City Hall’s new Park Avenue redesign scheme is a convoluted mess

 by Steve Cuozzo

The Department of Transportation has another iconic city location in its sights to ruin: Park Avenue’s precious half-mile from East 46th to East 57th Street. Although the scheme to widen medians between traffic lanes at this point is only in the “proposal” stage, with two designs under review, count on the DOT getting its miserable, ideologically driven way as usual.

Why does Park Avenue’s commercial main drag — the most successful office corridor in the nation, home to great companies of many types — need grassy little plazas for Big Mac munchers and costumed cartoon characters like the ones that turned Times Square into a late-night comedians’ joke?

A Park Avenue redesign would eliminate at least one vehicular traffic lane, thus diverting cars onto other avenues — and give congestion-pricing advocates cause to demand even tighter restrictions than the ones that have done little to break up Midtown gridlock. Worse, like most recent traffic-pattern disruptions, the Park Avenue scheme is a Trojan horse for bike lanes. 

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If it ain’t broke: Park Avenue doesn’t need to be reimagined — especially not with bike lanes.Mario Savoia – stock.adobe.com

One design explicitly includes one. Count on the cycling fascists to prevail over local wishes and common sense.

Like an elephant enraged from years of chained captivity, the DOT is the city’s rogue agency. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg unleashed the beast when he tapped bicycle-loving Janette Sadik-Khan as commissioner in 2007.

Under Sadik-Khan, the DOT became the de facto muscle arm of Transportation Alternatives, the bike lobby’s most influential — and ruthless — enforcer, and the lobby’s virtual house organ, Streetsblog.org. Cyclists gained more clout under former Mayors Bill de Blasio and Eric Adams, and will surely have freer rein under communist Mayor Zohran Mamdani.

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Under bike-loving Sadik-Khan, the DOT became the de facto muscle arm of Transportation Alternatives, the bike lobby’s most influential — and ruthless — enforcer.Bloomberg via Getty Images

The agency was hijacked by anti-auto ideologues who subscribe to the pipedream that cars can one day be entirely eliminated in favor of bicycles. That the percentage of New Yorkers who pedal to work remains under six percent according to US Census data, is of no account when it comes to the cyclists getting their way.

The two-wheels zeal of a small minority of mostly younger, physically fit New Yorkers has made parts of town, especially in Manhattan and Brooklyn, closely resemble the Tour de France. Even more dangerous e-bikes turn busy avenues and Central Park into something akin to NASCAR tracks.

Although the DOT calls the widened medians merely a “people-centered” recreation ground, bike zealots are clamoring for a north-south speedway through Park Avenue’s heart. They’ve argued at community board meetings that without a bike lane, the avenue will remain a “six-lane highway” and are working on city officials to give them their way.

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Bike zealots are clamoring for a north-south speedway through Park Avenue’s heart.inna253 – stock.adobe.com

Mamdani fueled their hopes when he became the first mayor to ride in last week’s traffic-snarling, pedestrian-terrorizing Five Boro Bike Tour. He promised to create a “bike boulevard” on Bergen and Dean streets in Brooklyn. He recently gave e-bike riders virtual license to kill by removing criminal penalties for errant riders.

Given the lobbyists’ past victories, betting against a Park Avenue bike lane would be a fool’s errand.

Nearly all of the changes to traffic patterns over the past two decades were made to reduce or discourage auto use so as to make life easier for bikers. They included incomprehensible left-turn rules, unloved asphalt “plazas,” traffic signals re-programmed to bring avenues to a standstill, and new bike lanes where “protection” for cyclists was provided by cars forced to park in the middle of avenues.

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Mamdani gave hope to the bike lobby when he became the first mayor to ride in last week’s traffic-snarling, pedestrian-terrorizing Five Boro Bike Tour.

The lanes were inflicted on major commercial corridors such as Midtown Sixth Avenue and residential ones like Prospect Park West — over strident objections from businesses and residents. Ugly “plazas” south of 34th Street made a mockery of the name “Broadway,” where the iconic boulevard was constricted into two lanes.

Setbacks to the cyclist-coddling agenda were few. Bloomberg axed Sadik-Khan’s dream of turning much of West 34th Street into a suburban-style, one-way exit ramp to New Jersey, but a de Blasio-era 34th Street “busway” scheme was blocked only by the Federal government.

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It’s about time someone stands up to the bike lobby and says “No.”UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Adams mercifully yanked a bike lane from a Midtown Fifth Avenue redesign expected to start next year. The plan calls for fewer traffic lanes to allow wider sidewalks than the very wide ones that already exist — an invitation to low-spending bench-sitters, and a guarantee that the “world’s greatest shopping street” will lose even more high-end stores than it already has lost to schlocky ones.

