Applications are Open for Foundations of New York, Cohort 13!
Want to accelerate into New York City civics and politics? Just want to know how everything works? Feeling lucky? Cohort 13 starts September 15, apply today!
Applications for The Foundations of New York City, running September—December 2025, are now open until September 10! Apply here. The Foundations of New York is an accelerated introduction to NYC government and law, with its dependencies at the state and federal level. Note: the application is shared with another class I’m teaching, Foundations of the Liberal Arts.
Content
Application overview
What you will know how to do, and have done, by the end of the class
General class structure and information
Class expectations and etiquette
About your instructor
Class syllabus
Application Overview
Applications are open from August 20 through September 10 (5pm EST). Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis, and sooner is definitely better.
I’ll inform all applicants of their status, successful or not, by September 12 or sooner, depending on when they apply. I aim to answer each application within a week of its submission, although historically it can take a few days longer. If you have not heard back from me by then, feel free to shoot me an email: daniel@maximumnewyork.com.
Summary of requirements and sessions
Time: 6:30-8:30pm, Mondays, September 15 through December 1. No class October 13 or November 24. Final exam on December 13.
Location(s): A lovely university campus in Lincoln Square, Manhattan
Prerequisites: None
Completion reqs: you must pass the in-class midterm with a 95% or above, and the final exam with 90% or above. While homework does not determine whether you pass the class, it is best treated as mandatory. I will track who submits their homework, and what they submit.
Tuition
The class costs $0–2,000 per seat. After acceptance, you will receive a Stripe checkout form via Jotform to pay tuition. You may adjust the cost downward to the extent required for you to afford the class.
What you will know how to do, and have done, by the end of the class
You will have conceptual clarity about words like statute, administrative law, commissioner, and more.
Draw a basic timeline of New York City’s political history, and a basic timeline of important land use laws at the city and state level that impact the city.
You will know what political capital is, how to get it, and how to use it. You will graduate with more than you started. You will feel like you “know how to do government things” on a basic level, in part because some of your homework requires it.
Draw a robust map of the New York City political system, with its basic dependencies at the state and federal level. You will be able to describe every individual component on the map, how they relate to each other, and how soft and hard power change the government as described on paper.
Answer the question “What is the law?” for NYC. You will know the answer to this question for every locality, state, and the federal government in general terms as well.
Describe the process by which laws are made in New York City—not just statute, but rules as well.
Draw a basic map of the five boroughs by hand.
Recite “The New Colossus” from memory.
Much more.
General Class Structure and Information
Meeting Time & Place
Class will meet for two hours (6:30-8:30pm) on Mondays, beginning September 15 and ending December 1. There will be no class on October 13 or November 24. There will be a total of 10 class sessions.
Non-class important dates:
You will attend and do each of these things together with students in The Foundations of the Liberal Arts.
September 11: Your orientation party (not mandatory, but it will be fun!) will be the evening of September 11 in Lincoln Square.
December 13: Your final exam will be on December 13, conducted in the Rose Reading Room of the New York Public Library. It will be a multi-hour, written blue book-style exam.
December 17: Your end-of-semester party and graduation celebration will be the evening of December 17 in Lincoln Square.
Class Structure:
Classes will be structured as seminars, not lectures. In the first meeting of most “Foundations” classes, I will draw a map of the government on the whiteboard, and students will be the peanut gallery (it’s open season on questions and comments). We will repeat this exercise in various forms, including competitive ones, in each meeting.
There will be breaks about every 30-40 minutes. Eat snacks and do what you need to do then, but not during class—I will strictly enforce this (but can, have, and will, make arrangements for people who need them). Further: if you are sniffly, you must blow your nose.
Attendance:
You ought not miss more than two of the ten class sessions. But if something comes up, just let me know as far in advance as possible. Life will always intervene, and we will work around it.
If you are going to be late to class, you will need to text or email me with your approximate ETA. Don’t feel embarrassed or squirrely about being late, just let me know so I can conduct class accordingly.
Class Preparation, Homework, and Exams:
There will be readings for each class, small class projects, and homework that isn’t attached to any specific class, but must be completed before the exam. Plan to allocate at least 1-3 hours a week for this work on top of your 2 hours of class time.
You will have an in-class midterm during class 5, and it will take no more than ~20 minutes. You must get a 95% or above to pass, and you are required to pass. If you get an 94% or below, you will need to show up early to class 6 for a retake. If you fail that, we will discuss class exit options.
