Professor Annette Gordon-Reed, speaking at the 169th CityLaw Breakfast. Image Credit: CityLand
Annette Gordon-Reed, our friend and colleague for 17 years at New York Law School, has just published On Juneteenth (Liveright 2021), a personal and readable story of her growing up in Texas in the 1970’s. Gordon-Reed grew up in Conroe, Texas where her family regularly celebrated Juneteenth. Gordon-Reed was the first Black child to integrate a White elementary school in her city. Through her personal story Gordon-Reed annotates and re-calibrates the conventional story of slavery in the United States, and the history of Texas as taught in her public school and as portrayed in novels and movies. (read more…)
Ross Sandler, Center for New York City Law Director
A new book recalls the glory of Bryant Park before the Covid-19 shutdown: the movable chairs, the green grass, magazine racks and ping pong tables, shady paths and, most of all, the large numbers of people enjoying Bryant Park. (read more…)
Ross Sandler, Center for New York City Law Director
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. (read more…)
Ross Sandler, Center for New York City Law Director
The City aggressively attacks unsafe conditions for bike riders on the City’s streets and avenues, but less successfully attacks unsafe behaviors of bike riders. Unsafe conditions can mostly be engineered away, but unsafe behaviors require changes of a cultural nature. The City in 2019 experienced 28 bike rider deaths and more than 4,000 bike injuries. So far 2020 has experienced more bike injuries than in 2019. To make the City safer for bike riders, the City should aggressively enforce the traffic laws against vehicles, but also aggressively enforce the rules against bike riders who ride against traffic, ignore traffic signals, speed, or text and talk on phones while riding. (read more…)
Ross Sandler, Center for New York City Law Director
The number of persons killed by contact with subway trains is truly alarming and, worse, consistent year to year. The victims include persons with severe mental problems and drug and alcohol addiction on the one hand, and, on the other hand, adventuresome youths who see romance and challenge in the subways’ dark tunnels, speedy trains and endless tracks. All the deaths are tragedies. (read more…)
Ross Sandler
Four great New Yorkers were honored with Civic Fame Awards at the CityLaw Breakfast on May 26, 2016. The Civic Fame Award recognizes persons who have made significant contributions to the civic life of New York City. In a happy and joyous ceremony, each awardee was individually presented with a specially created certificate bearing the striking image of the 25-foot-high, gilded figure of Civic Fame which stands on top of the Municipal Building.
(read more…)
