April 2, 2020
 

Governor’s Update

At the Governor’s press conference, he announced,

• Projections of the COVID-19 apex range between 7 and 30 days.
• NYS will extend open enrollment for the state’s health care exchange through May 15.
• NYS is in urgent need of personal protective equipment; they are asking hospitals to complete an inventory survey on a nightly basis and will distribute supplies based on need.
• There are currently about 6-days’ worth of ventilators in the state’s stockpile, at the current rate of usage.
• NYS has not received any reports of faulty ventilators provided by the federal government, despite reports from other states.
• He plans on revisiting the 90-day moratorium on evictions but will determine next steps closer to the moratorium’s end date.

 

Prevailing Wage Expansion Included in Budget Deal

Despite a massive shortfall in revenue and a projected $10 billion reduction in state spending, prevailing wage rules are expected to be expanded in New York’s budget. See Real Deal article here.

 

NY Times op-ed supporting a national rent moratorium

Political Update

As lawmakers in Washington and Albany push for a rent moratorium passes, the NY Times wrote an opinion piece calling on Congress to enact a 90-day national rent moratorium. See article here.

 

Mayoral Update

From the Mayor’s #AskMyMayor:

• The City still does not have enough testing kits available to test everyone.
• They must focus on testing people most vulnerable to the virus—those over the age of 70 and/or with one of five underlying health conditions, which are heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, and mental health conditions, such as depression and anxiety.
• Reserving priority testing for frontline health care and essential workers.
• The City plans on suspending Alternate Side Parking on a two-week basis, as they need to assess and ensure the streets maintain high enough standards of cleanliness.

 

April 1, 2020

 

Federal Update

CARES Act Loan Information Released

• SBA’S COVID-19 Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) and Loan Advance application is now live and can be accessed here.
• Program provides small businesses with loans of up to $2 million dollars to provide economic support to overcome loss of revenue due to COVID-19.
• SBA’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) is available through June 30, 2020. PPP is a forgivable loan program designed to provide an incentive for employers to keep and pay employees during the COVID-19 crisis, up to payroll costs of $100,000 per employee. Specific information can be found here.

 

Governor’s Update

At the Governor’s press conference, he announced,

• NYS will be closing all playgrounds throughout New York City.
• Patients were transferred from NYC hospitals to Albany Medical.
• NYS expects 1,500 voluntary health care workers, all of whom signed up through the state’s portal, to start as soon as Thursday.
• McKinsey projected the apex at the end of April; NYS will need 110,000 beds and 37,000 ventilators at the apex.
• The Gates Foundation projected that 93,000 Americans and 16,000 New Yorkers will die due to the virus.

 

State Budget Update

• The Governor said that his team has reached a conceptual agreement with Assembly Speaker Heastie and Senate Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins.
• Conceptual agreement being reviewed in conference between the leaders and their members today.
• The Governor insisted that the budget is “robust” and does not “scale back” on any of his proposals.

 

State Budget Update

Senate passes three budget bills; still not final.

The State Senate passed three budget bills covering public protections, capital projects, and revenues, but more work remains before a final budget.  See City and State article here.

 

Grant Opportunity

Mother Cabrini’s Health Foundation offers $50 million to NYS nonprofits

• The Foundation is committing $50 million in grants to nonprofits addressing growing health needs among New Yorkers as the COVID-19 pandemic persists.
• Emergency grants will be distributed by invitation to community-based emergency response funds, health care providers, Catholic Charities affiliates and other organizations.
• For more information click here.

 

Mayoral Update

During the Mayor’s press conference, he announced,

• Former Police Commissioner James O’Neill will be joining the Mayor’s COVID-19 response team as Senior Advisor.
• Religious groups will not be exempt from social distancing rules to observe sacred holidays.
• The City will be looking to build capacity by retrofitting hotels and large venues around the city in the coming days and weeks.
• April 5 is the deadline for the City to acquire from the Federal and State governments and private industry, all of the supplies, equipment, and personnel needed to meet the quickly approaching surge.
• New hospital sites include the Javits Cents, Samaritan’s Purse, USNS Comfort, Health + Hospitals Coler Building on Roosevelt Island, the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Brooklyn Cruise Terminal, and 10,000 beds across 20 hotels.
• City’s projected needs for beds and equipment by May 1:
• 20,000 ICU beds; 65,000 hospital beds; 15,000 ventilators

 

Mayoral Update

From the Mayor’s #AskMyMayor:

• Gig workers are covered and eligible for unemployment insurance benefits under the new federal law. Benefits will be retroactive and have been extended an extra 13 weeks.
• NYCHA is sanitizing their buildings three times a week; encourages private landlords to do the same.

