In an apparent victory for Mayor Eric Adams, a preliminary tally of votes by tenants at a Brooklyn public housing development approved a new strategy called the NYC Housing Preservation Trust that the mayor has trumpeted as the financial solution to the fiscally bereft city Housing Authority. NYCHA, which claims to need $78 billion to […]
Greg B. Smith
Greg is a reporter at THE CITY with a special focus on New York City’s housing developments and the city’s housing crisis.
Posted inFDNY
FDNY Canceled a Dozen Inspections, Including at a Brooklyn Public School, to Fast Track City Hall VIP
The pressure from Mayor Eric Adams’ team to fast-track an FDNY inspection of a 77-story office tower at Hudson Yards triggered the cancelation of fire inspections for a dozen non-VIP New Yorkers, including an overcrowded, racially diverse public school in Brooklyn’s Dyker Heights. In the spring of 2022, 50 Hudson Yards landed at the top […]
Posted inReal Estate
‘Extremely Unfair’ FDNY Fast Track for Hudson Yards Would Delay Other Developments, Official Warned
A fire department official warned his bosses that the commissioner’s demand to fast-track a Hudson Yards FDNY inspection deemed a “top priority of City Hall” would significantly delay more than a dozen other buildings from getting clearance for occupancy, emails obtained by THE CITY show. Deputy Chief Brian Cordasco pointed out that the expedited examination […]
Posted inPublic Housing
NYCHA Gets A New Watchdog as Outside Oversight Runs into Overtime
Bart Schwartz, the independent monitor appointed nearly five years ago to push for reforms to the troubled New York City Housing Authority, will end his tenure in February and be replaced by an international law firm, Jenner & Block, THE CITY has learned. Schwartz and his consulting company, Guidepost Solutions, began work in February 2019 […]
Posted inEric Adams
Order to Prioritize FDNY Inspection for Hudson Yards Tower Came from Mayor’s Office
The internal email sent to multiple FDNY chiefs in the spring of 2022 ordered that the fire alarm system inspection at 50 Hudson Yards be expedited, and it made clear where this dictate was coming from: the office of Mayor Eric Adams. The gleaming glass 77-story office tower built by The Related Companies on the […]
Posted inCity Hall
City Lawyers Demand de Blasio Pay $474K for Personal Police Detail, Warning of ‘Imperial Mayoralty’
Accusing Bill de Blasio of concocting a “chilling vision of an imperial mayoralty,” the city Conflicts of Interest Board has asked a state judge to throw out the former mayor’s challenge to the six-figure bill it leveled against him for the travel costs he charged to city taxpayers in his quixotic campaign for president. In […]
Posted inDevelopment
High-End Sushi Joint Linked to Big Eric Adams Donor Got Fast-Tracked for FDNY Clearance
A high-end Manhattan sushi restaurant opened by mega-developer SL Green, one of Mayor Eric Adams’ biggest financial backers, landed on a high-priority Deputy Mayor of Operations list of locations eligible for fast-track FDNY inspections needed to open for business, THE CITY has learned. The restaurant, JoJi, was able to open in September 2022 in the […]
Posted inEric Adams
Not Just the Turks: Feds Looking at Mayor’s List That Allegedly Let Big Developers Cut FDNY Line
As part of its probe into the Eric Adams campaign’s connections to Turkey, the FBI is looking into whether an internal list of property owners seeking approval of fire alarm systems, kept by the mayor’s office under both Bill de Blasio and Adams, allowed prominent real estate developers to cut the line for crucial inspections, […]
Posted inAdams Turkey Probe
Every Recent NYC Mayoral Administration Has Been Investigated, But No Mayor Has Been Charged
Shortly after news broke that the FBI had raided the home of Brianna Suggs, a chief fundraiser for Mayor Eric Adams, Assemblymember Rodneyse Bichotte Hermelyn jumped to the mayor’s defense. The longtime Adams supporter questioned whether he’d been unfairly targeted because of his race. “I’m concerned about whether these investigations are just targeting him because […]
Posted inPublic Safety
NYCHA Moves to Limit E-Bikes After Rescinding Proposed Ban
Last year the New York City Housing Authority proposed and then backed down from a rule that would have banned storing or charging lithium-ion battery powered e-bikes and e-scooters in public housing. The idea was to reduce the possibility of dangerous fires sparked by the potentially volatile batteries, but the proposed ban ran into pushback […]