The City Water Board finalized a 7 percent rate increase, effective July 1st. Any buildings still on frontage will automatically go into the Multifamily Conservation Program with a flat $894.15 per unit per year charge.
If you want to know who to call to complain, or to get any other information from the City, the first digital Green Book has been issued with up to date contact info for all city agencies. Strange that the City’s first web directory still lists phone numbers but not emails.
The New York City Economic Development Corporation has issued an RFP for development of a parking garage on 125th Street in Harlem as a possible arts center. The zoning allows 302,000 sq. ft. of retail and commercial uses with a another 61,000 sq. ft. bonus for art space.
The Centers for Disease Control lowered the level of blood lead levels that should be reported by clinicians from 10 to 5 micrograms per deciliter, almost doubling the number of children who might be considered to have elevated levels. There are no symptoms or treatments at those levels, which were pretty much average in the ’50s and 60’s. The change should have no immediate impact in New York City, where the law requires testing apartments of children with blood lead levels of 15 or higher. ..although nothing prevents the Department of Health from inspecting other units except, perhaps, resources and priorities. Meanwhile, the CDC website yesterday still had an explanation of why its decision to lowering the level from 10 made no sense (before politics came into play):
No effective clinical interventions are known to lower the blood lead levels for children with levels less than 10 µg/dL or to reduce the risk for adverse developmental effects.
Children cannot be accurately classified as having blood lead levels above or below a value less than 10 µg/dL because of the inaccuracy inherent in laboratory testing.
Finally, there is no evidence of a threshold below which adverse effects are not experienced. Thus, any decision to establish a new level of concern would be arbitrary and provide uncertain benefits.