New York has been and continues to be a place where bigger and taller is best. To construct our tall buildings, for more than a century brave workers have had to work at heights. For just as long, there has been a fear of workers falling or having something fall on them. For those reasons,…
The United States Supreme Court, in a recent decision by Justice Thomas, unanimously held that the “content based regulation” of signs by municipalities is an impermissible regulation of free speech under the First Amendment. All municipalities should review their sign regulations and consult with counsel regarding potential amendment of the regulations. In Reed v. Gilbert…
Now that the partial shutdown of the federal government has ended, municipal officials should visit the Federal Communication Commission website and download “Acceleration of Broadband Deployment by Improving Wireless Facilities Siting Policies”, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking1 issued by the Commission on September 27, 2013. The FCC is acutely aware that the growing demand for…
Our firm recently assisted a public library in the acquisition of a building and financing the reconstruction of the building into a state of the art library facility. In this instance, the library had the New York State legislature adopt a law authorizing the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (hereinafter “DASNY”) to…
May a municipality use its zoning power to restrict businesses because of concern about the social impacts of the business? In a word, the New York State Court of Appeals says “no.” The Court struck down a Town of Hempstead zoning law that prohibited check cashing establishments in a business district, holding it violated the…
The committee reviews the applications, which include the artist’s portfolio, to determine whether they qualify for an apartment. According to Mr. Smith’s article, as of the end of October about a dozen applications have been approved. The Nashville community acknowledged the fact that the arts, especially Nashville’s music scene, greatly contributes to the economic vitality…
