Spring 2016 (48:2)

Local Government

The (Still Frail) Incorporation of the Sustainability Concept in Chilean Urban Planning Instruments

by Arturo Orellana, Federico Arenas & Juliana Carvalho Silva

In recent decades, there has been a growing interest and concern regarding sustainability. Various academic and political groups have disseminated this growing concern for sustainability through diverse conventions and multilateral agreements. Although the concept of sustainability has been internationally promoted, taking the concept to practice is, in the end, a task given to national governments. The national governments then frequently delegate responsibilities to lower levels of government. This is a crosscutting task that requires efforts for institutional and sectorial coordination along with capacity building,1 interdisciplinary approaches, and comprehensive planning, all combined with ongoing theoretical contributions on the subject.

Local Government

Reflections on the Enactment of the 1968 Fair Housing Act

by Otto J. Hetzel

The fair housing act, title viii of the 1968 civil rights act,1 dealt with the fundamental right to housing and prohibited discrimination against purchasers and renters.

Local Government

Location, Location, Mis-Location: How Local Land Use Restrictions Are Dulling Halfway Housing’s Criminal Rehabilitation Potential

by Matthew J. McGowan

Former United States Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy led the first nationwide crusade for pre-release community rehabilitation centers that sparked anAmerican love affair with the unique, though not revolutionary, corrections model.

Local Government

Employing the Prima Facie Standard in Third Party Debt Collection Default Judgments

by William Joseph Bearden

The courts provide an important fallback venue for recovery of delinquent consumer debt accounts, but the current state of the litigation process as employed by debt buying plaintiffs, especially large corporate plaintiffs, can amount to a threat to the civil rights of debtor-defendants, especially the elderly, indigent, or unsophisticated.1 Current practice not only threatens the debtors, it also poses significant danger for the debt buyers themselves and their attorneys.

Eminent Domain

Case Notes

Case notes from The Urban Lawyer | Spring 2016 (48:2) | New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Cuomo, 804 F.3d 242 (2d Cir. 2015), | Heller v. Dist. of Columbia, 801 F.3d 264 (D.C. Cir. 2015) | Pub. Integrity Alliance, Inc. v. City of Tucson, 805 F.3d 876 (9th Cir. 2015) | Comm’r of Ind. Bureau of Motor Vehicles v. Vawter, 45 N.E.3d 1200 (Ind. 2015) | Amerijet Int’l, Inc. v. Miami-Dade Cnty., 2015 U.S. App. LEXIS 16700 (11th Cir. 2015) | Dibbs v. Hillsborough Cnty, 625 Fed. App’x 515 (11th Cir. 2015) | Centro De La Comunidad Hispana De Locust Valley v. Town of Oyster Bay, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 117926 (E.D.N.Y 2015) | Schwartz v. Phila. Zoning Bd. of Adjustment, No. 1334 C.D. 2014 2015 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 413 (Commw. Ct. Sep. 24, 2015) | Save Mount Diablo v. Contra Costa Cnty., 193 Cal. Rptr. 3d 611 (Cal. Ct. App. 2015) | Hopkins v. City of Mendenhall, 2015 Miss. App. LEXIS 507 (Miss. Ct. App. 2015) | Raef v. Appellate Div. of Superior Court, 240 Cal. App. 4th 1124 (Cal. Ct. App. 2015) | Schlessinger v. Chi. Hous. Auth.,No. 12 C 3733, 2015 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 124503 (N.D. III. Sep. 16, 2015)