Ross Sandler, Director of the Center for New York City Law.

Here is welcome news. This Fall CityLaw Breakfasts will return to in-person breakfasts at the Events Center at New York Law School. Covid-19 compelled the Law School to go remote and the CityLaw Breakfasts followed into cyberspace. The Law School has in the interim rebuilt the sound and video systems in the large and comfortable Events Center on the second floor of the Law School. We will be back with in-person breakfasts this Fall.

Michael Horodniceanu speaking at the 141st CityLaw Breakfast. Image Credit: CityLaw

Michael Horodniceanu, our friend and former colleague, passed away on June 22, 2023. Michael Horodniceanu left a massive legacy of public and private achievements. His engineering and management skills and leadership as president of the MTA Capital Construction Company allowed the MTA to successfully complete the Number 7 extension and the Second Avenue subway.

by Caroline G. Harris, Esq. Goldman Harris LLC and Eric Vath, Esq. Goldman Harris LLC

A slide from the presentation of the City of Yes for Carbon Neutrality at the City Planning Commission featuring an ESS on the Barclays Center. The application was certified on April 24, 2023. Click to enlarge. Image Credit: DCP

To meet the climate goals of the 2016 Paris Agreement, New York State and New York City have adopted aggressive energy efficiency goals.  The Mayor’s 2022 City of Yes program announced numerous initiatives to make the city sustainable, resilient and equitable.  One of them, the City of Yes: Carbon Neutrality, aims to reduce our reliance on carbon-based fuels by modernizing the zoning rules to make our homes, businesses, electric power grid and waste stream much cleaner.  A key element of the Carbon Neutrality initiative is to support an increase in the use of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power. To be successful, the program will require changes in the City’s zoning resolution.

The Dangler House being demolished on July 21st. Click for link to video. Image Credit: Council Member Chi Ossé/Twitter.

On July 21, 2022, the Jacob Dangler House at 441 Willoughby Avenue in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, was demolished less than two weeks after the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing to consider its designation as an Individual Landmark. Despite the attempt by Landmarks to save the Dangler House by commencing the designation process, the Commission has been criticized for not acting quickly enough. Could Landmarks have actually done more?

Ross Sandler, Director of the Center for New York City Law.

Since January 1, 2017, when Governor Andrew Cuomo led the celebration to open the Second Avenue Subway, much has happened. A pandemic undermined subway ridership, Governor Cuomo resigned, and a new governor and mayor took office. And now the second phase of the Second Avenue Subway has begun. This will provide the next chapter of the wonderful book by Philip Mark Plotch’s on the Second Avenue Subway, Last Subway: the Long Wait for the Next Train in New York City (Cornell U. 2020).

3-Year Old Daycare Program.

Mask and vaccine mandates are being rolled back by Mayor Eric Adams, Governor Kathy Hochul, and New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy. They are moving too fast. Mandates should not be universally lifted until 100% of our populations including children younger than five had an opportunity to at least choose to be vaccinated and that is not the case right now.