From left: Council member Gail Brewer, a Duane Reade and Bank of America on the Upper West Side and REBNY President Steven SpinolaTired of chain drugstores and banks replacing mom-and-pop shops on the Upper West Side, City Council member Gail Brewer has been trying to implement zoning laws that would restrict larger stores from moving into the area, the New York Post reported. She said the trend is compromising retail variety for residents of the area.

Brewer has been meeting with the Department of City Planning to devise legislation that works towards that goal, including laws that set a minimum number of stores per block and maximum amount of ground-floor frontage along key Upper West Side corridors. [more]

City Council member Gale Brewer (left) has approved Fordham’s expansion project.

Fordham University has received approval from City Council member Gale
Brewer to embark on a 25-year-long expansion project at the school’s
Lincoln Center campus. The expansion, which includes a new law school,
dorms, parking garages and residential towers, will extend between
60th and 62nd streets and Amsterdam and Columbus avenues. The school
first proposed the 2.3 million-square-foot expansion in 2005, but the
local community board opposed the plans. However, now that the school
has reached an agreement with Brewer, the measure is also expected to
be approved next Wednesday by two City Council committees and then by
the full council June 30. [more]