NYCHA Attorneys Make House Calls
This summer General Counsel David Farber invited NYCHA’s attorneys to a series of visits to the field. Seventy-five attorneys along with legal interns accepted the invitation. These trips provided an opportunity for the attorneys to meet NYCHA’s borough leadership, development management, and other teams; inspect NYCHA buildings from roof to basement; and interact with development staff to learn about each other’s successes and challenges.
The series kicked off on July 16 with a trip to the Queens-Staten Island Borough Meeting at International Towers and extended through August 14 with a final trip to the Optimal Property Management Department’s (OPMD) Lincoln Houses. Approximately 14 legal staff piled into the vans that NYCHA’s terrific Fleet Maintenance team lined up. The drivers shared their knowledge of the neighborhoods and Legal team liaisons provided a history of the developments to be visited.
NYCHA’s Legal teams also visited Eastchester Gardens on July 17, where Bronx Management made them feel welcome; a Manhattan Tactical Meeting at UPACA 5 & 6 on July 21, hosted by Manhattan Borough Director Conrad Vazquez; and Manhattanville Houses with the Mixed Finance team on July 23, hosted by Mixed Finance Director Darrell Laval.
These trips gave the legal staff an opportunity to understand challenges faced by the field, including recordkeeping, maintenance and rehabilitation needs, adjustments for contractors and, most challenging in the summer months, staffing needs.
All legal staff were able to observe firsthand the grace with which development and borough management teams, including OPMD and Mixed Finance, address these challenges and provide support for their staff.
The Law Department was able to open lines of communication with the field as to the challenges faced in the courts and how the field’s cooperation assists Law in properly defending NYCHA in an often hostile judicial environment. NYCHA’s Law Department is extremely grateful to everyone who contributed to making these trips such a success.
Thank you to Joan Rodriguez, Associate General Counsel in the Law Department’s Tort Division, for this article. Articles about other department’s activities are welcome.
