Remembering Nicholas Scoppetta

Nicholas Scoppetta, who passed away in March at age 83, represented the best in the City’s civic life. He often attended New York Law School events and was the featured speaker at a CityLaw Breakfast on September 12, 1997. At that time he headed the Administration for Children’s Services, and was deep in litigation with advocates for children who wanted the federal court to take over his agency. Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani had appointed Scoppetta … <Read More>


CityLaw Profile: Salvatore J. Russo, General Counsel to the Health and Hospitals Corporation

Salvatore J. Russo is the senior vice president, general counsel, secretary to the board of directors, and a corporate officer at the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation. HHC is the public benefit corporation responsible for administering the City’s municipal health care system, which involves the operation of eleven acute-care hospitals, four long-term-care facilities, and six diagnostic treatment centers. HHC functions like a voluntary, not-for-profit hospital with an $8 billion budget and approximately … <Read More>


CityLaw Breakfasts Kick Off the New Academic Year

To a packed house on Friday, August 28, 2015, at 8:30 a.m., Dean Anthony Crowell called to order the 127th CityLaw Breakfast. The morning’s speaker was Carl Weisbrod, Chairman of the City Planning Commission, and the topic was affordable housing. Friday mornings in late August are not ideal for a business breakfast. Nevertheless, more than 200 people attended. They enjoyed the coffee, fruit and muffins, but they came because CityLaw Breakfasts play … <Read More>


Taxis: Yellow, Green and Black: Competition & Evolution

On a daily basis I am reminded that seemingly everyone loves to talk about taxis. Last year between the Daily News, the Post and Times, there were over 2,000 articles mentioning taxis, which transport about a million people a day – yet only about 3,000 articles mentioning subways which transport six-million people a day. Travelers and New Yorkers are clearly disproportionally obsessed with taxis.

Assuming that what people ask me is representative of what’s on … <Read More>


CityLaw: Three Policy Questions for Nonprofit Property Tax Exemptions

A long-standing feature of American tax policy is the exemption granted to nonprofit organizations, the largest of which is the exemption from local property taxes. The exemption, with origins back to the 18th century, is widespread. Among the 50 states, 17 state constitutions mandate property tax exemptions for charitable organizations, 25 authorize the legislature to give exemptions, and eight do not address the issue. New York State establishes two classes of exemptions for nonprofits:  … <Read More>


CityLaw: Racial Disparity Persists in NYC’s Examination High Schools

(Editor’s Note:  The Department of Education recently released statistics on the first round of 2015 admissions for New York City’s examination high schools.  According to their report, offers to join the 2015-2016 incoming class at Stuyvesant High School counts just ten African-American and twenty Latino students.  The following by Professor Aaron Saiger of Fordham University’s School of Law was published in the January/February issue of CityLaw.)

New York City is experiencing one of its … <Read More>