I was first to sound the alarm over the proliferation of illegal cannabis retailers in New York City. There are about 30 stores on the Upper West Side alone and approximately 1,500 citywide. Stores are targets of armed robbery, sell to teenagers, and undermine the emerging legal market.
E-bikes are here to stay and have become an important component of life in the city, but lithium-ion batteries that power them pose significant risk of fire.
I have been an early supporter of the city retirees who are concerned about maintaining their current health providers and not having insurance companies be gatekeepers. Medicare advantage plans give private insurance companies the power to
overrule primary care physicians – and to say which procedures will be permitted. Keeping their current
insurance plan, called Senior Care, is critical in retaining access to their doctors and
ensuring continuity of care.
Students throughout New York City, especially students with disabilities, rely on a fleet of thousands of school buses to arrive safely at school in the morning and at home each evening.
But when school buses are delayed, break down, or become stuck in traffic, a host of logistical and safety concerns result.
In the last few years, helicopter-related noise complaints have skyrocketed, going from 10,359 complaints filed with 311 in 2020, to 25,821 in 2021. These complaints have gone up over 2,300% in the last five years. Nearly 22,000 of the complaints filed in 2021 came from Manhattan, illustrating the disproportionate impact on our communities.
If left unchecked by appropriate regulation, Microfulfillment Centers will continue to operate with tacit approval in a manner that is unfair and injurious to competing retail businesses that are the backbone of our communities, be allowed to alter the streetscape in ways that are typical of wholesale and warehouse districts, and, in effect, be permitted to be operate as outlaws where all other businesses are subject to strict regulations.
