The days of the Landmarks Preservation Commission reviewing every proposed bus shelter in districts under its jurisdiction could soon be over — or at least greatly diminished.
That's according to new rules proposed by the LPC to waive the commission's current requirement that its members vote to approve any new bus shelter, as long as the shelter's design has approval from the city's Public Design Commission.
Members of the public have a chance to chime in on the proposed policy change at the LPC's May 9 hearing, via email to nycrules@lpc.nyc.gov, on the city's online rules portal or via mail to the LPC at 1 Centre Street.
The existing rules are a well-worn tool, at least rhetorically, for NIMBYs who want to block bus shelters from being installed in their neighborhoods. The LPC typically approves proposed shelters — as evidenced by its move to scrap its oversight role entirely.
In other news:
- From the Assignment Desk: Composting group Big Reuse will rally Friday at 10:30 a.m. against the Parks Department's plan to evict their Queensbridge composting site to create an agency parking lot. More info here.
- The New York Post laid off its transit reporter. (Nolan Hicks via Twitter)
- Street vendors want City Hall to lift the cap on licenses to let them operate. (Gothamist)
- Jersey Rep. Josh Gottheimer calls the MTA's congestion pricing traffic mitigation funds "crumbs." (New Jersey Monitor)
- Meet the "busiest turnstile" in New York City — taking three million spins per year. (Curbed)
- Congestion pricing pick ups momentum ... in Boston! (Axios Boston)
- 19-year-old Bronx man killed in parking dispute. (Daily News)
- Damned bike lanes! (CurbJumpingNYC via Twitter)
- And, finally, we've been asking the Department of Transportation for weeks about today's closed-press Equity in Motion summit, and we were finally invited to the opening plenary session. So are you, apparently:
