Mayor Bill de Blasio is taking responsibility for the lifting of the city's deed restrictions, saying from now on, they will need his personal approval.
The announcement comes after bad headlines for his administration related to the lifting of two deed restrictions in Manhattan. Both buildings were supposed to remain nonprofit centers, but an obscure city agency changed their deeds to allow for-profit development.
One of those cases on the Lower East Side is under investigation by three separate agencies.
In both cases, the mayor says the decision to lift the deed restriction never reached him personally, but he says from now on, that will be different.
"Given the importance of these matters, I am going to make very clear in our new policy that there will be no action on any deed restriction without my personal signoff," de Blasio said.
The mayor says his administration would work closely with the City Council to develop new standards on how this process will work going forward. Those standards have not yet been drafted.