A little History on Commissioner Independence

Tom Wolfe's two page NYT op-ed assessment of the current sad state of affairs at the Landmarks Preservation Commission decries the role recent Mayors have played in the landmarks arena. It wasn't always that way.

At the swearing in of LPC's second chair, Harmon Goldstone in 1968, then Mayor Lindsay was quoted as saying "I don't interfere with the designation of landmarks any more than I do with teachers and policemen. But when in any doubt on landmarks, I say, designate." One of the goal's of CECPP's campaign (and that's what it is, a true campaign) is to get mayoral candidates to embrace our three point agenda for reforming the LPC: adequate funding , transparency in procedures , and independence in decision-making . Not being a charitable organization (legally or by inclination) we have the luxury of being as political as we want and we plan to make the most of it.