Ross Sandler

Here is a bouquet of flowers for the Landmarks Preservation Commission for preserving the greatest interior spaces in New York City. This thought came to mind when I entered the former Bowery Savings Bank building at 130 Bowery in Manhattan to attend New York Law School’s annual Gala on Monday, February 25, 2013. Guests at the New York Law School Gala entered the Bank through what Landmarks described as a “triumphal arch motif” with an “outer enframement reminiscent of the temple-form, complete with pediment.” (LPC 1966). After walking through a “magnificent recessed barrel vaulted entrance portal,” guests passed into the former waiting room constructed in the form of a soaring basilica with two bays of ionic columns forming a broad nave (LPC 1994) where cocktails were served and the silent auction items displayed.

(more…)

The Center for New York City Law with Speaker Quinn on February 15, 2013. (From left to right) Sarah Knowles, Amber Gonzalez, Brian Kaszuba, Ross Moskowitz, Randy Kleinman, Christine Quinn, Ross Sandler, William Vidal, Melissa Wagner.

This morning the Center for New York City Law at New York Law School hosted one of its City Law Breakfasts. The event was co-hosted by the Center for Real Estate Studies.  New York Law School and the Center were honored to have City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn as this morning’s speaker.

Speaker Quinn was introduced by the Center’s founder and Director, Ross Sandler. Quinn began by thanking Ross Sandler and praising New York Law School Dean Anthony Crowell.

In front of over 200 attendees, Speaker Quinn talked about a recent City Council legal victory over a proposed Department of Homeless Services (DHS) policy. That policy would make it harder for homeless single adults to access shelter. The policy was implemented without providing the Council notice and without holding a public hearing pursuant to the City Charter. The Supreme Court and the Appellate Division ruled in favor of the Council. DHS will now work with the Council to create a new policy.

(more…)

We share New Yorker’s grief over the passing of Mayor Edward I. Koch, but for us he will always be present. Here is what we wrote on his 88th birthday. We will be posting a special in memoriam post by Ross Sandler in the next few days.

Ross Sandler

The late Bernard Richland was Corporation Counsel when the City appealed the adverse 1975 New York Supreme Court decision in the Grand Central Terminal case. Federal Judge Nina Gershon wrote about Richland’s role in a memorial article about Richland in 2004. 48 N.Y.L. Sch. L. Rev. 411 (2004).

Gershon wrote that “there were some in the preservation community who questioned the city’s resolve to pursue, through appeal, the fight to preserve Grand Central Terminal as a landmark, after a devastating loss in the trial court, which had not only rejected, with derision, the findings of the Landmarks Preservation Commission regarding the significance of the Terminal but found that the designation of the Terminal as a landmark was unconstitutional; ominously, the trial court had also severed and kept open the request for damages for a ‘temporary taking.’ But when Bernie [Bernard Richland] became convinced of the merit of the city’s position, he did not stint in his support of the appeal.”

(more…)

Ross Sandler

Ed Koch celebrated his 88th birthday at a party/reunion held at Gracie Mansion on December 12, 2012. He is, as he says, still relevant. Ed Koch broadcasts his current opinions in regular blogs, movie reviews, political broadsides and letters. But if you really want to know Ed Koch, read his first two books, Mayor and Politics. Koch wrote Mayor shortly after losing his 1982 run for Governor against Mario Cuomo. Politics followed one year later. The two books present New York City politics with unforgettable characters, raw and revealing stories of politicians entertainingly told, and an insider’s view of a city experiencing a decline in population, a rise in crime, a city budget in crisis and a political establishment still expecting to whack up the municipal pie. Koch reveled in detailing these demands and, of course, his dominance over them.

(more…)