In May 2014, Mayor de Blasio released his plan ‘Housing New York,’ a five-borough ten-year plan to preserve and expand affordable housing. Key components of this plan include protecting current housing stock, preserving 120,000 units of existing housing, investing in strong neighborhoods by planning with communities, and creating 80,000 new affordable housing units.
In 1986, CIVITAS initiated a study, No More Tall Stories, which makes the case for lower buildings, with the same heights as their neighbors, and elimination of plazas along Upper East Side avenues. Paul Newman narrates the video illustrating the issue.