But bike advocates who are howling over the Fifth Avenue lane removal might yet get their way — as they will on Park Avenue unless New Yorkers finally stand up to them and say, “No more!”

https://nypost.com/2026/05/09/opinion/city-halls-new-park-avenue-redesign-scheme-is-a-mess/

Coastal-focused property & casualty insurer Safepoint Holdings files for estimated $250 m IPO

 Safepoint Holdings, a property and casualty insurance underwriter and platform focusing on coastal areas, filed on Friday with the SEC to raise up to what we estimate could be $250 million in an initial public offering.

Safepoint Holdings is a specialty property and casualty insurer focused on coastal markets, primarily Florida and Louisiana, serving both homeowners and small commercial policyholders. The company operates through a predominantly fee-based platform that manages the full insurance value chain, combining a wholly owned insurance subsidiary with policyholder-owned reciprocal exchanges that Safepoint manages as attorney-in-fact. With over $1 billion in in-force premiums, the majority of which sits within the reciprocal exchanges, the business is structured to be capital-efficient, generating fee income from managed premium volume rather than relying primarily on balance sheet risk-bearing.

The Tampa, FL-based company was founded in 2013 and booked $572 million in revenue for the 12 months ended March 31, 2026. It plans to list on the NYSE under the symbol SFPT. Safepoint Holdings filed confidentially on November 26, 2025. Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, Keefe Bruyette Woods, Citizens JMP, Piper Sandler, Truist Securities, and William Blair are the joint bookrunners on the deal.

Relevant Profile: SFPT

https://www.renaissancecapital.com/IPO-Center/News/118912/Coastal-focused-property-and-casualty-insurer-Safepoint-Holdings-files-for-

https://nypost.com/2026/05/05/business/zohran-mamdanis-viral-video-outside-ken-griffins-penthouse-shocks-vornado-ceo-ugly-unnecessary/

Foreclosures hit highest level in 6 years as insurance, property tax costs squeeze homeowners

 Foreclosures rose to the highest level in six years in the first quarter of this year as homeowners are squeezed by rising costs related to insurance and property tax bills.

The Wall Street Journal reported that data from Attom shows the number of U.S. properties with a foreclosure filing has trended up to nearly 119,000 in the first quarter, an increase of 26% from the same period last year.

That figure is the highest since the first quarter of 2020, when mortgage relief measures implemented to mitigate the economic impact of COVID shutdowns led to a steep decline in foreclosures.

Analysts have noted that the current foreclosure rate represents a return to what were normal levels prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, as opposed to a sign of borrowers becoming increasingly distressed financially.

However, the Journal's report said that although many homeowners have low mortgage rates, rising costs for things like home insurance, property taxes and dues for homeowners' associations are ramping up spending on bills.

A report by Insurify found that the average annual bill for homeowners insurance rose $2,948 in 2025, up 12% from 2024, while Attom data showed that average property tax burdens were up 3% to $4,427.

Those who purchased homes within the past few years may be in worse shape after purchasing at higher mortgage rates, as some areas have seen declines in home values that could leave some owners underwater.

Homeowners who are facing financial distress and the risk of slipping into delinquency or foreclosure have fewer options for relief than what was available a few years ago before pandemic-era programs were sunset. 

For example, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced in October that homeowners are limited in resorting to measures like loan modification to avoid foreclosure once every 24 months.

The data comes as data shows the average monthly payment for all outstanding mortgages reached a new high at the end of last year, as it rose to $2,005 in the fourth quarter, according to Realtor.com data.

The uptick covers the full portfolio of mortgages in the U.S., including a large group of borrowers who took out loans before 2022 and have mortgage rates of 4% or lower – whereas new buyers face significantly higher payments given the elevated mortgage rates.

The average monthly payment for new homebuyers passed the $2,000 threshold for the first time in September 2022.

https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/foreclosures-hit-highest-level-6-years-insurance-property-tax-costs-squeeze-homeowners

Co-op City: What It Looks Like When Energy Reality Catches Up To You

 by Francis Menton

Co-op City, located (like the Yankees) in the New York City borough known as The Bronx, is the largest co-op apartment community in the City, and indeed in the United States. Built in the 1960s and 70s, it has more than 15,000 residential units in some 35 high-rise buildings, plus a smaller number of townhouses. Here is an aerial picture of about a quarter of the complex that appeared in today’s New York Post:

Co-op City has now suddenly become ground zero in the clash between energy fantasy and reality that is starting to come into focus as the deadlines of the State’s and City’s 2019 climate statutes start to get closer. The New York Post reports on the reality side of the story in a large piece today with the headline “NY’s climate mandates may send fees in affordable Co-Op City complex soaring from $950 to $4K.”

