Some City Council members are losing an informal veto power over new projects in their districts after voters approved a measure aimed at eliminating roadblocks to development.
The communications were revealed as part of a lawsuit challenging the rent freeze on rent-stabilized units in New York City, which went into effect on Thursday.
A judge added to confusion over a tax on high-end second homes, also known as pieds-à-terre, when he ordered the city to scrap and restart the rollout of the tax.
New York landlords are seeking to invalidate a city panel’s vote to freeze rents on rent-stabilized homes, arguing that Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s office improperly influenced the panel.
The settlement resolves a 2019 lawsuit that argued that a city program intended to seize buildings from negligent landlords had stripped homeowners of their equity without proper compensation.
A New York Times analysis shows that the pace of office-to-residential conversions like the former Pfizer building, where two steel columns buckled in July, has quickened sharply.
The ruling is a win for Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who argued that the case be heard in Manhattan. The lawsuit challenging the rent freeze had been filed in Staten Island.
New York officials were already hurrying to roll out the tax. A lawsuit by homeowners, which persuaded a judge to issue a temporary pause, has made the process thornier.
