DOI Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn

For anyone considering sticking their hand in the colossal cookie jar that is New York City’s government, Rose Gill Hearn has a message for you: “we are watching.” With her usual stern glance, Department of Investigation Commissioner Rose Gill Hearn tells me she demands a “standard of excellence.” In her 12 years at DOI, Gill Hearn has met that standard, amassing arrests and recovering taxpayer dollars in record numbers. When she assumed her office, the ashes were still smoldering up the block from DOI headquarters at Ground Zero. 12 years later, Rose Gill Hearn is the longest serving DOI commissioner in New York City’s history.

A native New Yorker. Born at St. Vincent’s Hospital, she was raised on Long Island, graduated from Marymount Manhattan College and Fordham’s Law School. After spending three years doing white collar defense work at a private firm, she left for the U.S. Attorney’s office, where she would spend ten years and become Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division. For Gill Hearn, being a lawyer was part of her family’s legacy. Her father served as an assistant district attorney for the City.

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Cas Holloway

Cas Holloway, as commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, is responsible for protecting the City’s environment. This includes ensuring that clean drinking water from upstate aqueducts reach the City’s 950,000 buildings and that the City’s 14,000 miles of water and sewer mains remain in good working order. The agency also plays a major role in implementing PlaNYC by promoting the use of modern, “green” infrastructure.

Holloway joined the Department of Parks and Recreation under Commissioner Henry J. Stern after graduating from Harvard College in 1996 with a degree in government. After spending a year generating private sponsorships for parks, Stern named Holloway as his chief of staff.

Two years later, Holloway enrolled at the University of Chicago Law School, earning his law degree in 2002. He began his legal career as an associate at Cravath, Swaine & Moore and then served as a clerk for Judge Dennis G. Jacobs, now Chief Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Holloway later joined Debevoise & Plimpton where he focused on corporate litigation and regulatory investigations. (more…)

Image credit: Jeff Hopkins.

***THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY RAN FOUR YEARS AGO IN CITYLAW*** The SAFE Act, the acronym for the Secure Ammunition and Firearms Enforcement Act – New York State’s January, 2013 omnibus gun control law – provides an excellent opportunity to assess the potential impact of maximally politically feasible gun control, an exercise all the more relevant in the wake of the mass shooting in Las Vegas.  The SAFE Act did not have to be negotiated or compromised.  The New York legislature passed it without hearings, debate, or input from gun owners and their advocates. The Act included several of the top priorities of gun control proponents. While the SAFE Act was a political triumph, its implementation has been problematic and its enforcement practically non-existent. (more…)

New DSNY Commissioner Jessica Tisch. Image Credit: Ed Reed/Mayoral Photography Office.

The announcement comes with a $11 million investment in restoring full alternative side parking and cleaning of protected bike lanes. On April 18, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced the appointment of Jessica Tisch as the new Commissioner of the Department of Sanitation. (more…)

Incoming OATH Commissioner Asim Rehman. Image Credit: OATH.

Rehman is the first Muslim-American to serve as OATH Commissioner. On March 29, 2022, Mayor Eric Adams announced Asim Rehman had been selected as the next Commissioner and Chief Administrative Law Judge for the Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH). OATH serves as the City’s administrative law court, which handles the adjudication of issues referred by City agencies, summonses from City agencies, and other topics including but not limited to employee discipline, City-issued license and regulatory enforcement, zoning and loft violations, and civil asset forfeiture. (more…)