Kathleen Grimm, who passed away on February 17, 2015, never stopped working for the good of New York City. She took on the toughest jobs and did them with grace and competence. People who worked with her once, did so again and again and did so happily. She had friends everywhere in government, and just as many here at New York Law School.
Commentary
NY Law School Commentary on Talk by Tom Prendergast, Chair of NY MTA
MTA Chairman Tom Prendergast faces a huge challenge as the MTA needs a new round of capital funding starting in 2015. At the CityLaw Breakfast on November 21, 2014 Chairman Prendergast laid out a well-thought out five year plan designed to maintain the system, modernize it, make it more resilient and extend it geographically. The price tag: $32 billion. In the intensive competition for public money, elected leaders find funds in that range only when … <Read More>
Albany: Protect Working New Yorkers through Stronger Rent Regulation
There are 1.1 million rent regulated apartments in New York City, housing approximately 2.5 million people. Rent regulation is the largest source of affordable housing for low-and moderate- income tenants, and is mostly concentrated in rapidly gentrifying communities with a majority population of people of color. It is a resource that we are rapidly losing to deregulation.
Environmental procedures, viewed from the past
Environmental litigation from more than 40 years ago has been revisited in a new book by Robert Lifset, Power on the Hudson: Storm King Mountain and the Emergence of Modern American Environmentalism (U. of Pittsburgh Press 2014). The book portrays a time when environmental law was new and polluters were really polluters.
LPC Approval of Town House Addition Followed a Transparent Public Process
In a recent CityLand commentary, Noel Weekes from the Committee for the Preservation of the Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill Historic District incorrectly states that the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a non-compliant addition at 280 Convent Avenue. The article claims that the proposed addition violates “at least five of the Landmarks Commission’s nine requirements for rear yard additions or enlargements to row houses in historic districts.” While applications for additions can be complicated and sometimes controversial, … <Read More>
Joe Rose, Former City Planning Chairman on Weisbrod CityLaw Breakfast Discussion
Carl Weisbrod’s discussion of the de Blasio administration’s planning and zoning agenda was noteworthy both for its affirmation of continuity in New York City government’s leadership in the effort to create affordable housing and also in announcing a radical departure from the approach of previous administrations. When Chairman Weisbrod speaks, people should listen.