Your final exam will be given in a 3-hour window on December 13. It will be an extensive, hand-written review of the knowledge you will have acquired in the class. You must get a 90% or above to pass this exam. There will be no retakes. If you fail, you will still be welcome at our end-of-semester party.
Pre-class quizzes. You will have to complete an online quiz before each class that reviews all material we’ve covered in class up to that point. You must get 100% on it, but you may retake it as many times as you need.
You must complete three “witnessing government” assignments. You will attend government meetings and respond to a variety of prompts based on what you witness. There will be evening, weekend, remote, and pre-recorded options; however, the most productive event is a live City Council meeting during the work day. You must complete these two assignments to pass the class.
You must write, and publicly publish on the internet, one piece of short writing in this class (subject to professional considerations as necessary). Part of learning about government and politics is cultivating the courage to speak to the world about it in your own way. You will find that either they aren’t listening when you start, or, suddenly, they are. Writing still moves the world, especially in policy.
Join the Maximum New York Discord. Class participants will be added to a Maximum New York Discord server, which will be our primary mode of communication for coursework, office hours, and general discussion. There will be a code of conduct you need to accept to join the Discord, similar to the class expectations and etiquette outlined in the next section.
Relentless standards, relentless support
You will be held to a high standard in this class, and when you meet those standards you will understand government better than almost anyone in the city, and—I mean this—the nation. But you must do the work.
I will help you. I have taught this class in various forms over the years, and I am teaching a more rigorous version this cycle. The class is designed to assist you in your learning, and I do not want anyone to fail (most don’t). As we will discuss in detail during our orientation party and class 1, you will have ample opportunities to work with me, Maximum New York alumni, and others as you go through this class. There will be regular weekend afternoon and weekday morning office hours.
I challenge you to embrace this opportunity with relish. Work hard for a few weeks, and you will simply not recognize yourself at the end of this class. You will not be able to look at the world, or the city, the same ever again. But you will look at it from a position of understanding, and agency.
The plain fact of the matter is I want you to be the best. I want you to cause people to take a step back when you speak about government and politics. I want you to gain and productively wield political power. I want you to endeavor on behalf of New York, and New Yorkers. Your success is my success.
And after the course, the real fun of government and politics begins. It’s an open world.
Class Expectations & Etiquette
Classes are open to anyone who wants to improve the capacity of NYC’s government, with an end toward making NYC larger, more wealthy (both absolutely and per capita), more opportunity-rich, and more enjoyable for everyone. Maybe you want to get deeply involved in politics. Maybe you’re just intellectually curious. Maybe you’re somewhere in between. You’re welcome in any case.
The classroom environment I encourage is one of exploration, curiosity, playfulness, and charity/tolerance; if you have dug-in political ideas, you need to let those go, at least for the duration of the class. We are here to learn how things work first and foremost, although larger questions of political philosophy absolutely come into play at various points. You should think about politics as a systems problem with no perfect solutions, but still plenty of good ones.
The class has three attitudinal postures that will be encouraged, the opposites of which will be discouraged:
Stick-to-it-iveness
Mental toughness
Positive attitude
This class has four formal rules of etiquette that you must follow:
Politics is a good word, and a potentially beautiful thing. We are here to learn how to do government as friends, in a chill fashion, even while dealing with weighty issues.
No bullshitting, aka be concrete. We’re here to learn together, but we’re doing it in a rigorous fashion. You must always strive to deeply understand the reality of governance that underpins your political thought.
Extend grace to everyone. We’re here to learn together. Government and politics are complicated fields, and no one knows everything. We will be better, together.
Find the good time. Taking things seriously does not mean being mad about them. The wider world can pressure people to get mad to prove that they take political ideas seriously. I do not equate anger with either sophistication or dedication, so I relieve you of that burden. Make jokes, be serious, push back, learn a lot. But give yourself (and others) a break while you’re in class.
About Your Instructor
Hello, my name is Daniel Golliher (goll- as in the gall, the nerve, and the audacity; iher- as in how they say “your” where I come from: Gol-yer). I’ve lived in New York City for six years. Besides my writing on this website, you can learn more about me on Twitter, LinkedIn, and The Algernon Project. I’ve written a few books, play the piano and sax, enjoy all manner of physical fitness, and can’t wait to meet you.
When it comes to understanding government and law, my default response is to simply exert maximum effort.
I graduated from Harvard College in 2014 with a degree in Government1, and since then I’ve worked in the legal industry, a coffee shop, higher ed, the legal industry again, and now I dedicate my time to Maximum New York.
