Mayor and DOT Reveal Plans to Extend Life and Change BQE

The plan focuses on immediate monitoring and repairs to allow for more time to plan for the future. On August 4, 2021, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Hank Gutman announced a plan to extend the life of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) cantilever for at least 20 years with additional plans for the long-term. The plan is in four parts: preserving the structure; maintenance; expansion in monitoring; and developing a long-term … <Read More>


COMMENTARY: Joan Davidson and the J.M. Kaplan Foundation

If all the charitable foundations everywhere in the United States were lined up according to impact, the J.M. Kaplan Fund would be in the top ten. The J.M. Kaplan Fund was established in 1945 by Jacob M. Kaplan and was led for thirty years by J.M.’s daughter, Joan K. Davidson. Joan was a fixture in New York City’s political, charitable, and civic world, and she used her ideas and enthusiasms to make New York City … <Read More>



COMPLETE VIDEO: 172nd CityLaw Breakfast with Kathryn S. Wylde, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City

On April 9, 2021, Kathryn S. Wylde, President & CEO of the Partnership for New York City, spoke at the 172nd CityLaw Breakfast. Ms. Wylde spoke on “New York’s Post-Pandemic Prospects.” Professor Ross Sandler, Director of the Center for New York City Law provided opening remarks and Dean Anthony W. Crowell provided closing remarks. This Breakfast was sponsored by ConEdison, Greenberg Traurig, and Verizon. This was the sixth virtual CityLaw Breakfast as in-person events are … <Read More>



The Brooklyn-Queens Expressway: Time is Running Out

One year ago, in January 2020, the Expert Panel assigned by Mayor Bill de Blasio to study the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway issued its Final Report. Mayor de Blasio in 2019 appointed the seventeen-person Expert Panel* of which I was a member, following the angry rejection of New York City DOT’s plan for reconstructing the section of the BQE adjacent to Brooklyn Heights, Dumbo and Downtown Brooklyn. City DOT presented its plan publicly September 2019. The … <Read More>