Page 14 - NYLS Magazine • 2015 • Vol. 34, No. 1

20
YEARS
CENTER FOR NEW YORK CITY LAW
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (far right), Chief Prosecuting Attorney of Hudson Riverkeeper, at a CityLaw Breakfast on February 28, 1997
of the product.” CityLaw began first—a bi-weekly newsletter combining articles on timely and interesting legal and policy issues and decisions culled from City agencies. Compiling the CityLaw content took a lot of legwork initially on the part of Sandler, since agencies did not have this information readily organized, and weren’t falling over themselves to provide it to the public. So Sandler
had to reach out to all of them, using his extensive network and understanding of City government, and the fact the Center was an impartial institution, to convince the agencies to provide their decisions.
The initial CityLaw articles had titles like “Term Limits: 7 Ways to Leave Your Lover” (examining the different ways the term limits law could be changed), and they provided
a one-stop guide on many legal matters facing City agencies that would otherwise go unreported. CityLaw accomplished the goals set forth by Sandler when he launched the Center, providing substantive examination
of laws and policies to the public and to the community of public servants and advocates who could use this information in their
daily work. It also highlighted the incredibly valuable, complex, and frequently unheralded work of the multitude of City agencies that wouldn’t get attention in the mainstream media save for a corruption scandal or some other sort of sensational misconduct.
CityLand followed in 2004, when it
became clear that the land use issues City government dealt with deserved a stand- alone publication. The publication began
as a monthly newsletter and went online in October of that year. CityLand has evolved into a must-read, free, online publication for anyone working on real estate development or land use issues. It covers major players such as the City Planning Commission, Board of Standards and Appeals, Landmarks Preservation Commission, Department of Buildings, and City Council, reporting on rulings and related legal challenges. CityLand also provides comprehensive charts that track the progress of applications and that report decisions from New York City’s land use agencies.
In the first decade of its operation, the Center existed in a time when governments had
not yet made an investment in their online presence. Thus was born CityAdmin. The City’s Office of Administrative Trials and Hearings (OATH) contacted Sandler when
it wanted to develop a way to get its decisions out to practitioners. Sandler agreed to host the decisions on the Center’s website, purchased a server and program, and received foundation support. Making OATH’s voluminous body of administrative decisions available to the public was, as Professor Sandler stated, “a really important public service.” Soon more
agencies began partnering with the Center
to add their administrative decisions and advisory opinions to the website, making CityAdmin one of the most essential resources to the public, attorneys whose work centered on representing clients in those agencies, academics, and even government lawyers themselves who didn’t have other means
of access to all this information. Today, CityAdmin covers 28 agencies and includes over 117,000 decisions.
Current NYLS Dean and President Anthony W. Crowell is an ardent supporter of the Center. He has been involved with the Center since 1999, and in 2003 became an adjunct professor affiliated with the Center. At the 20th Anniversary CityLaw Breakfast Celebration held on May 1 (see sidebar), he toasted the Center, noting the “incredible amount of thought leadership and critical resources that the Center has brought to the City, the legal community, and beyond....The Center has been so fundamental to why we call ourselves New York’s law school.” Dean Crowell referred to the breakfasts as “a rare venue where those with significant influence can interact with an informed audience and engage in thoughtful, probing, and unfiltered dialogue.”
Crucial to the Center’s operations are Associate Director and Managing Editor
New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton (center) at a 1995 CityLaw Academic Symposium on the Mollen Commission’s Report on Police Corruption
Professor Ross Sandler with former New York Governor Mario M. Cuomo at a CityLaw Breakfast on September 22, 2000
Carl Weisbrod (center), then President of the Downtown Alliance, at a CityLaw Breakfast on January 17, 2003
Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch moderating a 1998 CityLaw event, “Reflections on the New York City Corporation Counsel and Law Department”
Henry Stern, who was Commissioner of Parks and Recreation under Mayors Ed Koch and Rudy Giuliani, at a CityLaw Breakfast on September 27, 1996
Professor Ross Sandler at a CityLaw Breakfast on September 13, 2002
From left to right: Alice Sandler, Jeanne-Claude, Professor Ross Sandler, and Christo at a CityLaw Breakfast on February 23, 1996
12 NEw York Law ScHooL maGazINE • 2015 • VOL. 34, NO. 1