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CHAIR'S MESSAGE
Professor Lawrence M. Friedman of Stanford University tells his law students on the first day of class that “every domestic story in the front part of the newspapers, before you get to the recipes and the comics and the sports pages, has a legal angle—has some connection with the legal system.” In his recent book, Law in America, Friedman writes about the importance of states and local governments “as legal units.” Friedman’s account of American law recognizes that many areas of life are not under the control of the federal government. It is the states and local governments that are primarily responsible for decision-making about education, land use, building codes, highway systems, and many other aspects of the public health, safety, and welfare. As Chair, it is my privilege to work with the Section that is home for lawyers in private practice, lawyers who work for the government directly, and lawyers in academic settings—all of whom are involved in aspects of the many areas of law impacted by states and local governments.
As I was thinking about what to say in this “Chair’s Message,” I spent some time flipping through the pages of past issues of the Section’s newsletter. Topics of discussion have ranged from Chicago’s alternative policing strategy to telecommunications regulation. Writers have advised Section members about issues in the area of civil rights liability, voting rights and election law, public education, arbitration, public finance, land use, and historic preservation law. Past Chairs have focused on themes such as reinventing government and public/private partnerships.
Because of the breadth of state and local government law, our Section’s interests and programs have always been broad. And because of the varied perspectives of our members, the Section works collegially to reason together about the legal issues and problems of the day. Past issues of the newsletter evidence that collegiality, both in the descriptions of committee projects and Council decisions and in the photographs of Section members as they work and play together. On a personal note, I was startled by how much younger some of us looked when I first became active in the Section. And I was pleased to recall some wonderful times, including an evening at the Bull & Finch, a/k/a “Cheers” in Boston, the Section Land Use Committee’s walking tour of the Garden District in New Orleans, and a Halloween costume party held one year at the Grove Park Inn.
Always the Section strives to meet the varied needs of its members by providing a forum for attorneys dealing with public law issues, promoting awareness of the scope and depth of public law issues, and providing educational and leadership resources to those dealing with these issues in an effort to help them successfully address the many challenges that lawyers in this area face. My goal this year is to continue those efforts through all of our programs and activities.
This past Annual Meeting exemplifies the Section’s approach. The Section’s Land Use Committee worked together with the Real Property, Probate and Trust Law Section to present a program on “The Supreme Court’s Decision in Tahoe-Sierra: A Permanent Answer for Temporary Takings?” Special thanks for that outstanding program go to Donna Pugh, past chair of the Land Use Committee and to its outstanding program chair, Dwight Merriam, the newly appointed Land Use Committee chair. The Section’s Public Education Committee co-sponsored a program addressing the controversial and important legal questions arising out of zero tolerance policies in the public schools. Working with the Administrative Law and Regulatory Practice Section, the Committee presented “Zero Tolerance Policies and the Constitution: First Amendment, Fourth Amendment, and Equal Protection Concerns.” Professor Robert H. Freilich, a long-standing highlight of the Section’s Annual Meeting program, presented “The Freilich Report: A Complete Review of the U.S. Supreme Court Cases October 2001 Term Relating to State and Local Governmental Issues.” The Section’s newly created Task Force on Emergency Management and Homeland Security met under the leadership of Ernest Abbott to discuss plans to assist state and local government lawyers prepare for and respond to legal issues arising from natural and nonnatural disasters.
Many of the Section’s other committees also met to discuss programs, publications, and other projects. The Section’s Jefferson Fordham Society Awards luncheon also illustrates the breadth of the Section’s activities and interests. This year, the Advocacy Award was provided to Ann Miller Ravel and the Office of the County Counsel, County of Santa Clara. The Lifetime Achievement Award went to Sharon Stanton White. The Office Accomplishment Award was presented to the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of Municipal Securities.
As we begin this new year, it seems appropriate to thank our outgoing Chair, Daniel J. Curtin. Dan has served in more capacities within the Section than I can count—and done extraordinary work in each of them. He is a former chair and continues to be a contributing member of the Land Use Committee, is a former CLE Director, and continues to help the Section maintain its ties to IMLA, the International Municipal Lawyers Association. At my request, Dan will serve as the Section’s liaison to CEELI, a role that he is well prepared for given his pro bono work for CEELI as well as his involvement with the International Committee of IMLA and the World Juris Association.
Let me also welcome the newly elected and appointed leadership of the Section. I am pleased to be able to work with the Section’s officers, a group that includes such outstanding lawyers as Patricia Salkin, Stephanie Brown, and Terry Welch. Section officers and leadership are hard at work on plans for this year. One theme for all of our work this year is a continued effort to strengthen the Section’s committee and leadership structure. As with many voluntary membership organizations, we struggle to find the time and volunteers to carry out all of the many initiatives that we think would be worthwhile. But we are committed to taking steps to increase our Section’s activities. You will be hearing more about our initiatives in the coming months. This year, I will also be working closely with the Section’s CLE Director Richard Opper, Assistant CLE Director Peter Buchsbaum, and Committee Coordinator Donna Pugh to plan, prepare, and publicize our seminars and meetings. In doing so, we will be working with each of our committees to ensure that our efforts address the broad array of subjects that are of interest to lawyers practicing state and local government law.
The Section calendar already includes several important programs. First, plans are underway for a symposium on the golden anniversary of the important land-use decision, Golden v. Ramapo. Patricia Salkin, the Section’s Chair-Elect and the director of the Government Law Center at Albany Law School, is working on plans for this program with the support of Pace Law School and the University of Missouri-Kansas City. The program will take place at Pace Law School on November 9, 2002. See this issue’s page 1 article and watch for more information about it.
In addition, the Section’s Fall Meeting and Seminar will take place from October 24-27, 2002, in Detroit, Michigan. The theme for the seminar is urban redevelopment. The legal issues involved in any large-scale redevelopment project are complex and multi-faceted. The City of Detroit, under the leadership of its former mayor, now ABA President-Elect, Dennis W. Archer, has made great strides forward. Efforts to redevelop the city continue under the leadership of Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick. The city has three new casinos, two new sports stadiums, and a host of other new projects and developments—some in the planning stages, some under construction, and some already built and operating. Each of these projects raised difficult issues involving land use, environmental law, public finance, ethics, and governmental regulations and liability. A host of high-profile national and local experts will present on these critical issues. These presentations will take place on Friday, October 25, 2002, with a full day of information about urban redevelopment, stadiums, casinos, and the many issues that relate to those topics. Mayor Kwame M. Kilpatrick will be the luncheon speaker. The Friday seminar will culminate with a bus tour of downtown Detroit (to see existing and planned redevelopment projects) and a reception in the Tiger Club at Comerica Park. The complete program for the seminar and meeting appears on page 6.
I am looking forward to this year as Chair of the Section. I hope to make it an active, productive year for the Section’s members. I welcome your thoughts, ideas, and help in accomplishing these goals.