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    Search results for "Court Decisions" Commentary

    Judge Kaye’s Vision for Consolidation and Simplification of the Trial Courts

    Commentary
    Ross Sandler

    Ross Sandler

    Chief Judge Judith S. Kaye, who passed away at age 77 on January 6, 2016, left us some unfinished business to do: court reform. In 1998 Judge Kaye lobbied for a constitutional amendment that would have consolidated and simplified the New York trial court system. She hoped to get the legislative approval for a constitutional amendment and the required referendum during the 1998 and 1999 legislative sessions, followed by a vote on the referendum at the 2000 election. (more…)

    Tags : Court Reform, Judge Judith S. Kaye
    Date: 02/12/2016
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    Comment on Peyton v. NYC BSA

    Commentary  •  Court Decisions  •  Upper West Side, Manhattan

    Part of Park West Village. Image Credit: Google Maps

    On December 17, 2020, by a 4-3 decision and over a strong dissent, the Court of Appeals reversed the decision of the Appellate Division in Peyton v. NYC Board of Standards and Appeals, 2020 N.Y. Slip Op. 07662.  The decision is an unseemly show of deference to the Board of Standards and Appeals, a body that is widely viewed as captive to the real estate industry, on a pure question of law as to which no deference is owed.  The City Council should follow the lead of the U.S. Congress, which, in the Dodd-Frank Act, legislated a less deferential standard of review for certain actions of an agency widely deemed captive to the industry it is supposed to regulate. (more…)

    Tags : Board of Standards and Appeals, Court Decisions, guest commentary
    Date: 01/11/2021
    (4) Comments

    GUEST COMMENTARY: Demarest Be Damned

    Commentary  •  Jeffrey A. Kroessler

    The Demarest Building, at 339 Fifth Avenue. Image Credit: Google Maps

    Landmarks decisions should not be made behind closed doors. Yet they are when the Landmarks Preservation Commission refuses to hold a hearing as it recently did with the Demarest Building. (more…)

    Tags : 339 Fifth Avenue, demarest building, guest commentary, landmark calendaring, Landmark Designation, Landmarks Preservation Commission
    Date: 01/30/2020
    (1) Comment

    East Midtown Rezoning: Looking For Extra Zoning Rights? They’re For Sale

    Commentary  •  Michael Gruen & Juan Rivero
    Ross Sandler

    Michael Gruen, President of the City Club of New York

    Ross Sandler

    Juan Rivero, City Club Governing Committee

    A disarmingly simple plan for rezoning Manhattan’s office district running from Grand Central Terminal north to about 58th Street has been approved by the Planning Commission and will come to a Council vote around the time of the November election.

    It has three key components:  1) The City almost doubles the allowable floor area for new buildings on large sites along the major thoroughfares; 2) it sells to the landowner the right to build the increased space at the estimated market value of development rights (a base price of $250 per square foot); and 3) it applies the proceeds to unspecified transportation and pedestrian circulation improvement projects likely, when selected, to be located at Grand Central. (more…)

    Tags : City Club of New York, East Midtown rezoning, Juan Rivero, Michael Gruen
    Date: 10/16/2013
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    Judge Baer defends the independence of judges

    Commentary  •  Ross Sandler

    My friend, federal Judge Harold Baer Jr., in a new book recounts seven vignettes illustrating what happens to the rule of law when political forces undermine the independence of the judiciary; Judges Under Fire: Human Rights, Independent Judges, and the Rule of Law (ABA Publishing 2011). His point is that without independent judges citizens lack protection from arbitrary governmental decisions. Independent judges alone can counter the forces of official arrogance and tyranny.

    Judge Baer need not belabor his point; he has lived it: ten years as a State Supreme Court Justice and eighteen as a federal district court judge in the Southern District of New York. Literally thousands of litigants and lawyers have appeared before Judge Baer, and can attest to his independence of mind, a formidable judicial presence, and hard work. No judge currently sitting on the state or federal trial bench publishes more written opinions than does Judge Baer.

    Not everyone agrees with Judge Baer all the time of course, but that is his point. Of Judge Baer’s seven vignettes, the one with the most impact is Judge Baer’s own experience when, in 1995, he suppressed 34 kilos of cocaine, 2 kilos of heroin, and the videotaped confession of a woman delivering the drugs. This was not a popular opinion, and, to avoid losing the case, the police had to produce substantially more evidence on rehearing than it had produced during the original hearing.

    Judge Baer, for more than sixteen years, has supervised the Benjamin decree overseeing prisoner rights at Rikers Island. In this capacity Judge Baer has compelled the City to focus on such matters as fire safety, cleanliness and access to lawyers and law books. I have written elsewhere that some judges handling similar prison cases have been too independent and crossed the line to become partisans, but that too is Judge Baer’s point. Judges are supposed to be an independent force protecting prisoners and others under state control, an argument which he made directly in a law review article criticizing my position. See 52 n.y.l. sch. l. rev. 3 (2007-8).

    Judge Baer is now a senior judge, but continues to act with independence. In 2010 Judge Baer helped start a reentry program to help ex-offenders get started and avoid being rearrested after their release from custody.

    Ross Sandler

    Tags : Judge Harold Baer Jr
    Date: 12/15/2011
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