Luncheon at Sardi's on November 16, 2010
Special Guest at the monthly luncheon at Sardi's was David Yassky, Commissioner/Chairman of the New York City Taxi & Limousine Commission. Commissioner Yassky unveiled renderings of the three finalists of the Taxi of Tomorrow contest and spoke about future plans and benefits of the conversion. The Commissioner also addressed questions about decision on the finalists, taxi driver cell phone usage, and bus lanes.
David Yassky is the eleventh person to serve as Commissioner/Chairman of the New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission. He was nominated by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg on March 12, 2010, and confirmed by unanimous vote of the New York City Council on March 24, 2010. Yassky’s term will expire on January 31, 2017.
Most recently, Yassky recently completed eight years of service in the New York City Council, representing the neighborhoods of Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Greenpoint and Williamsburg. On the Council, Yassky sponsored legislation to promote the use of fuel-efficient hybrid cars as taxicabs. He also authored innovative laws in the areas of affordable housing and economic development, including the City’s Film and TV Production Tax Credit.
Before election to the Council, Yassky had a distinguished legal career in government service, private practice and academia. In the 1990s, Yassky served under then-Representative Chuck Schumer as Chief Counsel to the House Subcommittee on Crime, helping to enact the Brady Law, the Assault Weapons Ban and the Violence Against Women Act, and practiced law representing major corporations and financial institutions on acquisitions and securities offerings. In 1998, he joined the faculty of Brooklyn Law School, specializing in administrative law and constitutional law. His scholarship on the Bill of Rights has been published in leading law reviews and has been cited widely in academic journals and judicial opinions. He has also taught at NYU Law School, and has published more than 20 op-ed articles in New York daily newspapers.
Yassky earned his A.B. at Princeton University, and his J.D. at Yale Law School, where he served on the editorial board of the Yale Law Journal and was awarded the Potter Stewart Prize for best moot court argument. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Diana Fortuna, and their daughters Susan and Margaret.
