Senator Robert Jackson and Assemblymember Linda Rosenthal need our help. Save Central Park NYC is aligned with 30 advocacy groups Citywide. Please join this campaign!
The bill to close the loopholes (A2128 / S2016) needs to get on the Housing Committee Agenda and out to the floor for a vote. With calls from constituents we can make this happen.
Calling your Assemblymember and Senator and calling the Chairs of the Housing Committees will mean that they can no longer avoid confronting the abusive tactics that developers are using to denigrate our neighborhoods and parks.
Please call your Senator, your Assembly Member, and the chairs of the committees in their district offices on Wednesday (April 14), Thursday (April 15), and Friday, (April 16) before the committee meeting.
- The Senate housing committee will be meeting the week of April 19th. We need to urge senators to get this bill out of committee
Please call (preferred) or if you can't get someone on the phone, leave a message and send an email.
Link to find your Senator: https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/A2128
Link to find your Assembly Member: https://nyassembly.gov/mem/
Senate Chair of the Housing Committee, Brian Kavanagh: Phone: 212-298-5565; E-mail: Kavanagh@nysenate.gov
Assembly Chair of the Housing Committee, Steven Cymbrowitz: Phone: 718-743-4078; E-mail: CymbroS@nyassembly.gov
- Ask the legislator to become a co-sponsor and request that the bill be included in the housing committee agenda.
- If your Assembly Member or Senator is already a co-sponsor: Thank them for co-sponsoring Assembly Bill A2128 / Senate Bill S2016. And ask them get three additional co-sponsors today. Check with these links:
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/S2016
https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2021/A2128 - The State must act because the City Council effort to limit mechanical voids in 2018 didn’t go far enough; they were severely limited by City Planning. In fact their efforts may have codified the practice of using empty spaces to gain excessive heights.
- For a City starved for affordable housing Super Towers that are filled with empty space are counter productive.
- We know that real estate will be an important part of our recovery, we just hope we don’t sell out our environment in the process.
- Let them know it's important that this bill gets out of committee to the floor for a vote.
Email:
Subject Line: Requesting Co-sponsorship of Bill A2128/S2016 - Close the Loopholes— Amendment to the Multiple Dwelling Law
I am writing to encourage you to co-sponsor legislation to close developer loopholes. It is an amendment to the Multiple Dwelling Law that is sorely needed. The result of the abuse is out-of-context Mega Towers that are shadowing our parks and darkening our streets.
The intention of the Zoning Code is to provide clarity and predictability, but developers are circumventing the letter and intent of the law, at a high cost to society, for the sole purpose of greater heights and larger profits.
While City Council and the Manhattan Borough President have been forceful in pressing the City Planning Commission to address numerous loopholes, they are only addressing mechanical voids. The actual text was developed by City Planning and the scope is so narrow, that it does not have any impact, and may in fact codify and encourage greater use of voids — the exact thing it was intended to limit.
Thus, we are counting on the State to pass this bill which will limit “no count” spaces to 5% of the total height or 20’ (additional will be counted towards FAR). This bill will limit:
- Unnecessary “mechanical voids”
- Excessive floor-to-ceiling heights to 12' with a greater lobby allowance
- Use of stilts and/or open spaces
For a city starved of affordable housing, super towers that are filled with empty space are counterproductive. We know that real estate will be an important part of our recovery, we just hope we don’t sell out our environment in the process.
This is a fair and just amendment to the Multiple Dwelling Law.
Sincerely,