David F Brand

And it was exhilarating

I have felt the earthquake

Forged signatures found on Mayor Adams’ petitions to run as an independent The Adams campaign said it is conducting a review after Gothamist found signatures that were fraudulently obtained or outright forged.

💣💣💣💣💣💣💣💣

Forged signatures found on Mayor Adams’ petitions to run as an independent gothamist.com/news/forged-...

Some 🔥🔥🔥🔥from @davidfbrand.bsky.social & @brigidbergin.bsky.social

Forged signatures found on Mayor Adams’ petitions to run as an independent The Adams campaign said it is conducting a review after Gothamist found signatures that were fraudulently obtained or outright forged.

NEW: Mayor Eric Adams’ re-election campaign submitted faked and fraudulently obtained petition signatures in his effort to secure a spot on the November ballot as an independent candidate, a Gothamist investigation has found.
gothamist.com/news/forged-...

Adams Asks Feds to Probe Conditions at ICE Lockup in Manhattan The mayor’s letter came after reporting by THE CITY led the comptroller and public advocate to demand city agencies inspect the site where people are being locked inside packed rooms for days. But the...

“Mayor Eric Adams yielded to mounting political pressure and called on the federal government Wednesday to immediately inspect conditions inside the shadowy ICE lock up on the 10th floor of 26 Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan” @gwynnefitz.bsky.social

www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/23/2...

From abandoned Queens hospital to affordable housing, despite federal funding cuts The old Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills has sat empty since 2008, but will soon become 144 units of affordable senior housing.

The developer says he and his team had to scrap plans (like geothermal and greener design) they would have funded with an $8M award obligated thru the EPA’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund

And they secured a smaller loan from a state program ahead of a closing deadline gothamist.com/news/from-ab...

From abandoned Queens hospital to affordable housing, despite federal funding cuts The old Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills has sat empty since 2008, but will soon become 144 units of affordable senior housing.

A plan to convert Queens’ long-abandoned Parkway Hospital into affordable housing is finally underway after 18 years

But the effort to turn it into apartments for low-income seniors was nearly derailed in the home stretch when the Trump admin pulled a key loan gothamist.com/news/from-ab...

‘Like Dogs in Here’ — Videos Expose ICE Lock-up Inside 26 Federal Plaza An analysis of ICE data by THE CITY shows that dozens of people have packed into locked rooms and increasingly held for days inside a Manhattan building the feds say isn’t a detention site.

Video obtained by @gwynnefitz.bsky.social shows how about two dozen immigrant men are locked up, crammed together and sleeping on floors for days at a time inside a room with one functioning toilet at 26 Federal Plaza www.thecity.nyc/2025/07/22/v...

Looking into a basement apartment? NYC proposes new safety rules. New York City housing officials unveiled new proposals for making basement and cellar apartments safe and legal. Experts say that without proper implementation, new rules for basement and cellar units could push vulnerable tenants and landlords further underground. [ more › ]

Looking into a basement apartment? NYC proposes new safety rules. https://gothamist.com/news/looking-into-a-basement-apartment-nyc-proposes-new-safety-rules

NYC ended most broker fees last month. What has the new law done to rents? A new report from StreetEasy finds rents have largely remained stable.

NEW: NYC's law eliminating most broker fees for tenants took effect a month ago today

Opponents warned that the FARE Act would lead to big rent increases

But a new report from StreetEasy finds that hasn't been the case so far

For @gothamist.com and @wnyc.org gothamist.com/news/nyc-end...

‘They’re killing us’: Immigrants complain of inhumane conditions inside NYC holding site https://gothamist.com/news/theyre-killing-us-immigrants-complain-of-inhumane-conditions-inside-nyc-holding-site

NPR's producer in Gaza Anas Baba "has lost a third of his body weight during the war... reporting on the war and living through it, experiencing hunger and observing what it does to a person's body."

A borough president with real teeth? NYC voters could decide. A proposed ballot question would give NYC’s five borough presidents some serious power over housing and land use decisions.

NYC’s 5 borough presidents could be the big winners of the November general election

Voters could decide to give them some actual power on housing and land use decisions

@gothamist.com @wnyc.org

gothamist.com/news/a-borou...

Thank you!

1937 map of NYC highlighting WNYC’s original transmission tower in Greenpoint.

What a map! (Hanging on the wall at WNYC.)

NYC Rent Guidelines Board just voted to raise rents by

• 3% on 1-year leases
• 4.5% on 2-year leases

The new increases for rent-stabilized apartments take effect on leases signed on or after Oct. 1

Always obsessed with how the family living in the Commandant's House in the Navy Yard can turn their whole district one color, this time just one of them voted for Brad Lander in the primary

NYC comptroller vote so far 2025

Here are the vote patterns so far in the comptroller race (based on 94% reporting). cc @brigidbergin.bsky.social @davidfbrand.bsky.social

Elizabeth Street Garden to remain as Adams administration drops housing fight The announcement by the mayor's office is the latest turn in a yearslong legal battle over a plan to build housing on the downtown green space.

