Event Calendar

Reception is at 5:30; program starts at 6.

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Please note: This program will take place at Fordham University, Pope Auditorium, 155 West 60th Street (Columbus Ave.), Manhattan. Session Two will take place on December 4 at the City Bar.

Fordham Law School’s Urban Law Center and the New York City Bar Association’s Committee on New York City Affairs will convene a two-night symposium to examine the Bloomberg Administration’s use of legal tools in implementing several of its signature initiatives. Distinguished professionals and scholars in the fields of law, education, health, and public policy will analyze and discuss the mechanisms chosen, legal issues addressed, the obstacles confronted, and the effectiveness of the Administration’s strategies. The symposium will also explore the lessons learned that could impact future mayoral administrations and seek to define the national implications of the Bloomberg Administration’s legal legacy.

Welcoming Remarks: NESTOR DAVIDSON, Professor, Fordham Law School

Opening Remarks: HON. MICHAEL CARDOZO, New York City Corporation Counsel

Panel I: Public Safety and Security
From stop and frisk to Muslim surveillance, the Lower Manhattan Security Initiative to the creation of a municipal intelligence division with over 1,000 officers stationed around the world, the New York City Police Department has been transformed under Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Commissioner Ray Kelly. We will discuss these issues and many more, including the promise and peril of joint operations between federal and local authorities; the reduced city crime rate, following a trend that began in 1990; other policing policies; and the integration of data-driven analysis into policing through COMPSTAT.

Moderator: SHEILA FOSTER, Vice Dean and Albert A. Walsh Professor of Law, Fordham Law School

Speakers: HON. ANDREW SCHAFFER, Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters, New York Police Department; ARTHUR EISENBERG, Legal Director, New York Civil Liberties Union

Panel II: Livability and Public Health Initiatives
Mayor Bloomberg has made national news – and influenced national health policy – throughout his tenure with a series of innovative and aggressive health initiatives, including banning smoking from bars and public spaces, calorie-counting requirements, the restaurant grading system, and the most recent effort, a ban on large soft drinks. The Administration has utilized a wide array of legal and non-legal tools to accomplish these goals, and these efforts have met with both political and legal opposition. This panel will discuss these initiatives, the means by which they were accomplished and opposed, and the Bloomberg Administration’s health-law legacy.

Moderator: ABBE GLUCK, Associate Professor, Yale Law School

Speakers: HON. THOMAS FARLEY, New York City Commissioner of Health and Mental Health; BRIAN ELBEL, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Health Policy, New York University; PETER ZIMROTH, Arnold & Porter LLP; former New York City Corporation Counsel

Sponsored by: Committee on New York City Affairs, Cathleen A. Clements, Chair; Committee on Civil Rights, Brian Kreiswirth, Chair; Committee on Criminal Law, Sharon L. McCarthy, Chair; Committee on Education and the Law, Jeffrey Metzler, Chair; Committee on Health Law, Ron Lebow, Chair; Committee on Land Use Planning and Zoning, Mark A. Levine, Chair

Co-sponsored by: Fordham Law School Urban Law Center