The civic library · Reviewed July 2026
The city's machinery, explained from the documents.
The questions New Yorkers actually search: who sets your rent increase, where the MTA's money comes from, who actually runs City Hall. Each page is built on the public record (the charter, the statute, the board order), every number dated and sourced, every document linked.
- Housing & Real Estate How rent stabilization actually works About one million apartments have their rent increases set by a nine-member board every June. Here is the machinery, straight from the documents that run it. Daily coverage: the Housing & Real Estate desk →
- Transit & Streets How the MTA is funded Your swipe covers less than half the ride. The rest is a stack of taxes, tolls, and Albany deals, and the MTA's own budget documents lay it out plainly. Daily coverage: the Transit & Streets desk →
- Politics & Government How a bill becomes a law in Albany The rent laws, the MTA's money, your bail law: all of it moves through one Albany pipeline. The Constitution wrote the rules, including the loophole. Daily coverage: the Politics & Government desk →
- Politics & Government Who actually runs New York City One charter, five kinds of elected official, and a lot of confusion about who does what. The document itself is blunter than any civics class. Daily coverage: the Politics & Government desk →
- Housing & Real Estate How NYC property taxes work Four classes, two assessment ratios, caps on top of caps. The strangest property tax system in America, explained from the statute and the city's own math. Daily coverage: the Housing & Real Estate desk →
- Politics & Government How ranked-choice voting works in NYC You get five rankings, the count runs in rounds, and the runoff election is gone. The Charter amendment voters approved in 2019, explained from the text. Daily coverage: the Politics & Government desk →
- Politics & Government How the NYC budget actually works Bigger than most states' budgets, adopted on a calendar the Charter wrote down to the day. Here is the machine behind every June handshake at City Hall. Daily coverage: the Politics & Government desk →
How these pages are made
A claim either traces to a named public document or it gets cut. Each page names its documents at the bottom and links them. When the documents change (a new rent order every June, a new budget every spring), the page changes and the review date moves.
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