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As a New York homeowner you’ll soon be able to add some upgrades to your dwelling as the Eric Adams Administration is making moves on their plan to allow qualified NYC homeowners to create accessory dwelling units (ADUs) on their properties.

The announcement is part of the Adams Administration’s aim to address NYC’s housing crisis.

According to a press release, ADUs are defined as “any secondary independent unit on the same property as a primary home, including backyard cottages and basement apartments with separate entrances.” The ADUs will not only help homeowners afford to remain in their homes, but will also help to build generational wealth for families.

Deputy Mayor for Housing, Economic Development, and Workforce Maria Torres-Springer stated how the ADUs “can be life changing” for seniors struggling to age in place and young families stretching to pay the mortgage.

The ADUs will also serve as a solution to “create critically-needed housing as the city faces a historic housing affordability and shortage crisis.”

The Terner Center for Housing Innovation at the University of California at Berkeley notes that “ADUs have been shown to help homeowners provide a living space for loved ones or caretakers, bring in extra income, or provide extra space for families to grow, without significantly changing the look and feel of the neighborhood they are built in.”

And many are already on board with the idea of them.

In an AARP survey of people age 50+, seven out of ten respondents said they would consider building an ADU for a loved one who needs care.

Mayor Adams stated:

For our seniors fighting to stay in the neighborhoods they call home or young people struggling to find a living space, accessory dwelling units can be a lifeline to stable, affordable housing…We are facing a generational housing crisis. The only solution is to build more and make it easier, not harder, for homeowners to join government in addressing this crisis head on.

Adams’ Plus One ADU pilot program will provide up to $395,000 in funding to qualified NYC homeowners to build or convert an ADU of up to 800 square feet on their property. Homeowners will also receive financial and technical support, including predevelopment and construction resources.

The program will also allow up to 35 homeowners to add or convert a secondary home to their property.

The Plus One ADU pilot program first launched in 2023 and, in its first two months, heard from more than 2,800 homeowners with nearly 80% of applicants reporting they were interested in adding an ADU to their property.

The ADUs will make up just a portion of the 108,850 new homes Adams’ “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” proposal will produce over the next 15 years.

NYC’s pre-approved ADU design library will follow proven models in cities like Los Angeles and Eugene.

Truthfully we’re wondering what NYC property is big enough to house a backyard cottage, but we’ll leave it up to the city to figure that one out.

More information can be found here.

The post Qualified NYC Homeowners To Receive $400K To Build Basement Apartments & Backyard Cottages appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here

The discovery of an unidentified ant species around NYC back in 2011 resulted in a clever nickname for the invasive insect, known as ManhattAnt. Yet even 13 years later, the ManhattAnt has yet to be formally identified until now, thanks to a recent article within the peer-reviewed journal Biological Invasions. 

So why did it take so many years to identify the ant? Well insect identification can be tricky due to the sheer diversity that exists. Yet, as the ManhattAnt continued to stump experts, it continued to spread. And just five years following its discovery, the ManhattAnt became the most common ant found in NYC parks and highly urban habitats. Today, the ManhattAnt is known as Lasius emarginatus.

Through genetic and morphological analysis, experts were able to trace the ManhattAnt’s native roots back to central and southern Europe.

The aforementioned article found that the ManhattAnt has expanded a rate of 2 km (1.2 miles)/year between 2011 and 2023. Residents of New Jersey and Long Island can now expect to see the Lasius emarginatus in their region. If the species continues to expand across the northeast at its current rate it could eventually spread from Massachusetts to Georgia.

Though invasive ants tend to be supercolonial (meaning the nests of a species are widely spread out but they’re all socially connected) the ManhattAnts haven’t been found to display any supercolonality.

New York City is no stranger to invasive species, as we’re currently still battling lanternflies, joro spiders and now giant hogweed.

Cities and urban areas are more susceptible to invasive species because they are epicenters for trade and travel. And with few to no policies in place to monitor such issues, invasive species are oftentimes already at pest status when detected.

The ManhattAnts could negatively impact the ecosystem with harm to other local insects as they’ve been observed to be quite aggressive towards other ants, and invade peoples homes and apartments.

Learn more about the latest research on ManhattAnts here.

The post NYC’s Rapidly Spreading Invasive Ant, The ‘ManhattAnt,’ Finally Identified appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here

After a scorching hot summer, New York City seems to be in for as chaotic of a winter too as The Farmer’s Almanac just released their 2024-25 Winter Outlook.

The periodical warns the country of a “wet winter whirlwind” that will consist of little respite from falling rain and snow. And for the first time in years, The Farmer’s Almanac and the NOAA have mostly agreed on what the winter will bring.