But before getting to that, let’s look at the fantasy side of the story, which continues to hold its death grip on large swaths of the local population. Back in January, a group of businesses and trade associations calling itself the Coalition for Safe and Reliable Energy submitted a Petition to the Public Service Commission asking it to hold a hearing on whether the deadlines of the State’s Climate Act, currently set to start to bite in 2030, should be extended. (To view the Petition, go to item 63 under “Filed Documents” at this PSC docket.). The PSC then opened a public comment process as to that Petition, which process is ongoing.

Over the past few weeks the comment process has cranked up, and large numbers of comments have flooded in. You may or may not be surprised to learn that hundreds of these comments are identical, or nearly so. (To view the comments, go to the same PSC link above and click the “Public Comments” tab.). The comments apparently have been rounded up by environmental activist groups that have asked their members and donors to sign and submit form responses.

Here is an excerpt from one of those form responses that has been copied and pasted into hundreds of these identical comments:

[A]ny further investments in the fossil fuel economy will have a negative financial impact on New Yorkers. Costs of energy in New York are driven by the price of fossil fuels, which are highly volatile and affected by events outside of the control of New York, such as the invasion of the Ukraine by Russia and the U.S. war on Iran. Sticking to fossil fuels means unpredictable, unaffordable bills for New Yorkers. Renewable energy - which requires no fuel - offers predictable costs which makes families less vulnerable to energy price shocks. Renewable energy is a long-term cost-saving strategy that will promote affordability and protect New York utility customers from the impacts of volatile fossil fuel prices. I urge the PSC to reject the unsupported request to hold a hearing. . . .

Apparently these many hundreds of commenters have come to believe that shifting from what they call a “fossil fuel economy” to “renewable energy” is a “long-term cost-saving strategy” that will provide “affordability” to New Yorkers. Nothing in their letters gives any clue how they have come to this conclusion, or what calculations or feasibility studies they may have made to ascertain the “affordability” that they think is so easy to achieve with “renewable” energy.

Meanwhile, over on the reality side of the equation, at Co-op City, they are confronting the actual costs of compliance with the impending and overlapping mandates of both the State’s and City’s climate statutes. Co-op City is an owner-occupied community, so the costs of compliance will fall on the owner-occupants. The racial demographics of the community, per NICHE.com, are: 64% African-American, 28% Hispanic, 4% white, and 4% other. So this is not exactly your vision of the snooty Park Avenue Manhattan co-op. Co-op City currently has its own power plant — fueled by natural gas — that provides all the electricity for the complex, as well as heat, hot water, and air-conditioning. Monthly maintenance bills to the owners, which include the cost of energy, currently average about $950 for a one-bedroom unit.

Co-op City’s current fossil fuel power plant is apparently quite efficient, but not enough so to meeting the impending deadlines of New York City’s Local Law 97. Under that statute, they must convert to electric heat by 2035. They have now done studies on the prospective cost of that, and the Post reports on the results in today’s piece. Excerpt:

A top Co-Op City official warned that residents could pay four times more in monthly maintenance charges if New York State’s controversial green-energy laws aren’t peeled back. Jeffrey Buss, Co-Op City’s general counsel, claimed monthly maintenance fees could skyrocket from $950 for a one-bedroom to more than $4,000 to pick up the tab for the edicts. . . . [T]he state’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act of 2019, coupled with a city green energy law [Local Law 97], would force Co-Op City to shut down its natural gas power plant and replace it with carbon-free clean energy sources such as wind, solar, hydropower and battery storage, [Buss] said.

So between the costs of the electric heat conversion, closing their own efficient power plant, and buying lots of additional electricity from Con Edison, they project that the residents’ monthly maintenance costs will multiply by about a factor of four, from under $1000 per month to about $4000. Apparently that’s what the PSC commenters think of as “affordable.”

Co-op City has looked into building “renewable” resources to replace its natural gas power plant, but has figured out that that is completely infeasible:

Buss said it is technologically impossible for Co-op City to completely replace its gas-fueled plant with cleaner energy sources. He said renewable, fossil-free energy sources such as solar, wind, or geo-thermal energy aren’t capable to meet the heating, cooling and electrical demands of Co-Op City. “Although our co-generation turbines can run on 30% hydrogen,” Buss said, “there is no hydrogen supply…I don’t know the solution.”

They do have a plan to install solar panels on top of the parking garages, but those will be capable of providing only a small percentage of their power needs:

Co-op City is diversifying by installing solar panels on top of its garages, which would result in the largest urban solar project in the US. But solar energy would only meet a fraction of Co-op City’s power needs, he said.

Buss’s conclusion: complying with the impending State and City energy mandates would be “foolish.”

