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 (Mayor
Bloomberg Nominates David S. Yassky), 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 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.
Commissioner / Chair David Yassky