STORY: gothamist.com/news/elizabe...
I asked Randy Mastro if the garden would have to pay back the rent it owes to HPD, but he said that detail wasn't included in this agreement. w/ @davidfbrand.bsky.social

So just to be clear: the official policy of the Adams Administration is that elite comfort is more important than homes for vulnerable elderly people. Going back on their own decade + commitment.

And they announce that on the hottest day of the year, no less.

Completely shameful.

Elizabeth Street Garden to remain as Adams administration drops housing fight The announcement by the mayor's office is the latest turn in a yearslong legal battle over a plan to build housing on the downtown green space.

@davidfbrand.bsky.social & @elkue.bsky.social have the story about today’s disgraceful capitulation by an administration that had championed “every neighborhood doing its share” for affordable housing.

Now every neighborhood *except* SoHo/NoHo. No other exceptions?

gothamist.com/news/elizabe...

Elizabeth Street Garden to remain as Adams administration drops housing fight The announcement by the mayor's office is the latest turn in a yearslong legal battle over a plan to build housing on the downtown green space.

Mastro tells reporters he has an agreement with Councilman Christopher Marte to rezone three other lots for new affordable housing, including 100 Gold St … a NYC-owned building (site of HPD offices) the city had announced for new housing back in January gothamist.com/news/elizabe...

Elizabeth Street Garden to remain as Adams administration drops housing fight The announcement by the mayor's office is the latest turn in a yearslong legal battle over a plan to build housing on the downtown green space.

NEW: Dep Mayor Randy Mastro says he killed the plan to build a senior affordable housing development on the city-owned “Elizabeth Street Garden” lot

It’s serious whiplash: NYC had posted an eviction notice at the site and was moving ahead.. til Mastro came onboard
gothamist.com/news/elizabe...

YIMBYs win, ‘Freeze the Rent’ and other ways housing is shaping NYC’s mayoral race Housing affordability is the top issue for voters in New York City’s Democratic primary for mayor.

• YIMBYs win?
• “Freeze the Rent”?
• Abundance-pilled?

Here’s how housing has shaped the race for NYC Mayor

@wnyc.org and @gothamist.com gothamist.com/news/yimbys-...

New York City Mayoral Poll: Mamdani Catches Cuomo In Rank Choice Voting - Emerson Polling The final Emerson College Polling/PIX11/The Hill survey of the New York City Democratic mayoral primary…Full Release & Results

New Emerson poll has Mamdani beating Cuomo

emersoncollegepolling.com/new-york-cit...

As NYC moves forward with Chelsea plan, senior residents brace for relocation NYCHA and a pair of developers are awaiting final approval from the federal government. After that, residents of a senior apartment building will have 90 days to move.

I spent three days talking with more than 25 residents (including 12 seniors who will have to move out of their building to make way for demolition) about the plan to rebuild the Fulton and Elliott-Chelsea Houses

Heres what some have to say as the first phase begins gothamist.com/news/as-nyc-...

As NYC moves forward with Chelsea plan, senior residents brace for relocation NYCHA and a pair of developers are awaiting final approval from the federal government. After that, residents of a senior apartment building will have 90 days to move.

Mayor Adams calls it 'revolutionary.' Cuomo & other candidates say they back the plan

Now the 1st phase of a total redevelopment of NYCHA's Fulton/Elliott-Chelsea Houses is underway

But that doesn't mean seniors facing imminent displacement are on board with the plan gothamist.com/news/as-nyc-...

The Mayoral Candidates Debate About Housing | The Brian Lehrer Show | WNYC David Brand, housing reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, offers analysis of the housing plans the mayoral candidates discussed in the most recent debate.

As you weigh your options in the Democratic mayoral primary, hear @davidfbrand.bsky.social talk to us today about the candidates' housing platforms.
www.wnyc.org/story/the-ma...

IDs, coats, a microwave: the few items stored during NYC homeless encampment sweeps After receiving a notice from the city Department of Sanitation, a homeless encampment and its supporters prepare for a police sweep in which their possessions will be thrown away, May 4, 2022 in the East Village neighborhood of New York City, New York The city is supposed to offer homeless people a chance to store their items during sweeps. [ more › ]

IDs, coats, a microwave: the few items stored during NYC homeless encampment sweeps https://gothamist.com/news/ids-coats-a-microwave-the-few-items-stored-during-nyc-homeless-encampment-sweeps

“The Court does not doubt that the cost…will impose a significant burden on landlords. But to the extent landlords are unable to pay those fees, they have a mechanism by which to pass the cost to tenants—namely, increased rent. Tenants, by contrast, cannot pass the cost of brokers fees to landlords”