On December 3, 2020 James E. Johnson, Corporation Counsel, spoke at the 170th CityLaw Breakfast. Mr. Johnson spoke on “The Common Good and the Municipal Lawyer: Managing Risk and Building Trust.” 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 fourth virtual CityLaw Breakfast as in-person events are … <Read More>
Search Results for: Litigation
HPD Releases Stats and Guidance as City’s Heat Season Begins
The agency received over 98,000 unique complaints about heat or hot water last season. On October 1, 2020, the Department of Housing Preservation and Development announced the start of the 2020 – 2021 heat season, in which all residential building owners are required to maintain specific indoor temperatures. From October 1, 2020 through May 31, 2021, building owners must maintain indoor temperatures at 68 degrees when outdoor temperatures are below 55 degrees during the daytime … <Read More>
Vendors lose museum sidewalk claim
Street vendors congregated on sidewalk in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Five disabled veterans regularly operated their sidewalk vending businesses outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art. City Parks Enforcement Patrol officers, between 2011 and 2013, issued the vendors 298 summonses for “failure to comply with orders to relocate their vending carts.” The officers claimed that the vendors set up their carts approximately twenty feet from the curb when the State statute limits the … <Read More>
City Launches Landlord-Tenant Mediation Project for Housing Security
The Community Dispute Resolution Centers will be available in all five boroughs. On July 21, 2020, Mayor de Blasio and the Taskforce on Racial Inclusion and Equity announced the start of a new mediation program for small landlords and tenants across the City. The Citywide Landlord-Tenant Mediation Project will provide both parties with an opportunity to resolve rent-related disputes outside of the housing court system to prevent evictions during the pandemic.
COMMENTARY: Mail-In Ballots Put the November Elections at Risk
Large numbers of people will vote by mail-in ballots this November because of Covid-19. Everyone should be concerned about the impact of mail-in ballots on democracy.
Mapping the New Senate, Assembly & Congressional Districts
New York State in 2021 must redraw the State’s senate, assembly and congressional districts. The process will be different from the process used to draw legislative and congressional district lines in the past. Previously, the State legislature redrew the districts for its own members and for the State’s congressional members. After years of efforts to reform a process seen as too self-interested, New York State voters in 2014 approved an amendment to the State constitution … <Read More>