Administrative Justice Coordinator David Goldin: A Life in Public Service

The 2005 City Charter Revision Commission proposed a Charter amendment to require the Mayor and the Chief Judge of the Office of the Administrative Trials and Hearings to create a code of ethics for the over 500 administrative law judges and hearing officers in the City’s administrative tribunals. At the time it was unclear to what extent the State Code of Judicial Conduct applied to and could be enforced against ALJs. The proposition passed, and … <Read More>


City-Owned and Leased Property Database Launched

municipal art society of new yorkThe Municipal Art Society launches a dynamic database for searching city-owned and leased property. On November 21, 2016, the Municipal Art Society of New York (“MAS”) issued a report entitled Public Assets: City-Owned and Leased Properties (Public Assets) which aggregated information on city-owned and leased properties and how they relate to the environment, infrastructure, landmarks, population, and local rezonings. The report was accompanied by the first-ever interactive city map that compiles information for more than … <Read More>


The Impact of the 2016 Amendments to the Ethics Laws

jcope-seal-cover-artOn August 24, 2016, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Chapter 286 of the Laws of 2016 which amends the State’s ethics laws. The legislation is not a transformational game changer in the ethics arena, but does make significant changes in the State’s laws. The new law vests the Attorney General with authority to disclose sources of funding for various not-for-profit entities, expands the disclosure of all sources of funding by those engaging in lobbying, and codifies … <Read More>


CityLaw Profile: Arthur Leonard, Professor, Author, Editor, Chronicler, Composer, Bassist

Arthur Leonard for 40 years has been one of the most important and most-read chronicler of the LGBT rights movement. In 1979, as the founder and president of the City’s Gay Lawyers Association Leonard began reporting judicial decisions involving LGBT rights and slipping them in the monthly mailer—this was the start of LGBT Law Notes. Originally a two-sided photocopied sheet of paper, LGBT Law Notes is now a monthly newsletter with a circulation of thousands. … <Read More>


Prison Reform: The Monitor’s First Report in the Nunez Case

Recently the City got some good news about Rikers Island, a change from the bad news of recent years. On August 2, 2016, Mayor Bill de Blasio, together with Correction Commissioner Joseph Ponte, announced that for the first six months of 2016 the frequencies with which staff used serious force on inmates and inmates seriously assaulted staff dropped by nearly half over the past year. Overall uses of force and assault numbers were also down … <Read More>


Preservation Consultant Gregory Dietrich on a Unique Path to a Unique Career

Gregory Dietrich, Principal of Gregory Dietrich Preservation Consulting, works as one of the small number of privately practicing historic preservation consultants. His vocation brings him into close contact with regulatory bodies, developers, land use agencies, advocacy groups, non-profit organizations and more.  This gives him a unique perspective, and requires a wide range of expertise he continues to broaden.  In conversation, his intellectual versatility becomes readily apparent, as he discussed his work, his background, and … <Read More>