For the Northeast, The Farmer’s Almanac foresees stormy conditions with above average precipitation. As for temperatures, it predicts near-to-above normal temperatures. The NOAA doesn’t disagree, with graphics indicating precipitation primarily above or leaning above and temperatures leaning above average for the Northeast.

Winter’s most frigid temperatures are expected to reach the Northern Plains and Great Lakes region, according to The Farmers Almanac. However, all will need to bundle up the last week of January entering the start of February as that’s estimated to be the coldest outbreak for most of the nation with Arctic air presumed to drop temperatures.

The Farmer’s Almanac relies on their evolved century-old formula to determine their winter outlooks. Still skeptical? The periodical has an 80% accuracy rate!

As for the time in between now and winter, The Farmer’s Almanac predicts an unseasonable chill through fall.

The post ‘Rapid-Fire Storms’ Of Rain & Snow Are Predicted For Winter In NYC appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here

Summer is New York is a constant battle with the weather—thunderstorms! Extreme heat!—but those of us who take public transportation to get anywhere have it worst: dealing with the season’s temperature underground or while waiting for a bus has become borderline dangerous.

A new in-depth study by transit advocacy group Transportation Alternatives and NASA highlights the dangers of urban heat by specifically looking at the hottest bus stops across the city—and the results are pretty scary.

According to the analysis, the average temperature at the 400 hottest bus stops is 14.5 degrees higher than what was recorded at the 400 coolest ones.

“[The hottest bus stops are also] more likely to be located in Black, Latino, Asian and high-poverty communities, in Queens and the Bronx, and in the communities with the most bus riders,” reads the survey.

The agencies’ analysis revealed that bus routes and stops lacking surrounding trees or shelters are significantly warmer than those with such features, with most of these hotter stops located in Queens and the Bronx—areas that many high-poverty communities call home.

Overall, the study identifies a few issues with the way things are currently working. First and foremost, according to the experts, New York City suffers from the worst “urban heat island effect” in the nation: heat gets trapped here because of the limited green spaces available and the widespread asphalt.

“With the slowest buses in the nation and wait times often stretching over 30 minutes, sweltering bus stops are a critical, overlooked, and increasingly pressing risk factor,” reads the survey. “New York City’s average summer temperature has risen five degrees in the past fifty years and is expected to rise nearly a degree with each coming decade.”

The researchers created an interactive map that measures the urban heat island effect across areas and you play around with it right here. 

Through their report and data analysis, the two agencies have also identified 100 stops and three routes—the Bx6, the Bx33 and the B46—that they deem to be in urgent need of intervention, also listing their own recommendations to mitigate the issue. These include the installation of bus shelters with seating and countdown clock at these high-priority stops, the planting of trees in the areas, potential new bus stop designs and the conversion of high-priority bus routes into express, car-free busway or enforced bus lanes, among many others potential solutions.

Below is a list of the 100 bus stops that the agency identified as most dangerous and in dire need of intervention:

The Bronx

• 3 Av/E 180 St
• 3 Av/E 180 St
• 3 Av/E 184 St
• Allerton Av/Laconia Av
• Allerton Av/Pearsall Av
• Allerton Av/Westervelt Av
• Allerton Av/Westervelt Av
• E 138 St/Bruckner Bl
• E 138 St/Cypress Av
• E 138 St/St Anns Av
• E 138 St/Walnut Av
• E 138 St/Walnut Av
• E 138 St/Willow Av
• E 149 St/Grand Concourse
• E 167 St/Bryant Av
• E 180 St/3 Av
• E 180 St/Arthur Av
• E 233 St/Bussing Av
• E 233 St/Carpenter Av
• E 233 St/Kepler Av
• Eastchester Rd/Astor Av
• Grand Concourse/E 149 St
• Grand Concourse/E Mt Eden Av
• Halleck St/Food Center Dr
• Halleck St/Hunts Pt Av
• Halleck St/Spofford Av
• Halleck St/Spofford Av
• Hunts Point Av/Garrison Av
• Katonah Av/E 234 St
• Katonah Av/E 237 St
• Katonah Av/E 239 St
• Katonah Av/E 239 St
• Longwood Av/Barry St
• Longwood Av/Barry St
• Longwood Av/Tiffany St
• Metropolitan Av/Purdy St
• Morris Av/E 156 St
• Morris Av/E 163 St
• Nereid Av/Edson Av
• Nereid Av/Monticello Av
• Spofford Av/Bryant Av
• Tiffany St/Oak Point Av
• Tiffany St/Oak Point Av
• Tiffany St/Randall Av
• Tiffany St/Randall Av
• Viele Av/Casanova St
• Viele Av/Casanova St
• Viele Av/Faile  St
• Viele Av/Faile St
• Viele Av/Whittier St
• W Farms Rd/E 167 St
• W Farms Rd/Longfellow Av
• Walnut Av/E 133 St
• Walnut Av/E 133 St
• Walnut Av/E 135 St
• Walnut Av/E 135 St
• Webster Av/E 182 St
• Westchester Av/Home St
• Westchester Av/Olmstead Av
• White Plains Rd/Arnow Av
• White Plains Rd/E 215 St
• White Plains Rd/E 239 St

