“The Uniform Land Use Review Process, or ULURP, is a public and transparent review that injects a degree of democracy into major land use changes by giving communities limited influence over our built environment.” Adi Talwar Residents hold up signs at a 2018 hearing about the Inwood rezoning. CityViews are readers’ opinions, not those of City Limits. Add your voice today! City planners don’t like communities. I learned this lesson in 2015 when I attended the first community engagement session for what would become the Inwood rezoning. The session was run by the New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC),…
Author: MAK Gojar
Salt Lake County residents may face a new tax increase this summer. The Salt Lake County Council gave its first nod to a sales tax increase this week that would, in part, add capacity within the Salt Lake County jail system. Salt Lake County residents may face a new tax increase this summer. The Salt Lake County Council gave its first nod to a 0.2-percentage-point sales tax increase this week. If approved at the council’s next meeting, the hike would go into effect July 1 and collect a penny for every $5 spent in the county. The increase would help…
Three members of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s administration announced their exits Thursday, days after the mayor delivered a warning about purging city officials who lacked loyalty to him. Departing his cabinet are Jamie Rhee, commissioner of the Department of Aviation, and Jose Tirado, director of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. Separately, Joe Calvello, the mayor’s chief strategy officer, stepped down this week less than a year after being hired to shore up his administration’s then-struggling communications effort and build out the freshman mayor’s long-term vision. And Andrea Kersten, head of the Civilian Office of Police Accountability, also announced her…
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — An 86-year-old Kansas City man will plead guilty Friday to the 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl, a Black honor student who rang the man’s doorbell by mistake, two people familiar with the case told The Associated Press. Andrew Lester was scheduled to stand trial next week on charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action in the shooting of the then 16-year-old, who survived the shooting and has since graduated from high school. On Thursday, prosecutors said Lester would appear in court Friday, but they did not say why or provide additional detail. Two people familiar…
TAMPA, Fla. — Marcus Stroman has been a no-show on the field for the New York Yankees’ first two spring training workouts. Stroman isn’t required to participate in spring training until Feb. 22, the mandatory reporting date under the collective bargaining agreement. But most players arrive on the voluntary reporting date. The 33-year-old right-hander is projected as the sixth man in the Yankees’ five-man rotation. “Yeah, I had an idea. When we talked, I knew he might be out the first couple days,” manager Aaron Boone said Thursday after the team’s second day of practice. “I certainly get how it…
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Thursday intensified its sweeping efforts to shrink the sizeof the federal workforce, the nation’s largest employer, by ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protection — potentially affecting hundreds of thousands of workers. In addition, workers at some agencies were warned that large workplace cuts would be coming. The decision on probationary workers, who generally have less than a year on the job, came from the Office of Personnel Management, which serves as a human resources department for the federal government. The notification was confirmed…
“Sonic Loveway” leads a bevy of romance-tinged events taking place in San Jose on Friday and over the weekend. SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 13: People walk through “Sonic Runway” in downtown San Jose, Calif., on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022. The installation will be here through 2027. A team created the installation led by artists Rob Jensen and Warren Trezevant and designer Stockhausen, it has 25 arches, stretching 432 feet. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group) Let’s hope that Mother Nature has some romance in her heart. After a couple of days of heavy rain in San Jose, clear skies…
At a forum hosted by the San Jose Downtown Association and the San Jose Chamber of Commerce, public safety, the homelessness crisis, and housing development remained among the top priorities for participating District 3 candidates. (George Avalos/Bay Area News Group) Downtown San Jose and the city’s SoFA district, looking north, as seen on Dec. 5, 2024. With the San Jose District 3 special election less than two months away, candidates in the crowded field to replace disgraced former Councilmember Omar Torres have begun to roll out their policy platforms in hopes of winning the support of voters. At a forum…
