases, 4-7% for two-year leases.
+ Following the release of the Atlantic Yards' Final Environmental Impact Statement, Empire State Development Corporation head Charles Gargano says Madison Square Garden owners Jim and Charles Dolan may end up killing the Gehry-designed project. More FEIS digesting from Curbed.
Rent stabilized tenants are bracing themselves for tonight's Rent Guidelines Board meeting where the board will most likely vote for a hike. Expect things to get incredibly noisy tonight! Actually, we imagine the basement of Cooper Union might implode from the feelings of self-pity, anger, and entitlement from both sides. The rent increases owners are asking for is 8%, because of higher gas prices and real estate taxes. And not only that, owners may also ask that rates remain only for one year leases - no more two year leases the tenants can lock into. Newsday says that 9,200 apartments left rent stabilization last year, the biggest number ever. The commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development Shaun Donovan added that though rent stabilization is one important part of affordable housing, "it's not as effectively targeted or as affordable as other units that we're doing in the mayor's plan and a lot of units that we're trying to preserve because it's not targeted to the people who need it the most, and the rents aren't set in any way that aligns to the income levels of the people who are living there." Which can be a valid argument, because there are some people who live in rent-stabilized apartments but don't really need them. At the same time, the rental market overall is crazy, and who can blame people for get their best deal?
We hear about a lot of events each week and we can't write one post about each of them, because then you'd be here all day. So we're going to sift through and pick out some gems for the weekdays, here are some of the highlights for this week...
Today and Thursday are Rent Guidelines Board's hearings for the public to weigh in on the proposed increases to rent stabilized apartments. The board is looking at a 2-4.5% increase for one-year leases, and a 4-7% increase for two-year leases, and you can expect the tenants to argue for lower increases and the landlords to argue for higher ones, with some clever signs and passionate discourse. Today's hearing is in Brooklyn, at the NYC City College of Technology at 285 Jay Street, from 4PM to 10PM; Thursday's hearing is in Manhattan, at Cooper Union's Great Hall at 7 East 7th Street, from 10AM to 6PM. Let Gothamist know if you attend any of these sessions.
Involver (media and entertainment activist community) and PEN (national organization of writers) present this Wednesday, August 4 at 7:00pm. An incredible lineup of literary legends convene to address contemporary political threats to freedom of expression.



