Department of City Planning
Streetsblog Basics
City Planning Department Suggests Safer Streets, Better Buses for Red Hook
Cut off from the rest of the borough by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and lacking direct subway access, Red Hook can feel like an isolated part of Brooklyn. A study from the Department of City Planning, released last November, calls for expanded pedestrian space, new bus service to Manhattan, and bicycle and pedestrian safety fixes throughout the neighborhood.
January 16, 2015
How NYC Could Get More Transit Funding From Developers
As the MTA capital plan funding gap has come into focus, there's been a lot of discussion about how new development can help pay for the transit service it requires. It turns out the city already has a tool that links real estate with transit improvements, but it's so limited that it's been used to fund transit upgrades only 10 times in more than three decades. For a more robust model, planners should look to San Francisco.
November 10, 2014
DCP Sketches Out Waterfront Transit and Safer Streets for Western Queens
A new transitway from LaGuardia Airport to Downtown Brooklyn is the most ambitious recommendation in a draft report [PDF] from the Department of City Planning on transportation in Western Queens, which also includes a raft of smaller changes that would make the streets of Astoria and Long Island City safer and more livable.
October 10, 2014
To Make Atlantic Ave Safer, Advocates Want to Hear All About Its Problems
Efforts to improve safety along Atlantic Avenue are moving ahead as advocates gain support and the Department of City Planning continues its study of the dangerous arterial street.
October 1, 2014
Planning For Growth and Safer Streets at Bronx Metro-North Stations
Once the MTA's East Side Access project is finally complete, a few additional upgrades will allow Metro-North's New Haven Line trains to stop at new stations in the East Bronx and cross the Hell Gate Bridge before heading to Penn Station. The Bronx is also expected to grow faster than any other borough in the coming years. With both factors in mind, the Department of City Planning has released a new report on the potential for transit-oriented development at Metro-North stations in the Bronx.
August 28, 2014
A Proposal for Incremental Parking Reform in NYC
In most of New York City, zoning requirements compel new development to include a certain amount of parking. These mandates make housing more expensive while causing more traffic and pollution, but the Department of City Planning took only the most timid steps to reform them during the Bloomberg administration, and the de Blasio administration isn't shaping up much differently. Now a small team of architects and urban designers has a strategy to make progress on parking reform, and while it's not exactly bold, it may appeal to the conflict-averse DCP.
August 19, 2014
Can Atlantic Ave Become a Great Street? DCP Will Study the Possibilities
Atlantic Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Brooklyn, but it's also one of the most dangerous. The major thoroughfare, paralleled by the LIRR and a subway line just two blocks away, remains a barrier between neighborhoods, plagued by speeding traffic and lined with auto body shops. Can it become an urban street that welcomes people instead of repelling them? The Department of City Planning is going to look at the possibilities along 2.4 miles of Atlantic Avenue.
July 1, 2014
Weisbrod and Kimball Tie Their Own Hands on Parking Reform
Reducing the amount of parking in new development promises to make housing more affordable and curb traffic congestion, but it hasn't gained much traction in Bill de Blasio's first months at City Hall, despite the mayor's ambitious promises to ease the housing crunch. Today, two top city officials explained why, unlike their counterparts in more car-dependent cities, New York's leaders are suggesting only the meekest changes to off-street parking policy.
May 28, 2014
DCP Flubs Research on How Off-Street Parking Affects Traffic
In its latest parking report, the Department of City Planning claimed that residential off-street parking is not linked to increased driving, contradicting previous research. In response, the parking policy experts who produced that research are reprimanding the agency for jumping to conclusions based on insufficient evidence. The flub by DCP could have big consequences, because it undermines part of the rationale for eliminating parking mandates.
February 21, 2014
De Blasio Appoints Carl Weisbrod to Head Up the Planning Department
Mayor Bill de Blasio has named Carl Weisbrod to lead the Department of City Planning. Weisbrod, who co-chaired de Blasio's transition team and has deep experience in city government, now commands a post with tremendous power to shape the quality of New York City's built environment. Of particular interest for the city's transportation and housing future will be how vigorously Weisbrod pursues reform of NYC's parking minimums, which Amanda Burden, the previous planning commissioner, barely touched.
February 7, 2014