This Day (Yesterday) in Preservation History

On December 3, 1964, some 42 years ago, New York preservationists showed up in force at City Hall to testify in support of the then proposed Landmarks Law. Seven hours later, after 84 people had testified for the legislation and five spoke against it, the historic hearing came to a close. Despite that show of support, New York's landmarks law was still several demolitions and months away from being passed. The same type of intense and overwhelming show of preservation force displayed at that hearing in December of 1964 is needed now to help stop the erosion of the law that New Yorker's worked so long and hard to achieve. Without adequate funding , transparency, and independence, the Landmarks Preservation Commission cannot make the promise of our landmarks law the reality that it needs to be. As we've seen, buildings the law should have saved are still regularly being lost. Like those 84 preservationists at the hearing, we all need to stand up and be counted. Join our efforts!

Reminder: Tonight is the City Council Public Forum on the Department of Buildings. Details are available here .