 

Agency Update – Department of Buildings

Essential Construction Appeals

• If you’ve submitted a request to DOB for permits for emergency or excepted construction, make sure to submit appropriate justification through the DOB NOW portal.
• To submit an appeal, go to the Essential Construction dashboard, which you will find here, and click the “Actions” tab for your specific project, which will include the tracking # for the project (tracking # starts with the letters EC), then select “Appeal Request.”

 

DOB FAQ

See FAQ from the Department of Buildings (DOB) here, which addresses key construction questions relating to emergency construction, local law inspections, elevators, façades, utilities, essential construction designation requests, and more.

 

Change to online submission of Civil Penalty Review Requests (L2) and Post Approval Amendment Payments

• Paper forms for L2: Requests for Overrides, Reductions or Waivers of Civil Penalties for Work Without a Permit will no longer be accepted in person at a borough office.
• Post Approval Amendment (PAA) payments will only be processed online, no in-person payments will be accepted.
• Changes are effective Thursday, April 2, and you can submit L2 requests and PAA payments through your eFiling account. To create an account, visit here.

 

March 31, 2020

 

Federal Update

CARES Act Summary

The NY Times released an FAQ on the coronavirus stimulus package.  See full article here.

 

Federal Update

Nonprofit Loan Programs in the CARES Act

• Three nonprofit loan programs in the Federal CARES Act.
• The Paycheck Protection Program, which will provide emergency forgivable loans of up to $10 million for charitable nonprofits and small businesses with 500 or fewer employees.
• Law expands and removes creditworthiness requirements for the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Economic Injury Disaster Loans. Nonprofits participating in the program will be able to get checks of $10,000 within three days.
• Larger nonprofits (between 500 and 10,000 employees) will be able to apply for other industry stabilization loans, though these aren’t eligible for loan forgiveness. Read more in the NYN Media article here.

 

Political Update

Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez requests rent forgiveness for tenants struggling from COVID-19.  For more information, see Politico article here.

 

Governor’s Update

• At the Governor’s press conference on March 31, he announced,
• State is working to procure equipment, identify beds, build out capacity, and support health care staff through providing additional relief workers and addressing their physical/emotional exhaustion.
• Created a Central Coordinating team led by the Dept. of Health and includes the Westchester, NYC, and Long Island healthcare systems, the GNYHA, and the HANYS. The team will also work with FEMA and the federal government.
• Have received 5,000 offers from retired health care workers and other medical professionals to volunteer as relief staff. The Governor said they are sorting through this pool of volunteers and will be launching a data portal for the hospitals to access the voluntary workforce, filtering for region and expertise.
• The State is looking at 5 projection models, and no 2 models are the same.
• Range is generally between 7 and 21 days until apex.
• State ordered 17,000 ventilators from China at a cost of $25,000 each.

 

Mayoral Update

During the Mayor’s press briefing, he announced,

• Only essential construction is being allowed to continue; DOB will be issuing fines and closing nonessential, non-emergency sites.
• USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where a 350-bed temporary hospital will be built, will take three weeks to complete.
• 250 ambulances arriving in NYC from FEMA, as well as personnel support including 500 additional EMTs and paramedics.
• 1,000 nurses will be added to the staff of NYC Health and Hospitals’ facilities.
• The City is still in need of 15,000 ventilators to meet the projected apex on April 5. The Mayor said the moment NYC is done with these ventilators they will send them to the next hotspot in the country.
• They are distributing to the City’s hospitals 3 million surgical masks; 800,000 N95 masks; 600,000 pairs of gloves; 120,000 face shields; and 40,000 surgical gowns.

 

Mayoral Update

Agency Update- Department of Buildings

Essential Construction

• Projects requiring continuing construction for site safety purposes are subject to potential violations while DOB reviews the requests to continue construction.
• If an inspector issues a violation, DOB will consider whether a case to continue construction based on site safety needs was submitted and has merit when adjudicating.
• Submissions should be made now so that they are on file if a violation is issued.
• DOB will work with contractors/owners on a case-by-case basis to ensure that unwarranted violations are properly addressed by the Department.

 

Hotel to Hospital conversion 

On NY1’s “Monday with the Mayor,” the Mayor said:

• Federal and State governments to lease hotels and convert them into temporary hospitals.  See NY Post article here.

