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Full-Text Articles in Law

Do Americans Support More Housing?, Michael Lewyn Jan 2024

Do Americans Support More Housing?, Michael Lewyn

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An analysis of opinion poll data on housing issues. The article finds that Americans generally believe that their community needs more housing of all types, but are more closely divided about whether such housing should be in their own neighborhoods. The article further finds that members of minority groups, lower-income Americans, and younger Americans are more pro-housing than older, affluent whites.


Using Youtube To Explain Housing, Michael Lewyn Jan 2023

Using Youtube To Explain Housing, Michael Lewyn

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In 2021, the author ran for Borough President of Manhattan, New York. The author tried to his scholarship into his campaign by producing over twenty Youtube videos, most of which addressed land use and housing policy. The article describes the videos, and evaluates their usefulness.


Which Transportation Technologies Do We Want?, Michael Lewyn Jan 2022

Which Transportation Technologies Do We Want?, Michael Lewyn

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A review of Todd Litman's book, New Mobilities- Smart Planning for Emerging Transportation Technologies


Does Democracy Justify Zoning?, Michael Lewyn Jan 2022

Does Democracy Justify Zoning?, Michael Lewyn

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One common argument for restrictive zoning is that zoning is more democratic than allowing landowners to build what they please. This article critiques that claim, suggesting that free markets are equally democratic because they allow for self-rule. Moreover, zoning is less democratic than other forms of government decisionmaking, because zoning hearings are often sparsely attended, and commenters at public meetings are unrepresentative of the public as a whole.


Bringing Judaism Downtown: A Smart Growth Policy For Orthodox Jews, Michael Lewyn Jan 2021

Bringing Judaism Downtown: A Smart Growth Policy For Orthodox Jews, Michael Lewyn

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Until the late 20th century, the most rigorously traditional Jews, haredi Jews (often referred to as “ultra-Orthodox”) tended to congregate in New York City. But as New York became more expensive and haredi population grew due to high birth rates, some haredi Jews (known collectively as “haredim”) moved to small towns and outer suburbs in search of cheaper land, sometimes creating towns dominated by haredim such as Kiryas Joel, New York and Lakewood, New Jersey. As haredi populations have continued to grow, their households now seek undeveloped land outside these enclaves. But as haredim move deeper into the countryside, zoning …


Pedestrians Under Attack, Michael Lewyn Jan 2021

Pedestrians Under Attack, Michael Lewyn

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A review of Right Of Way by Angie Schmitt


Constitutional Foundations For Public Health Practice: Key Terms And Principles, Fazal Khan, Marice Ashe Jan 2021

Constitutional Foundations For Public Health Practice: Key Terms And Principles, Fazal Khan, Marice Ashe

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This chapter introduces the structure of the government in the United States and the concept of “separation of powers" among the federal, state, and local governments. It introduces core legal principles from the U.S. Constitution that frame the authority of the government to enact and enforce laws to protect and promote the public's health. These Constitutional principles are essential for the health advocate and leader to understand because every federal, state, and local law must comply with them. The core principles include the enumerated powers of the federal government and the broad plenary powers of state and local governments—which we …


Are Wide Streets Negligent?, Michael Lewyn Jan 2019

Are Wide Streets Negligent?, Michael Lewyn

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American commercial streets are typically designed to encourage rapid automobile traffic, thus making streets unsafe for pedestrians. In the 2016 case of Turturro v. City of New York, the New York Court of Appeals upheld a jury verdict against a city for failing to slow down such traffic. This article describes Turturro, but shows how limited its holding was: the Turturro court emphasized a city's failure to study traffic calming, so if a city studies its options adequately it can avoid liability even if its policies are unsuccessful.


Make New York Affordable Again, Michael Lewyn Jan 2019

Make New York Affordable Again, Michael Lewyn

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Suggests a package of zoning reforms to hold down New York City housing costs, and responds to counterarguments.


The Role Of Fault In § 1983 Municipal Liability, Michael Wells Jan 2019

The Role Of Fault In § 1983 Municipal Liability, Michael Wells

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Under Monell v. Department of Social Services, local governments are not vicariously liable for constitutional violations committed by their employees. Those governments, however, are liable under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 for violations committed by "policymaking" officials. In the face of these two principles, courts have struggled with cases in which an underling commits a constitutional violation and the claim of municipal liability is based on a policymaker's failure to prevent it. The government can be liable in these "indirect-effect" cases for a policymaker's "deliberate indifference" to safeguarding constitutional rights, a standard that demands an even greater showing of culpability than …


Explaining Market Urbanism, Michael Lewyn Jan 2018

Explaining Market Urbanism, Michael Lewyn

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Compares Market Urbanism to New Urbanism and Landscape Urbanism


Luck, Justice And Systemic Financial Risk, John Linarelli Jan 2017

Luck, Justice And Systemic Financial Risk, John Linarelli

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Systemic financial risk is one of the most significant collective action problems facing societies. The Great Recession brought attention to a tragedy of the commons in capital markets, in which market participants, from first-time homebuyers to Wall Street financiers, acted in ways beneficial to themselves individually, but which together caused substantial collective harm. Two kinds of risk are at play in complex chains of transactions in financial markets: ordinary market risk and systemic risk. Two moral questions are relevant in such cases. First, from the standpoint of interactional morality, does a person have a moral duty to avoid risk of …


Robocar Risks, Michael Lewyn Jan 2017

Robocar Risks, Michael Lewyn

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Suggests that policymakers should not widen roads or stringently enforce anti-jaywalking laws in order to accommodate autonomous vehicles.


When Does Might Make Right? Using Force For Regime Change, John Linarelli Jan 2009

When Does Might Make Right? Using Force For Regime Change, John Linarelli

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Should states use force to bring about regime change? International law recognizes no such grounds. This paper seeks to provide guidance from moral theory. The aim of this paper is to identify the moral grounds for the use of armed force by one state or a group of states, against another state, when the intention of the intervening states is to achieve a fundamental change in the character of the political and legal institutions of the other state. Lawyers tend to place the argument for regime change intervention within putative humanitarian intervention doctrines. The moral justification for humanitarian intervention is …


Principles Of Fairness For International Economic Treaties: Constructivism And Contractualism, John Linarelli Jan 2006

Principles Of Fairness For International Economic Treaties: Constructivism And Contractualism, John Linarelli

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No legal system deserving of continued support can exist without an adequate theory of justice. A world trade constitution cannot credibly exist without a clear notion of justice upon which to base a consensus. This paper examines two accounts of fairness found in moral philosophy, those of John Rawls and Tim Scanlon. The Rawlsian theory of justice is well-known to legal scholars. Scanlon's contractualist account may be less well-known. The aim of the paper is to start the discussion as to how fairness theories can be used to develop the tools for examining international economic policies and institutions. After elaborating …


The European Bank For Reconstruction And Development: Legal And Policy Issues, John Linarelli Jan 1995

The European Bank For Reconstruction And Development: Legal And Policy Issues, John Linarelli

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No abstract provided.