CityLaw: Racial Disparity Persists in NYC’s Examination High Schools

(Editor’s Note:  The Department of Education recently released statistics on the first round of 2015 admissions for New York City’s examination high schools.  According to their report, offers to join the 2015-2016 incoming class at Stuyvesant High School counts just ten African-American and twenty Latino students.  The following by Professor Aaron Saiger of Fordham University’s School of Law was published in the January/February issue of CityLaw.)

New York City is experiencing one of its … <Read More>


Mayor de Blasio Delivers State of the City Address

Affordable housing issues, including rent-regulation, mandatory inclusionary zoning, and more were highlighted in the speech.  On February 3, 2015 Mayor Bill de Blasio delivered his second State Of The City address from Baruch College.  The Mayor spoke at length about the affordable housing crisis facing New York City and the programs his administration has begun or will propose to address the problem.


Council Member Works to Combat Illegal Home Conversions

Pending legislation would make it easier to impose civil penalties for illegal conversions. In recent months, City Council Member Vincent Gentile has introduced two bills to address the issue of illegal home conversions in New York City. According to Ann Falutico, Zoning Committee Chair for Brooklyn Community Board 10, a study of 311 statistics show that since 2010, over 1,000 complaints for illegal home conversions came from communities within the Council Member’s district, Bay … <Read More>


New School Hosts Panel Discussion on Historic Preservation and Affordable Housing

Elected officials, affordable housing advocates, and preservationists speak on historic preservation’s impact on New York City’s affordable housing shortage. On September 16, 2014, The Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy at The New School hosted a panel discussion on New York City’s affordable housing shortage and historic preservation. The discussion was co-presented by the Historic Districts Council and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation. The panel featured Manhattan Borough President <Read More>


Landmarks Applies Double Standard for Townhouse Addition

A recent decision by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to approve a non-compliant addition to a building within an historic district has enraged residents who are held to stricter standards, and preservationists who see the floodgates opening to the deterioration of the historic districts on a broader scale.


Court Dismisses Suit in Opposition to Hospital Development

Upper East Side community group did not meet burden of proof that City acted arbitrarily.  On July 28, 2014, the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan denied petitions for declarative and injunctive relief against the proposed expansion of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital.  The petitions were brought by the Residents for Reasonable Development and several Upper East Side residents acting individually.  The petitioners argued that the institutional uses of the project were incompatible with the largely … <Read More>