 

Agency Update – Department of Buildings

Essential Construction

• Department of Buildings stated that owners and construction companies can start filing applications for their work to be considered exempt.
• Clarified that exemptions related to affordable housing apply where at least 30% of units qualify as affordable. For more information, see The Real Deal article here.

 

Kasirer Update – Department of Buildings

Essential Construction

• We are in daily, direct contact with City, State, and Federal officials and will continue to engage to obtain clarity on the types of construction that can continue in NYC.
• As of now, there is not alignment between the state and the city on what construction will continue to be considered essential, with the state having a more expansive view than the city.
• It is also not at this moment clear whether the state’s view prevails or whether the city has the jurisdiction to restrict construction to a greater degree than the state’s guidelines allow.
• We expect to have clarity shortly and are using every tool possible to work to allow as much construction as possible to continue for as long as possible, under the safety guidelines DOB has issued.
• We are also aware that there are challenges using DOB’s portal for submissions. We have flagged this for City Hall, DOB, REBNY and the NY Building Congress and are pushing for allowing site safety work to continue immediately.

 

March 30, 2020

 

Governor’s Update

NYS and NYC Hospitals will be working together to meet the incoming surge of cases.

During the Governor’s press briefing,  he announced,

• State and city hospitals will be working from a central command system to shift staff and supplies between public and private hospitals.

 

State faces billions in lost revenue due to COVID-19.

Governor Cuomo announced that the state budget faces billion in lost revenue due to the coronavirus crisis.  See article here.

 

Agency Update – Department of Buildings

After Hour Variances

New After Hour Variances (AHV) can be requested only for jobs that deemed Essential or Emergency Construction. All approved jobs seeking an AHV permit can drop them off at Department of Building Borough Offices—they cannot be submitted via eFiling or DOB NOW.  See the Application Processing Service Notice for information about drop off procedures.

 

Essential Construction

In accordance with NYS Governor’s Executive Order, all non-essential, non-emergency construction must shut down, see DOB guidance here. For further guidance to owners and contractors regarding how to secure their construction and demolition sites when operations are suspended, see notice from First Deputy Commissioner Gus Sirakis here.

 

March 29, 2020

 

Governor’s Update

During the Governor’s press briefing,  he announced,

• ‘NY on Pause’ will be extended to April 15.

 

Mayoral Update

During the Mayor’s press briefing, he announced,

• Mt. Sinai, in partnership with Samaritan’s Purse, will be constructing a 68-bed field hospital in Central Park, which should be operational by March 31.  He said this effort was made possible by the Central Park Conservancy.
• The Staten Island ferry will be moving to hourly service, amid lower ridership, effective midnight of March 29, 2020.

 

Mayoral Update

From the Mayor’s #AskMyMayor:

• 1,400 ventilators were shipped to NYC Hospitals.

 

March 28, 2020

 

Federal Update

Domestic Travel Advisory – New York, New Jersey, Connecticut

On March 28th, President Donald Trump and the CDC issued a domestic travel advisory for residents of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, urging cessation of non-essential travel for 14 days.  See advisory here.

 

Governor’s Update

Postponing of NYS’s Presidential Primary to June 23

The Governor announced the postponement of NYS’s presidential primary (originally scheduled for April 28) to June 23, aligning with the Congressional and legislative primaries.

 

Tax filing Deadline extended to July 15

The Governor announced an extension to the tax filing deadline to July 15, 2020.  See more details from the Department of Tax and Finance here.

 

March 27, 2020

 

Federal Update

CARES Act signed into law.

On March 27, President Trump signed the $2 trillion emergency spending bill into law, which includes stimulus payments to individuals, expanded unemployment coverage, student loan changes, different retirement account rules, and more.

 

Governor’s Update

Schools closed until April 15

The Governor announced that all New York State schools will remain closed until April 15 and said he will extend the 180-day waiver for the same period.

 

Mayoral Update

Rent Guidelines Board Process suspension.

The Mayor announced that the City will work with the State to suspend the Rent Guidelines Board process for the upcoming year, which would maintain all regulated rents at this year’s level.  See press release here.

 

NYS COVID-19 Facts & Figures

• 238,965 people in total have been tested in NYS.
• 92,381 people have tested positive in NYS (51,809 in NYC).
• Every county in New York now has positive cases.
• 13,383 people are currently hospitalized in NYS (3,396 patients in the ICU).
• 7,434 patients have been discharged.
• 2,373 people have died due to coronavirus in NYS.

 

Updated as of April 2, 2020

Source: Governor Cuomo’s 4/2 Press Briefing