By Kate Ross It’s hard to imagine how an Uber ride could ever lead to a roadblock. Prompted by the tap of a few buttons, the Uber app connects users with nearby drivers to send them on their way to virtually any destination within minutes. It’s no accident that the word “uber” itself suggests a road to endless possibilities. Borrowed from the German term übermensch, meaning “superman,” the company’s trademark invokes the American dream for human progress and upward mobility. In one commercial, riders and drivers alike zip along the road to schools, new homes, and jobs in time to the slogan, “We’re all going somewhere.” Indeed, this…
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By Carlos F. Ugalde While most Americans continue to believe that dwindling oil reserves and growing energy prices are the nation’s main concerns, there is a far more palpable and imminent crisis at arm’s length. Global warming—the observed ongoing rise in global average temperatures near the Earth’s surface caused by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere—has markedly decreased precipitation and multiplied evapotranspiration rates across the globe and, particularly, in drier regions. The immediate result has been harsher and longer drought periods, thus reducing the availability of water resources for industry and consumption.
By Vinh HuaSocial interaction among teens and youths increasingly occurs in the digital world via the use of social media. Social media has become a central facet of the lives of many youth. As the internet becomes more ubiquitous, more Americans have web access. More young men and women in the inner city and in other poverty-stricken communities now participate in social media. Among these youth are gang members. Searching for the adoration of their peers, many of these young men and women post pictures and status updates that incriminate either themselves or their friends. As the digital world takes on more…
By Claire Glass On October 21, 2015 Judge Laura Taylor Swain of the Southern District of New York signed into law the consent decree sought in Mark Nunez v. City of New York, a 2011 class action brought on behalf of a class of incarcerated individuals who were victims of unnecessary use of force by correction officers at Rikers Island. Nunez’s complaint included over twenty pages detailing instances of abuse resulting in facial fractures, off camera beatings of handcuffed individuals, lacerations, head injuries, and lost teeth.
By Herbie Rosen New York Governor Andrew Cuomo recently came out in support of raising the New York state minimum wage to $15 per hour. The Governor’s initiative, the Mario Cuomo Campaign for Economic Justice (named after the late Governor’s father, and former New York Governor), pivots away from his original position of raising the minimum wage to $10.50 an hour. When asked about changing his opinion, Governor Cuomo replied that he is simply trying to give people a living wage.
Flourishing Families in Context: A New Lens for Urban Law Date: Friday, October 23, 2015 Location: Fordham Law School, 150 West 62nd Street, Room 7-119 The Cooper-Walsh Colloquium is a forum for legal scholars to discuss ideas and share informed critiques on legal, economic, and social issues affecting urban areas. The Colloquium is organized in conjunction with Professor Susan Block-Lieb, the Cooper Family Chair of Urban Legal Studies, and Professor Sheila Foster, the Albert A. Walsh Professor of Real Estate, Land Use, and Property Law. The event is co-sponsored by the Fordham Urban Law Center. It consists of five paper…
Tom R. Tyler* & Jeffrey A. Fagan**Φ This is a moment for the reconsideration of policing in America. In that effort we should examine the successes and failures of policing over the last several decades. We should also ask what works and what does not work in policing today. And, perhaps most importantly we need to explore what policing should be about in the 21st century.
The following post is a winning submission for the 2015 Jason Libou Online Writing Competition. Competitors were prompted to write a blog post on a topic of their choice relating to urban law and policy. By Claire Glass Florida has been deemed the most ferocious state when it comes to charging juveniles as adults, but signs of modest reform are brewing with five bills under review as of March. Among those bills, Florida lawmakers are expected to consider House Bill 783, which would scale back the unilateral power of prosecutors to “direct file,” or send minors into the adult justice…
The following post is a winning submission for the 2015 Jason Libou Online Writing Competition. Competitors were prompted to write a blog post on a topic of their choice relating to urban law and policy. By Herbie Rosen On Saturday, March 28, hundreds of teachers, students, and parents braved the cold to protest New York Governor Andrew Cuomo’s proposed education policies. Announced in January, Cuomo’s educational reforms make the teacher evaluation system rely more heavily on the results of state tests. Cuomo proposes that 50 percent of a teacher’s evaluation would come from their students’ state test results.
By Carlos F. Ugalde Four months ago, I wrote an article regarding the imminent water crisis in the United States, as well as the current national and local governmental policies addressing the issue. While the national response has been strong and uniform as evidenced by President Obama’s recent agreement with China to considerably reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, the states’ approach has been weak and heavily fragmented.