David S. Yassky is an American lawyer and politician. He was a member of the

New York City Council The New York City Council is the lawmaking body of New York City in the United States. It has 51 members from 51 council districts throughout the five boroughs. The council serves as a check against the mayor in a mayor-council government mod ...

from 2002 until 2009, the

chairperson The chair, also chairman, chairwoman, or chairperson, is the presiding officer of an organized group such as a Board of directors, board, committee, or deliberative assembly. The person holding the office, who is typically elected or appointed by ...

of the

New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission The New York City Taxi and Limousine Commission (NYC TLC) is an agency of the government of New York City, New York City government that licenses and regulates the Taxicabs of New York City, medallion taxis and for-hire vehicle industries, inclu ...

, and the Dean of

Pace University School of Law The Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University in White Plains, New York, is the law school of Pace University, a private university with multiple locations in New York. Founded in 1976 as Pace Law School, the American Bar Association (ABA ...

from April 2014 to April 2018. In 2006, Yassky ran for

U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...

in Brooklyn, losing to

Yvette Clarke Yvette Diane Clarke (born November 21, 1964) is an American politician serving as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for New York's 9th congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party (United States ...

, and in 2009 he ran a losing campaign for the Democratic nomination for

New York City Comptroller The Office of Comptroller of New York City, a position established in 1801, is the chief financial officer and chief auditor of the city agencies and their performance and spending. The comptroller also reviews all city contracts, handles the s ...

. In 2022, he ran in the primary for the

New York State Senate The New York State Senate is the upper house of the New York State Legislature, while the New York State Assembly is its lower house. Established in 1777 by the Constitution of New York, its members are elected to two-year terms with no term l ...

Education

The son of a prominent lawyer and an entertainment executive, Yassky attended the

Dalton School The Dalton School, originally the Children's University School, is a private, coeducational college preparatory school in New York City and a member of both the Ivy Preparatory School League and the New York Interschool. The school is located in ...

on Manhattan's

Upper East Side The Upper East Side, sometimes abbreviated UES, is a neighborhood in the boroughs of New York City, borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded approximately by 96th Street (Manhattan), 96th Street to the north, the East River to the e ...

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

and

Yale Law School Yale Law School (YLS) is the law school of Yale University, a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. It was established in 1824. The 2020–21 acceptance rate was 4%, the lowest of any law school in the United ...

Career

He was a budget analyst for the

New York City Mayor's Office of Management and Budget The New York City Mayor's Office of Management and Budget (OMB), formerly New York City Office of Management and Budget, is the government of New York City, New York City government's chief financial agency, organized as part of the Mayor of New ...

. He then served as chief counsel to the House Subcommittee on Crime, a subcommittee chaired by

Charles Schumer Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from New York, a seat he has held since 1999. A member of the Democratic Party, he has led the Senate Democratic Caucus si ...

. Yassky was a member of the faculty of the

Brooklyn Law School Brooklyn Law School (BLS) is a Private university, private law school in New York City. Founded in 1901, it has approximately 1,100 students. Brooklyn Law School's faculty includes 60 full-time faculty, 15 emeriti faculty, and adjunct faculty. ...

City Council

Yassky was elected to the

in 2001, representing the 33rd district, which includes parts of

downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third-largest central business district in New York City (after Midtown Manhattan, Midtown and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighb ...

, including

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south ...

, Greenpoint,

Williamsburg Williamsburg may refer to: Places *Colonial Williamsburg, a living-history museum and private foundation in Virginia *Williamsburg, Brooklyn, neighborhood in New York City *Williamsburg, former name of Kernville (former town), California *Williams ...

DUMBO ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American Animated film, animated Musical film, musical Fantasy film, fantasy Comedy drama, comedy-drama film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios, Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The film i ...

Boerum Hill Boerum Hill (pronounced ) is a small neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bounded by Schermerhorn Street to the north and Fourth Avenue to the east. The western border is variously given as either ...

and

Park Slope Park Slope is a neighborhood in South Brooklyn, New York City, within the area once known as South Brooklyn. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park (Brooklyn), Prospect Park and Eighth Avenue (Brooklyn), Prospect Park West to the east, ...

. He was chair of the Council's Small Business Committee. Yassky was one of 29 council members who voted in 2008 to extend

term limit A term limit is a legal restriction on the number of terms a person may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potential for monopoly, w ...

s for themselves effectively ignoring two previous public votes imposing a limit of two terms. Hours before the final vote on term limits, Yassky proposed an amendment from the floor that would have altered the legislation to require approval by popular vote before term limits could change. The amendment failed by a vote of 28-22, but Yassky voted for the extension anyway.

