Victor Gotbaum, 1921-2015. Image courtesy of Mark Benoit

Much has been said about Victor Gotbaum’s many contributions to our country, and to our city in particular.  His place among the legends of organized labor is secure; his position as a master negotiator while helping save NYC from bankruptcy has been acknowledged; and his fierce defense of the working class and those trying join it has been well-documented.

I will not revisit his many accomplishments here – others have already done that and thankfully so, because while history is permanent, it is also quiet, and the story of why Victor Gotbaum was who he was is a loud, somewhat profane and none-too-gentle narrative.  We should all learn from it.

Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council

In March 2015, the City Planning Commission announced a proposal called Zoning for Affordability and Quality, which broadly calls for three principal changes in the current citywide zoning resolution. The plan proposes to change and enlarge definitions of senior housing to include more types of housing providers than currently permitted. It also proposes to increase buildable space for senior housing in some instances. The proposal also seeks to lessen or some instances no longer mandate parking requirements for designated affordable housing units or senior housing based on their proximity to mass transit. Finally, the proposal recommends raising the streetwall and building height limits from 10 – 20% within medium- and high-density contextual residential zones. The agency rationale for the proposal is to provide better development opportunities within the city which more fully utilize sites full allowable bulk. The agency further explains that by loosening building envelope and parking regulations especially for senior and quality housing developments, more housing inventory will be created to help address the city’s need for these kinds of housing. The City Planning Commission is accepting comments on the draft scope of the environmental review for the proposal until April 30 2015 and, according to the agency’s projected timelines, hopes to bring the final proposal forward for public review and discussion in the early Fall.

Kathleen Grimm, NYLS class of 1980. Image credit: New York Law School

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.

Sam Schwartz

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 engineers and managers in charge of infrastructure publicize the actual costs required to maintain these services. Chairman Prendergast has done a great public service by setting out costs realistically even if he cannot now identify where all the money will come from.

Alliance for Tenant Power campaigns for rent regulation changes in Albany. Image Credit: Alliance for Power.

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.

Ross Sandler

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.