January 24, 2023

1pm-2pm Eastern

Code -Public Rights-of-Way: Outdoor Dining and Management of Competing Uses

The COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to an explosion in the use of public space for private commercial use. Consequently, cities are tasked with balancing the interests of myriad nonexclusive licenses to use the public right-of-way. The program illustrates the complexities of managing diverse commercial and governmental interests, public safety, and maintaining a system of public roads, while considering the future of “Streeteries” in the City.

Speakers: James Kellet and Maggy White

Jim Kellett is the Divisional Deputy City Solicitor for the Right-of-Way and Utilities Division of the Law Department’s Regulatory Law Unit. In this capacity Jim acts as general counsel to the Office of Transportation, Infrastructure, and Sustainability (“OTIS”) and the Streets Department, as well as advising on any matters that concern the Right-of-Way. These responsibilities include litigation before City and Commonwealth administrative bodies and the Pennsylvania Utility Commission, negotiation and management of complex contracts such as the City’s bikeshare system (“Indego”) and street furniture agreement, and other day-to-day transactional work on behalf of the City.

Maggy White is a Divisional Deputy City Solicitor in the City of Philadelphia Law Department’s Code & Public Nuisance Litigation Unit. Prior to joining the Law Department, she served as a law clerk to the Honorable James Gardner Colins when he sat on the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, an intermediate appellate court for state and local government issues and court of original jurisdictions for suits brought by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. She has provided CLEs on historic preservation, code enforcement, and legal ethics. Maggy is a graduate of Temple University’s Beasley School of Law, where she was a member of the Rubin Public Interest Law Society and received the Milton C. Sharp Memorial Award in Land Use Planning. While in law school, Maggy was a research assistant to Professor Louis M. Natale and interned for the Honorable Marjorie O. Rendell of the Third Circuit Court of Appeals. Maggy received her Bachelor of Arts from Wesleyan University.