2006 Congressional campaign

In 2006, Yassky ran for the Democratic Party's nomination for the 11th Congressional District seat, an open seat held by the retiring Congressman

Major Owens Major Robert Odell Owens (June 28, 1936 – October 21, 2013) was an American politician and librarian who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 2007, representing the New York's 11th and then 12th congressional distri ...

. He was part of a four-way race which also included New York State Senator Carl Andrews, New York City Council member Yvette D. Clarke and Major Owens's son Chris Owens. During the primary, Major Owens called Yassky a "colonizer," and

Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights and social justice activist, Baptists, Baptist minister, radio talk show host, and TV personality, who is also the founder of the National Action Network civil rig ...

called Yassky "greedy." City Council member Albert Vann sent an email to Black elected officials stating that "we are in peril of losing a '

Voting Rights Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in ...

' district ... as a result of the well financed candidacy of Council Member David Yassky, a white individual." The area had been represented by politicians of African or Caribbean descent since the election of

Shirley Chisholm Shirley Anita Chisholm ( ; ; November 30, 1924 – January 1, 2005) was an American politician who, in 1968, became the first black woman to be elected to the United States Congress. Chisholm represented New York's 12th congressional dist ...

in 1968. In August 2006, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' endorsed Yassky, citing his "stellar record on the Council" and criticizing his rivals for not making a substantial case for their election, and the Democratic leadership within Brooklyn for failing to find qualified Black candidates for this seat. In a primary election held on September 12, 2006, Yassky garnered 26% of the popular vote. The winner was

, with about 30%.

2009 Comptroller election

In 2009, Yassky ran for the office of

. He was endorsed by

Ed Koch Edward Irving Koch ( ; December 12, 1924February 1, 2013) was an American politician. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1969 to 1977 and was mayor of New York City from 1978 to 1989. Koch was a lifelong Democrat who ...

and his former boss, Sen. Charles Schumer. ''

'' on August 23, 2009, attributed its endorsement to his "skill, intelligence, and independence." In the Democratic primary held on September 15, 2009, Yassky was the runner-up with 107,474 votes, or approximately 30% of the votes cast. He lost in the run-off with 44.4% of the vote to

John Liu John Chun Yah Liu (traditional Chinese: 劉醇逸; born January 8, 1967) is an American politician in New York City. A member of the Democratic Party, he is a member of the New York State Senate for the 16th district in northeast Queens. He pr ...

, who had more support among union members and minority groups.

NYC Taxi and Limousine Commission

Yassky was named chairman of the Taxi and Limousine Commission in 2010. During his tenure he promoted the Taxi of Tomorrow program, which required the variety of the automobiles making up the 13,000 NYC yellow cabs to be replaced by the

Nissan NV200 The Nissan NV200 is a light commercial vehicle, light commercial and leisure activity vehicle, leisure activity, 4/5-door van designed and produced by the Japanese automaker Nissan since 2009. Overview The vehicle was previewed as the NV200 C ...

. By 2018, only 2,671 of the 12,000 medallion holder were driving the NV200 and the requirement was reversed, stating that the reversal was intended to give drivers more choices. ''The New York Times'' noted that "the decision

ame #REDIRECT AME {{redirect category shell, {{R from other capitalisation{{R from ambiguous page ...

at a time when the yellow taxi industry is in financial free-fall, decimated by the extraordinary rise of ride-hailing apps like Uber and Lyft." Yassky quit the TLC in 2013 after incoming mayor

Bill de Blasio Bill de Blasio (; born Warren Wilhelm Jr., May 8, 1961; later Warren de Blasio-Wilhelm) is an American politician who was the List of mayors of New York City, 109th mayor of New York City, mayor of New York City from 2014 to 2021. A member of t ...

announced his intention to replace him.

Pace University School of Law

Yassky became dean of

in April 2014. Yassky stepped down as dean in 2018. Yassky briefly campaigned for a State Senate seat, and when the Pace faculty and students learned of this, he told the Pace faculty that he knew he would not be selected for the seat.

Personal life

Yassky has been married to

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

CFO Diana Fortuna since 1990, and they live in

with their two daughters.

References

External links

David Yassky for NYC Comptroller
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yassky, David New York City Council members People from Brooklyn Heights Jewish American people in New York City politics Dalton School alumni Princeton University alumni Yale Law School alumni 1964 births Living people New York (state) Democrats Deans of law schools in the United States Pace University faculty Brooklyn Law School faculty 21st-century American Jews