The regulatory action comes as Tesla CEO Musk works as a special government employee for President Donald Trump to dramatically — and critics say illegally — slash federal government spending and programs, including in agencies responsible for regulating the operations of Tesla. Production associates work on a Tesla Model 3 at the Tesla factory in Fremont, Calif., on Wednesday, July 18, 2018. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group) Tesla has been fined $13,500 for a “serious” alleged violation of state labor law, after California’s occupational safety regulator found it failed to protect 50 workers at its Fremont electric car factory from…
Fremont has gained national attention for its strict new camping ban. Unhoused resident José Arroyo talks during an interview at the homeless encampment near the corner of Osgood Road and Washington Boulevard in Fremont on Feb. 7, 2025. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group) The city of Fremont has been thrust into the national spotlight this week for adopting a stringent public camping ban that also makes it a crime to “aid” or abet” any violation of the new law. The aiding-and-abetting language has raised fears among advocates for homeless people that anyone helping people living in encampments could soon have a…
Work to give 21st-century London yet another skyscraper has uncovered traces — in fact chunks — of the city’s origins almost 2,000 years ago. Archaeologists exploring the site of a planned 32-story office tower announced Thursday that they have unearthed the remains of a Roman basilica that once stood at the heart of the city known as Londinium. Excavations in the basement of a building slated to be demolished for the tower at 85 Gracechurch Street uncovered flint, brick and ragstone walls and foundations, up to 1 meter (over 3 feet) wide, 4 meters (13 feet) deep and two millennia…
A Florida man convicted of killing a husband and wife at a remote farm in an attack witnessed by the couple’s toddler was put to death Thursday in the state’s first execution of the year. James Dennis Ford, 64, was pronounced dead at 6:19 p.m. following a three-drug injection at Florida State Prison. He was convicted of the murders of Gregory Malnory, 25, and his wife Kimberly, 26. Both were killed during a 1997 fishing trip at a sod farm in southwest Florida’s Charlotte County where court records showed the two men worked. Ford had nothing to say Thursday evening…
The Wayans family, who through film, TV, sketch and stand-up comedy, have both entertained and created countless jobs both on and off camera in Hollywood, will be feted at this year’s NAACP Image Awards. Keenen Ivory Wayans, Damon Wayans Sr., Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Kim Wayans and Damon Wayans Jr. will be inducted into the NAACP Awards’ Hall of Fame, the organization announced Thursday. Some of the Wayans’ credits include the sketch comedy series “In Living Color,” created by Keenan Ivory Wayans in 1990 and Damon Wayans starred in the 1995 comedy “Major Payne.” Keenan Ivory Wayans also directed the…
A federal judge in Boston on Thursday blocked an executive order from President Donald Trump that would end birthright citizenship for the children of parents who are in the U.S. illegally, becoming the fourth judge to do so. The ruling from U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin came three days after U.S. District Judge Joseph Laplante in New Hampshire blocked the executive order and follows similar rulings in Seattle and Maryland. Sorokin said in a 31-page ruling that the “Constitution confers birthright citizenship broadly, including to persons within the categories described” in the president’s executive order. The Boston case was filed…
U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited the Dachau concentration camp memorial on Thursday, walking the solemn halls with a group that included a Holocaust survivor once held at the site of so much suffering and mass murder. His experiencing firsthand a powerful symbol of World War II came at a time of ongoing conflict in Europe. Vance on Friday has critical talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the three-year Russia-Ukraine war. A light rain and sleet mix fell as the vice president and his wife, Usha Vance, spoke to a group of dignitaries near the concentration camp’s gate. The…
A new atmospheric river is slamming California, including fire-ravaged Los Angeles, where residents are bracing for the possibility of mudslides and landslides.
A new atmospheric river is slamming California, including fire-ravaged Los Angeles, where residents are bracing for the possibility of mudslides and landslides.
A new atmospheric river is slamming California, including fire-ravaged Los Angeles, where residents are bracing for the possibility of mudslides and landslides.
A day after the Trump administration ended its federal buyout offer, the administration has begun mass layoffs across multiple federal agencies.
The Pilbara region in Western Australia is bracing for Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia to make landfall on Friday as a category 5 system. The Pilbara region in Western Australia is bracing for Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia to make landfall on Friday as a category 5 system. By Heather McNeill Updated February 14, 2025 — 7.27amfirst published February 13, 2025 — 12.19pm The Pilbara region in Western Australia is bracing for Severe Tropical Cyclone Zelia to make landfall on Friday as a category 5 system. It is moving south-east at the slow speed of 7km/h, which is allowing it to gather…