We are facing the consequences of having ignorant environmental activists and politicians trying to re-design our energy system. Fortunately, Co-op City comes complete with a large bloc of voters who, when they learn what the ignoramuses have in store for them, can take their revenge at the ballot box.

https://www.manhattancontrarian.com/blog/2026-4-28-co-op-city-what-it-looks-like-when-energy-reality-catches-up-to-you

Mamdani accidentally reveals the truth about NYC housing

 Last week, Mayor Zohran Mamdani made two appearances designed to showcase a hands-on leader tackling the city’s housing crisis.

Instead, they revealed a mayor focused on optics — while missing the priorities that matter.

In one social-media video, the mayor shadowed Housing Preservation and Development inspectors at a privately owned apartment building.

Here comes the mayor, on the ground — cameras in tow — to hold landlords accountable.

“There’s a lot of New Yorkers who live with a worry about whether or not the conditions they’re living in are actually up to code,” Mamdani declared.

“It’s the city’s job to deliver them.”

Behind the mayor, however, viewers saw a clean apartment in a well-kept building, whose landlord was being nitpicked to death in a city suffering the worst housing shortage in its modern history.

Important items, like the lead paint test, came out negative — yet the inspectors issued six violations for trivialities like a flowerpot on the fire escape, a crack in the plaster and a busted window spring balance.

Who would invest in such an environment?

“No issue is too small when it comes to your home,” read HPD’s video caption.

No kidding.

If that’s true, the mayor ought to follow the same principle in managing NYCHA, the city’s public housing authority.

NYCHA’s residents endure the worst housing conditions in New York, hands down.

They’re beset by mold, lead paint, rodents, roaches, no heat, leaks, broken elevators, busted pipes and inoperable appliances — not to mention sky-high crime rates.

It takes NYCHA 434 days on average to complete a repair.

Democratic Socialist Public Advocate Jumaane Williams has said the authority would “far surpass anyone” on his list of the city’s worst private landlords.

If Mamdani cares so much about a jammed window balance, surely he’d be interested in transforming the lives of NYCHA’s residents by moving quickly to fix their immediately hazardous conditions.

Apparently, he has different goals.

On Wednesday, Earth Day, the mayor stood — this time, outside — NYCHA’s Woodside Houses in Queens to announce $2.5 billion in green-energy upgrades like heat pumps, induction stoves, solar panels and EV chargers, plus green jobs for NYCHA residents.

In particular, he touted the “clean, beautiful heat pumps” that would replace “fossil fuel-guzzling boilers.”

But as Breakthrough Institute’s Jennifer Hernandez has written, heat pumps are far less effective at low temperatures — and therefore must work harder to heat a room when temperatures fall.

And unlike gas boilers, which can last decades and serve an entire building, heat pumps have an expected lifespan of 10 to 15 years and must be installed in each apartment.

It sounds like a perpetual green-energy jobs program — unless and until the public money runs out.

Mamdani insisted, “We can show the world that meeting climate goals, addressing affordability and connecting New Yorkers to jobs are all part of the same larger fight for dignity.”

It’s an odd claim, given that residents in the building behind him — and hundreds of thousands like them — are living in conditions that fall well short of essential human dignity.

“Our needs are fundamental, basic needs,” Gloria Carter, a Woodside Houses resident, told The Post.

“I’m OK with [the] heat and air conditioning. What I’m not OK with is mold, cracks in the walls, hinges that don’t open. Those are the kinds of things I need the mayor to invest in.”

Taken together, Mamdani’s HPD inspection and Earth Day announcement underscore a performative mayoralty.

Since taking office, Mamdani has shown up to shovel out cars in the snow, pound asphalt into potholes and sing “Wheels on the Bus” alongside former President Barack Obama in a preschool.

He wants to signal solidarity with regular New Yorkers and the problems of ordinary life.

But by rolling out unnecessary green-energy amenities for NYCHA residents while dinging well-run private buildings with penny-ante violations, he’s getting those priorities backward.

In particular, rent-stabilized buildings are facing a growing maintenance crisis, as owners who can’t recoup repair costs through rent increases are forced to defer needed work.

Buildings that are 90% to 100% rent-stabilized suffer about four times the rate of immediately hazardous violations as those with 35% or fewer stabilized units.

Mamdani’s publicized inspection of a well-maintained unit reveals how his anti-landlord zeal eclipses any recognition of these economic undercurrents.

If Albany allowed owners to recoup more repair costs and to reset rents upon vacancy, conditions in these buildings would improve.

Freezing the rent would make matters far worse.

NYCHA investment should follow the same logic: fix the pipes, eliminate the mold, exterminate the rats and stop the crime.

The solar panels can wait.

John Ketcham is director of cities and a legal policy fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

https://nypost.com/2026/04/27/opinion/how-mamdani-accidentally-revealed-the-reality-of-nyc-housing/