Judith Kaye

New York State Chief Justice Judy Kaye is not happy with Eliot Spitzer, and she doesn't think his peacemaking rhetoric is worth much.

In an interview with Kaye today on WNBC's News Forum, she reacted to a clip of Spitzer taking about how he hopes for and supports judicial pay raises, by saying:

"Words, words, words! Not bankable. And I listened very closely. That word maybe is a solid capital Maybe in big red letters. Maybe, Maybe." 

Kaye has been making the rounds pleading her case for raises. Yesterday, she and another judge sat with the Daily News editorial board discussing the issue.  read more »

Andrew Cuomo is frimly supporting efforts by state judges to force a pay raise.

"I support it totally," said the attorney general in a rare interview this morning on WROW.

"She is right," he said of the state's Chief Judge, Judith Kaye, who is leading the effort. "You know, we're in this conundrum. We need to get the best and the brightest into public service, especially in the judiciary. And, especially in the legal community, you have to pay a wage that is going to attract the talent.

"You can't have a situation where you're paying judges basically less than you're paying first year legal associates who are coming out of top schools."

Cuomo went on to say his office was asked by Kaye to research the feasibility of a suit against lawmakers to force them to raise judicial salaries.

State judges haven't gotten a raise since 1999. Kaye currently makes $156,000 a year.

-- Azi Paybarah

Here's a nice contrast I'm sure the governor doesn't mind making today.

Earlier today, Eliot Spitzer nominated Judith Kaye to serve another two years as the chief judge of the state's Court of Appeals, calling it an easy decision.

In explaining his decision, Spitzer said, "We have an obligation to choose the finest, the best, the brightest, most thoughtful," people for the position.

That echoes what Spitzer said he wanted for filling the comptroller vacancy.

Which the legislature is filling in their own unique way.

-- Azi Paybarah

Yesterday's gay marriage decision offered up enough controversial nuggets to keep both sides of the debate yammering for weeks to come. But one that really seems to have people buzzing this morning seems to be Judge Smith's argument that one could "rationally believe that it is better, other things being equal, for children to grow up with both a mother and a father."

We aren't lawyers, so we can't provide much in the way of legal dissection here. (And besides, we're tired of hearing from lawyers.) But, in one of those weird twists of coincidence, we do happen to know the daughter of one the five plaintiff couples in Hernandez v. Robles. (She is the close friend of one my young cousins).

Her name is Aliya Shane. She is 17 years old. She has, needless to say, followed her parents' case closely. ("I went to the website and read the whole decision online. I've read a lot of legal things, so I kind of get the language now," she said.)

Here is a little of what she had to say about the outcome:

"I'm really sad that the decision was 4-2 and not a 3-3 tie. I'm surprised by that, because I thought it would be a little closer. And I'm sad that the judges couldn't really see that my parents are being discriminated against. And I just kind of expected more from New York because we are such a progressive state. So I was surprised by that, and I'm actually really disappointed.

"I mean, it just made me really angry, some of the arguments that they used. Because, they kept saying it's for the legislature to decide, but aren't the courts here to make sure people's rights aren't being violated, that people have equal rights?

More after the jump...  read more »

-- Lizzy Ratner

Strolling through waterfront neighborhood today, The Real Estate found several developments worth noting.

First up, as reported earlier at Brownstoner, via Redhooky, the long-delayed condo project at 160 Imlay Street--right next to the new cruise-ship terminal--will be delayed even longer. It seems that a suit filed in January 2004 to stop the development--by the Red Hook-Gowanus Chamber of Commerce, which argued that the building should be used for industrial uses--was dismissed on a legal technicality (the developer of the property, wasn't named in the suit). But on Oct. 25, Court of Appeals Chief Judge Judith Kaye reversed the dismissal, relying on a legal provision that allows such actions "if justice so requires." So now the $90 million, 145-unit project, by developer Bruse Batkin, sits fallow while the lawsuit once again wends its way through the courts. (Hat tip to the Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill Courier for breaking it down.)

But other projects are getting off to a better start. For example, a new housing development continues apace on Wolcott Street, off Van Brunt, on two buildings that'll add 60 units of low- and moderate-income owner-occupied condos. The $17 million project's been spearheaded by the Fifth Avenue Committee, with help from the Housing Partnership and the Department of Housing Preservation and Development, and financing comes via Citibank, among others. Interested applicants can stop by the F.A.C.'s headquarters to get on its mailing list.

Further down Van Brunt Street, Greg O-Connell's 115,000-square-foot condo development with a Fairway on the ground floor is slowly progressing. The Real Estate stopped by the site and asked a construction worker when the store would be opening and was told "the end of January." He said the condos would be ready "probably earlier."  read more »

(Photos, from top to bottom: 160 Imlay Street; Greg O'Connell's condo/Fairway development; interior of the Fairway store--forgive the blurriness, we had to take this in a hurry because the security guard hates us.)

-Matthew Grace