Class Syllabus
The following is a general outline of subjects that we will cover in class. Additions and subtractions will be made according to student interest and competency.
The Foundations of New York City will focus on three broad domains of NYC: history, political theory, and political practice. They’ll all be addressed in an integrated fashion, rather than in sequence or isolation.
History is vital, because it reveals why New York is the way it is. Cities are the product of path dependency and lock-in effects, and you shouldn’t govern if you don’t take these into account, because you’ll be producing them no matter what you do.
Political theory is necessary to inspire and motivate. It examines how government has been formed and revised in the past, and gives us the knowledge about how we might do it again now and in the future.
Political practice, otherwise called political strategy, is the study of how to connect political means to political ends. How to do things, not vaguely bullshit with your friends about what someone should do. Politics is as sophisticated as any science, and we will treat it that way. Some vital components of this field are knowledge of the governing structures of the city themselves, and the political players within them.
History:
The consolidation of New York City in 1898
Why consolidate?
Effects of consolidation
The consolidated government and the Board of Estimate
Consolidation to WW2: it’s time to build
Subway expansion
The Bronx: an instant city
1916 Zoning Resolution
Skyscrapers!
Urban renewal and the Progressive Era
The Port of New York and New Jersey, 1921
New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), 1934
1960s: turning points
The Death and Life of Great American Cities, by Jane Jacobs, 1961
1961 Zoning Resolution (!!)
Along comes the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), 1968
Preservationism: the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), the Landmarks Law, historic districts, the fight to save Carnegie Hall, and the demolition of Pennsylvania Station, 1961-1965
Urban renewal continues: the demolition of Lincoln Square, the rise of Lincoln Center (with a cameo from President Eisenhower), 1955—1969
The 1970s: change and turmoil
The twin towers completed in 1973
The Power Broker in 1974 and the end of Robert Moses
City bankruptcy of 1975, the intervention of Albany
The charter revisions of 1975, Uniform Land Use Review Procedure (ULURP) and Community Boards
The near-demolition of Grand Central Station (1975-1978); compare to the preservation fights of the previous decade
The blackout of 1977: literal and spiritual
The charter commission of 1989 and Board of Estimate of City of New York v. Morris
The ghosts of Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses, how they haunt the city, and whether to exorcize them
Political theory:
Case studies of creation and revision:
1898 consolidation of NYC and the first city charter
NYC charter revisions of 1975 and 1989
Maximum New York’s political philosophy
The means: social technology to develop and knowledge to acquire
The ends: actualizing higher expectations for New York City, why and how (more wealth, population, and well-being)
Outcompeting the anti-politics meme
What does it look like to “get involved in politics”? Beyond the stereotypically narrow, often incorrect view
Political practice:
The NYC government
Charter, Local Laws, Resolutions, The Rules, Administrative Code, Parliamentary Procedure, the Zoning Resolution, the Chancellor’s Regulations
Branches: Mayor, City Council, Comptroller, Public Advocate, Executive and Administrative Agencies, Borough Presidents, Borough Boards, Community Boards/Districts and co-terminality
The Unified Court System of New York State, local courts, and district attorneys
Elections, ballot access, and political party governing structure
Budget: Expense, Capital, Contract, and Revenue; dependence on Albany and DC.
The boroughs: what do they do? Why do we have counties?
ULURP: case study on the nature of governmental review and public comment
Charter revision commissions: what are they, and what do they do?
Local authorities, public-private partnerships, and a mini-module on corporations and corporate law: The New York City Economic Development Corporation and the Central Park Conservancy case studies
Tracking government and keeping up-to-date
Special topic: court cases
Special topic: civic tech tools to track government like citymeetings.nyc, wegov.nyc, and intro.nyc
Special topic: blogs, newspapers, podcasts, social media, etc to keep up with
The city’s external dependencies: NYC in the federal system
The NYS government
Other state (and national!) governments
The U.S. government
Public authorities
MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority)
NYCHA (New York City Housing Authority)
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
Public sector unions and collective bargaining
Various topics in city politics:
The players and their stage: individuals, “the groups,” and office-holders
Put up or shut up: the epistemic value of prediction markets in politics
Housing: NYCHA, markets, LPC, and zoning
Transit: why is it the way that it is?
Procurement and city purchasing
Law enforcement, Rikers, and the NYPD
Other topics that surface during the course
“Political Science Degrees Must End” (Golliher, 2023)