Brooklyn 

• Av D/E 42 St
• Av D/E 43 St
• Av H / E 38 St
• Erskine St /Gateway Pl
• Erskine St/Gateway Dr
• Flatlands Av/Atkins Av
• Flatlands Av/Elton St
• Flatlands Av/Essex St
• Flatlands Av/Jerome St
• Fountain Av /Flatlands Av
• Fulton St/Buffalo Av
• Fulton St/Sackman St
• Fulton St/Utica Av
• Gateway Dr/Erskine St
• Glenwood Rd/Albany Av
• Glenwood Rd/Albany Av
• Glenwood Rd/E 38 St
• Glenwood Rd/E 39 St
• Kings Hy/Av N
• Nostrand Av/Av N
• Utica Av/Atlantic Av
• Utica Av/Av L
• Utica Av/Av M
• Utica Av/Farragut Rd
• Utica Av/Foster Av
• Utica Av/Foster Av
• Vandalia Av/Erskine St

Queens

• 213 St/92 Av
• College Pt Bl/Fowler Av
• College Pt Bl/Sanford Av
• Francis Lewis Bl/89 Av
• Francis Lewis Bl/90 Av
• Merrick Bl/220 St
• Merrick Bl/222 St
• Springfield Bl/136 Av
• Springfield Bl/Merrick Bl

Staten Island

• Forest Av/Clove Rd
• Post Av/Greenleaf Av

* This article was originally published here

Although the iconic Carnegie Deli, the Jewish delicatessen that debuted near Carnegie Hall in 1937, shut down its original location in 2016, its spirit lives on as a branch inside Madison Square Garden.

This summer, though, New Yorkers will also get to enjoy the deli’s signature pastrami and corned beef sandwiches at the U.S. Open, where the company will set up a pop-up from August 19, when the U.S. Open Fan Week kicks off, through September 8, when the tournament comes to a close.

“We’re thrilled to bring our legacy of classic New York deli fare to the excitement of the U.S. Open,” said Sarri Harper, CEO of Carnegie Deli Group, in an official statement. “Piled high with our signature smoked and cured meats, our U.S. Open offerings are served up with the same ‘love’ and care we put into every sandwich.”

You’ll find the temporary Carnegie Deli location within the U.S. Open’s Food Village. Here are the menu items that will be served on site: 

– Jumbo New York hot dog (9’ all-beef frankfurter)
– French fries
– Hot pastrami served mustard
– Hot corned beef served with mustard
– Roasted turkey breast served with Russian dressing
– New York Cheesecake
– Giant black and white cookies

Considering that the restaurant’s motto has always been, “If you can finish your meal, we’ve done something wrong,” we suggest you take your ordering very seriously: all the dishes will likely be much larger than you’re used to. Not that we’re complaining. 

* This article was originally published here

If you have always wondered how you’d fare in one of those high-stakes challenges that define the Netflix hit show Squid Game, you might want to start prepping: a thrilling immersive experience based on the series will officially debut at the Manhattan Mall at 100 West 33rd Street by Sixth Avenue on October 11 and stay open for a limited time, according to an official press release.

Tickets for “Squid Game: The Experience” will officially go on sale right here on August 21 at 10am. You can join the waitlist to get an alert when the passes drop.

Inside, folks can set up teams of up to 24 people each to partake in 60 minutes of active gameplay that include challenges that appeared on the TV show (yes, you’ll get to try your hand at the iconic Red Light Green Light) plus a number of brand-new ones built specifically for the experience. 

The entire space will also resemble the Netflix hit. “Everywhere you look, iconic environments, set recreations, and familiar characters make you question your reality,” reads a release.

Once done playing, guests will get to satisfy their hunger pangs at the on-site night market offering a variety of Korean and international sweet and savory foods, plus drinks. You might also want to check out the merchandise store, Squid Mart, to buy exclusive collectibles, apparel pieces, games and partake in unique photo opportunities. 

Think of the whole experience as a deep dive into the Squid Game world right before the debut of season two, scheduled to drop on Netflix on December 26.

Clearly, the immersive experience trend is not going anywhere any time soon.

* This article was originally published here