Latest news with #DepartmentofCityPlanning
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Property owner says city started demolishing the wrong home, ‘put a hole on my property'
X marks the spot where the city of Atlanta's Department of City Planning was preparing to bulldoze a Southwest Atlanta home on Highview Road. Property owner Renaldo Norman, who built the home from the ground up, said crews were successful in knocking down one wall. 'To behold, I saw demo, a bulldozer and a big hole on the side of the property,' he told Channel 2 investigative reporter Ashli Lincoln. He said city workers realized they'd made a mistake. Norman and his brother co-own a family real estate investment company. They say workers thought their building permit had expired. 'May 22, the day after it expired, they came out and put a hole on my property,' he said. But he said earlier that month, he filed a permit extension, putting the permit in compliance, meaning it's in good standing for an additional 6 months. TRENDING STORIES: 17-year-old missing after boat found circling on Allatoona Lake Family of twins found dead on Bell Mountain dispute findings, say they were killed Peachtree City celebrity alligator 'Flat Creek Floyd' dies after driver hits him 'Just imagine pulling up to your property and you see a big hole in the wall, and no one can give me an explanation as to why,' Norman said. The Normans say the city has not provided them with an explanation. He said when speaking with an employee, she suggested he call an attorney. Lincoln emailed the Department of City Planning, but no one has responded. Norman said they've already invested more than $200,000 into the build, and now they're considering starting back from scratch. 'This right here is a major setback. So, now we may have foundational issues,' Norman said. The Normans say they were planning to finish construction in the next two months. They say they are now considering taking legal action against the city.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Yahoo
Readers sound off on Karen Read, public toilets and a state climate law
Bloomington, Ind.: For those following the Karen Read saga in Massachusetts, it's been a wild ride. I watched the original trial long after it concluded, and I must say, it's quite an adventure. Most who have followed this case know it ended in a hung jury. The second trial is beginning as I write this letter. For those who may not know, Read is accused of running down her Boston police officer boyfriend with her car after an argument as he was exiting her vehicle to attend a party at a house with mutual friends. Many of them were also police officers. The boyfriend later died from his injuries and exposure to extreme cold weather. Read was charged with vehicular homicide, leaving the scene of an accident and driving while intoxicated, among other offenses. She maintains her innocence, claiming she saw her boyfriend enter the house, suggesting something must have happened to him inside. His lifeless body was discovered in the front yard near the street the following day. Investigators found fragments of her broken taillight near her boyfriend's body, along with a hair matching his DNA on her bumper. There has been a curious outpouring of support for Read on social media. Many believe she was framed by those at the party who were the actual murderers and set her up to take the blame. I am shocked that so many find this credible. I must admit that I thought she was guilty after hearing just a few details. After watching the trial, I think you'd have to be a bit nuts to believe otherwise. Scott Thompson Plainview, L.I.: Major League Baseball has published a list of 500 players being paid multi-million-dollar salaries this season, but Commissioner Rob Manfred still won't give me back the $5.35 check (for my unauthorized 'use' of Mickey Mantle's 1956 Triple Crown statistics of .353, 52 and 130) that he has never cashed since I mailed it to him on May 28, 2020. Richard Siegelman Manhattan: Re 'Council wants 1,000 new places for people to 'go,' ' (April 11): I see all of these articles about the city building new public toilets but nothing about the public toilets in privately owned buildings. Thanks to the late architect James Morgan, Manhattan Community Board 5 started requiring public toilets in large buildings as one of the requirements for them to obtain a zoning variance for additional floor area ratio (FAR), which gave developers additional space and made the buildings more profitable. The public is supposed to have access to these toilets without any hindrance. It is my understanding that the Department of City Planning has a list of these public toilets in a book called 'Privately