NY Officials Urge Local Community Boards To Not Squander Chance For Mega Midtown Redesign Plan "Members from the state’s Empire State Development, the state entity leading the $306 billion project, warned members of Manhattan Community Boards 4 and 5 at a Thursday night town hall of the project’s urgency. Otherwise, they said, they might miss the chance to get federal funds from a White House and Senate supportive of infrastructure projects. The project doesn’t need to go through the city’s land use review process, but does require community input from local community boards that would be impacted by the project. It’s unclear how much authority the community boards have to alter or halt the state project." (Gothamist)
‘It’s been pretty sh**ty’: Subway riders fume as on-time train performance declines amid NYC recovery "Subway on-time performance continued to decline in June, with a decrease of 8.9% systemwide compared to the same time last year, as Metropolitan Transportation Authority officials wrestle with crew shortages and signal problems....Across all train lines, weekday OTP was 83.7% in June 2021, down from 92.6% in June 2020." (AMNY)
MTA to hold off on planned fare hikes until at least 2022 "Metropolitan Transportation Authority Finance Committee Chairman Larry Schwartz said the fare increase for mass transit riders will be pushed back until at least next year as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to hammer New York’s economy. " (Daily News)
Bushwick to House Netflix’s First New York City Studio "The new 170,000-square-foot facility in Bushwick will be decked out with six sound stages, editing suites, meeting rooms and a commissary. The sound stages have enough space to film two TV shows at the same time, or one blockbuster movie, Bloomberg reports." (BKReader)
New Yorkers Are Packing Community Board Meetings to Oppose Outdoor Dining "New Yorkers have overwhelmingly supported Open Restaurants throughout the pandemic, but in recent months a vocal minority of city residents has spoken out against the program. At the community board level, that opposition appears to be ramping up in some neighborhoods, with residents turning out in droves to cite concerns that range from safety and noise to pedestrian access and parking. Ahead of a meeting held by Manhattan Community Board 3 earlier this month, a group of residents led a campaign using flyers and emails to urge their neighbors to show up in opposition to the program." (Eater)
