News

Jon Crain and T.J. Ruane recently presented at the New York State Association of Towns Conference on the Nightmare on Main Street:  The Fight Against Community Blight.  The presentation provided a brief overview of the tools available to towns to combat community blight by enforcing against property owners, first lien mortgage holders, and mortgage loan servicers. The presentation included a discussion of New York Zombie Property Laws (Real Actions and Proceedings Law 1308, 1309, and [...]

ALBANY, N.Y. (February 25, 2020) – Whiteman Osterman & Hanna LLP, the Capital Region’s largest law firm, announces Of Counsel, Paul Van Cott.  Mr. Van Cott joins Whiteman Osterman & Hanna from the N.Y.S. Adirondack Park Agency.   He also brings to his new role experience as an attorney for the N.Y.S. Attorney General’s Environmental Protection Bureau and the N.Y.S. Department of Environmental Conservation.  Paul’s extensive government experience [...]

Whiteman Osterman & Hanna attorneys Tom Shepardson and T.J Ruane assisted the City of Troy with the successful prosecution of a recent "Zombie Property" enforcement case.  The successful prosecution is part of the City’s ongoing Zombie Enforcement program to achieve compliance from mortgage lenders with zombie properties in Troy  Please click here for the full article.

By: Thomas A. Shepardson, Esq.Shot clocks are intended to spur action on the part of opposing entities.  For example, the National Basketball Association has the 24-second shot clock, and college basketball opted for a shot clock following the University of North Carolina’s four-corners “offense”.  Even in chess, players must stop the clock after they make a move. The Federal Communications Commission took this to heart and applied the shot clock concept to approval [...]

 “Not in my front yard!” is the battle cry for residents and battleground for municipalities across New York, as they prepare for the deployment of the next generation of wireless infrastructure 5G technology.  Cellular services providers, with the assistance of federal law and FCC orders, have opted to deploy the latest technology - small cells and DAS systems - in municipal rights-of-way, much to the chagrin, in many cases, of local leaders and residents.  By one [...]