Owned Public Space.' I believe that these public toilets should be included in any directory of public toilets. Joan E. Ramer Glen Ridge, N.J.: I still can't stop shaking my head in disbelief after reading Friday's article 'Has sex with corpse' about that sick piece of dirt who not only robbed a corpse on the R train but then performed oral and anal sex on him. He gives a new meaning to the word depravity. Find him and lock him up. He is too far gone for rehabilitation. Francine Ferrara Manhattan: Dear ma'am, do not despair. Someone saw you, an 'older' woman on the train tracks in the Bronx. The engineer of the Metro-North train I was riding on eased to a halt. The conductor immediately announced the situation to the passengers. No one grumbled in the first car, which I was riding in. There is nothing more important than saving a life — nothing. Power was turned off. You could hear a pin drop in my train car. NYPD officers arrived forthwith and successfully rescued you. That is a lot of people rooting for you, wishing you well. Most likely, people you don't know. Trust me, ma'am, we New Yorkers have your back. There is hope. Susan A. Stark Lackawaxen, Pa.: Rabbi Diana Fersko ('At Passover, speak truth on Hamas rape,' op-ed, April 11), while properly decrying man's inhumanity, errs in judgment by citing Oct. 7 as a comparative example. The handful of atrocities on that date hardly 'was one of the largest and most barbaric instances of gender-based violence in all of modernity.' That is, unless there is differential suffering according to race/religion/nationality, since the Nanking Massacre during the Second Sino-Japanese War claimed 20,000-80,000 victims. Of course, those were only Chinese. Prior to and after Oct. 7, Israel has systematically employed sexual violence to subjugate the Palestinian population. Its defense and security forces have proven more 'equal opportunity' in subjecting men and boys to equivalent humiliation, often — when anatomically inadequate to penetrate the Palestinian 'psyche' — utilizing batons, etc. It's mainly documented, and not what one would want served on the Seder plate! John A. MacKinnon Rockaway, N.J.: It's funny when the stock market goes up and up and we hear that it doesn't help the little guy. But when it goes down, it hurts everyone's 401(k). First of all, it only hurts if you sell low. If you are contributing weekly out of your paycheck, you are buying on sale. It's the only sale Americans don't like. Click on the five-year chart and you will feel better. Stock markets should be for long-term investment. If you are in a three-year window or needing the money, you should have been advised to be in more diversified and stable investments. Michael Ilardi Eastchester, N.Y.: To Voicer Paul Feiner: Funny how you insinuate that President Trump's tariffs might somehow be benefiting his family and friends. I looked and looked but can't seem to find your letter when Nancy Pelosi and the Biden family benefited. Just saying. Russ Pinto Malverne, L.I.: I believe Trump has resorted to child's play when he goes tit-for-tat in tariff negotiations. I'm disappointed at his Wharton School education. You can find better economists from CUNY. We know a thing or two about hard work, perseverance and standing in the cold. I'm a middle-aged man fed up with working on cold, dark March mornings and April, too. Help deflect all this negativity and do away with daylight saving time. Springing ahead entails waiting at 7 a.m. when Standard Time is 6 a.m. It's dark and colder, and adjusting to the loss of an hour of sleep is annoying. Heck, I did away with adjusting clocks in my house. I have two, one marked 'Standard Time' and the other 'Fake Time.' Let's get off tariffs and attempting to roll back the clock to mercantilism. Be pragmatic. Kosmas Patikoglou Glen Oaks: Taking legitimately granted federal money back from NYC is a priority for Trump. He made a fool of himself here as a consistently failed businessman, and New Yorkers know it. Now he's after climate laws passed by our state Legislature and signed by our governor. He's out for revenge while catering to his corporate donors. He's already defunded federal efforts to develop resiliency on our extensive shorelines. Without such work, we stand to lose 80,000 homes to rising waters, many of them in Trump-voting Staten Island. The Climate Superfund Act, modeled on the law that cleaned up the toxic Love Canal upstate, is in his crosshairs. The act, signed by Gov. Hochul this year, would provide a revenue stream for resiliency projects by collecting a truly modest sum of money from the oil and gas firms that are causing climate warming and its attendant damage. She must make a stand. Kanwaldeep K. Sekhon Manhattan: The most frightening thing about Trump is that he was fairly elected. America has freely chosen suicide. Joel Griffiths Flushing: If you're like me and miss the morning news team from the now-shuttered WCBS 880 AM, you might enjoy reading this: Former 880 morning voice Wayne Cabot can now be heard delivering news updates for ABC News Radio, which is broadcast all over the country. Cabot has also recently been heard on 1010 WINS as well. Welcome back to one of the accomplished radio journalists in New York City history. Bob Smith
Yahoo
01-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Atlanta considering new rules to crack down on short-term rental parties
The Brief Atlanta lawmakers propose new rules requiring short-term rental owners to obtain city permits and limit rentals in apartment buildings. Landmark condo tower cited as a hotspot for party complaints tied to Airbnb and VRBO listings. City planning officials will gather input from all Neighborhood Planning Units before moving forward. ATLANTA - The debate over short-term rentals in Atlanta is intensifying, as city lawmakers consider new legislation aimed at reducing disruptive parties and reining in rental activity in multifamily buildings. PREVIOUS STORY: Atlanta City Council to vote on stricter regulations for 'party houses' What we know The proposed ordinance would require owners listing properties on platforms such as Airbnb and VRBO to obtain a city-issued permit to operate legally. It would also limit the number of short-term rentals allowed in apartment buildings and cap how many single- and two-family vacation homes can operate within a certain distance of one another. SEE ALSO: Atlanta seeks to limit short-term party house rentals A key focus of the debate last week was The Landmark condominium tower in downtown Atlanta, which city leaders say has seen a surge in complaints linked to short-term rentals. What they're saying "The number of party issues that we have at this location, the fact that most owners have been pushed out due to the Airbnb properties — it is exactly condominiums such as yours that makes regulations such as this incredibly important," said Atlanta City Councilmember Liliana Bakhtiari during a public hearing. Industry representatives said they support workable regulations. "We encourage our members to apply and comply with the law," one advocate said, adding that they're seeking "an ordinance that's legally sound, practical and enforceable." What's next Before any plan is finalized, the Department of City Planning will collect feedback from all of Atlanta's Neighborhood Planning Units (NPUs) as part of the public input process.
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NYC communities with the most and least new housing created by 2024
NEW YORK (PIX11) – A housing database by the New York City Department of City Planning shows that nearly 34,000 new homes were created in the last year but it also shows disparities in where those homes were developed. DCP Housing Database shows that 33,974 new homes were completed in 2024, the most units completed in a single year since 1965. However, of the 59 community districts in New York City, only 10 of them permitted as much housing as the other 49 combined. More Local News Data released by the Department of City Planning shows a map of housing units completed in each community district between 2010 and 2024. Brooklyn saw the most amount of completed developments with multiple new homes created in five community districts. Queens had the second-highest amount of new housing in three districts. Manhattan and the Bronx both only had one community district with a sizable amount of new housing created. More: Latest News from Around the Tri-State A further breakdown of the data shows the following neighborhoods had the most amount of housing units completed in 2024. Long Island City – Hunters Point Greenpoint Jamaica Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO Financial District Williamsburg Hell's Kitchen East Williamsburg Queensbridge-Ravenswood Bedford-Stuyvesant Conversely, 19 community districts, primarily those in Manhattan, allowed for less than 100 new homes. Some of those neighborhoods included Greenwich Village, Hudson Square, Little Italy, NoHo, SoHo, West Village, Inwood and Washington Heights. Additionally Manhattan community district five, only completed 19 new homes in the last year. Those neighborhoods include Union Square, Flatiron, Gramercy, Midtown South and Times Square. Dominique Jack is a digital content producer from Brooklyn with more than five years of experience covering news. She joined PIX11 in 2024. More of her work can be found here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
