“Rent Party” and New Preservation Anthem a Hit!

We want to thank everyone who attended our March 22nd “Rent party” fundraiser and/or donated funds towards the evening. The event was a huge success and a good time was had by all. Even more important, the funds raised will help to keep our campaign going during this busy city budget season! We really appreciate your support!

A special thanks to Hal Bromm for donating his gallery space for the evening and to singer/song writer Mark Foley, who performed his hit tune "Citizens Emergency Committee to Preserve Preservation.” You can watch his performance and the preservation sing-a-long on YouTube here . You can download his lyrics and follow along here .

If you want to host a “rent party” for the Citizen’s Emergency Committee in your borough, contact us!

IMPORTANT PRESS CONFERENCE: 3/26

Below, we have reproduced parts of Council Member Tony Avella's Media Advisory for Monday's press conferece, since it pretty much says it all:


WHAT: Council Member Tony Avella will join preservation groups/activists
at a press conference Monday to promote the adoption of specific qualifications
for candidates appointed to serve on the Landmarks Preservation Commission
(LPC). These qualifications include: knowledge of historical and
architectural heritage of the city, experience in safeguarding this
heritage, and independence in exercising judgment strictly on the merits
without regard to political pressure or outside lobbying interests. Later
in the day, the City Council's Rules, Privileges, and Elections Committee is
expected to confirm four reappointed candidates and one newly appointed
candidate to serve on LPC.

WHEN: Monday, March 26th at 11:00 AM

WHERE: Steps of City Hall


We hope to see you there!

Crain's Asks: Is LPC a Design Panel?

Yesterday, Crain's New York published an article that looks at the transformation of the Landmarks Preservation Commission from protector of historic buildings and neighborhoods, to modern architecture design panel and partner to private developers.

Surprisingly, despite the fact that Crain's is a business publication, both sides of the issue are treated relatively fairly. On one side, the article reviewed the opinions of Architects like Rick Bell, who noted in the article(in response to LPC's willingness to allow a modified glass structure in a historic Manhattan neighborhood) "It's very hard to imagine. Issues of scale, materials and proportion have become wonderfully negotiable." On the other side, preservation groups were given the opportunity to voice their frustrations with the "new" LPC. "At hearing after hearing, you can hear them (LPC) urging applicants toward design solutions when they should just be saying, `No, you can't build that in a historic district.' ", said Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council.

Even better, the efforts of preservation groups to fight the trend through lawsuits, emails, letter-writing, legislation and lobbying were presented as a new, unified front to bring fairness , independence and resources to LPC (CECPP was not mentioned by name, but our lawsuit and efforts to help plan a preservation lobby day were).

The issue is, of course, that the Landmarks Law did not create the commission as a design review board charged with advancing modern design but as a preservation commission charged with preserving our historical, architectural and cultural heritage. Even though our Mayor is in love with modern architecture (a fact that was highlighted in the article) the LPC Commissioners are sworn to uphold the landmarks law even if it means saying no to their "boss"--hence the importance of having independent commissioners. Last time we checked, some 97% of NYC was not under the review of the LPC and was wide open for wonderful modern architecture--the Mayor should focus his efforts there, not on the city's landmarks and historic districts.
The article is available in Crain's, on the new stands,or online at www.newyorkbusiness.com. A word of warning, the article is not available online unless you have a subscription. We'll keep our eyes out for free copies and post links as they come available.

Press Conference

City Council Member Rosie Mendez is sponsoring new legislation that would void previously obtained Buildings Department permits for work on buildings that have been landmarked. What does that mean? Well, buildings like Charas/PS 64 in the East Village, which was damaged by the owner after it was landmarked in June 2006, would have been protected had the legislation been in place. Of course, this legislation certainly wouldn't save buildings that were damaged by developers during the landmarking process (like the Dakota Stables ), but it is definitely sounds like a step in the right direction. The legislation could bring more fairness and transparency to the landmarking process.

Here are the press conference details:

Where: City Hall Steps
When: Wednesday, March 14th, 10:00 A.M.

If you have an opportunity, stop down and learn more about this legislation!

A Couple of City Council Alerts

There are a couple of key hearings coming up at the City Council which we thought you should know about:

City Budget: The City Council Committee on Land Use will hold budget hearings on the Mayor's Fiscal Year 2008 Preliminary Budget on Thursday, March 8th. The Landmarks Preservation Commission will testify at 11:00 and the public will be invited to present testimony at 2:00. If you are interested in testifying, take a look at our website (savelpc.org) to learn about LPC's budget situation. The Citizens Emergency Committee to Preserve Preservation is advocating for a $1 million increase in LPC’s budget, which will bring it back to its 1991 level, when adjusted for inflation.

Commissioner Appointments: As we noted on March 1st, the Mayor recently sent a list of five potential LPC Commissioners to the City Council (you can learn more about it here ). As of the first, we were unsure of the names of these proposed appointees. However, now the names have been posted on the City Council's website, along with their public hearing dates. As you take a look at the list and hearing schedule below, we urge you to review the candidates with our set of Commissioner Qualifications in mind. Do they make the grade?

The hearing schedule is as follows:

Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Committee(s) on: Rules, Privileges & Elections
Time: 10:00 AM
Location: Council Chambers - City Hall
Chairperson(s): Diana Reyna
Details:

M____ - Communication from the Mayor - Submitting the name of Pablo E. Vengoechea to the Council for its advice and consent regarding his reappointment to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Pursuant to Sections 31 and 3020 of the City Charter.

M____ - Communication from the Mayor - Submitting the name of Stephen F. Byrns to the Council for its advice and consent regarding his reappointment to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Pursuant to Sections 31 and 3020 of the City Charter.

M____ - Communication from the Mayor - Submitting the name of Joan Gerner to the Council for its advice and consent regarding her reappointment to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Pursuant to Sections 31 and 3020 of the City Charter.

M____ - Communication from the Mayor - Submitting the name of Christopher Moore to the Council for its advice and consent regarding his reappointment to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Pursuant to Sections 31 and 3020 of the City Charter.

M____ - Communication from the Mayor - Submitting the name of Diana Chapin to the Council for its advice and consent regarding her appointment to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, Pursuant to Sections 31 and 3020 of the City Charter.

Does anyone have anything to say regarding these candidates? If so, feel free to email us at Citizens@Savelpc.org or press the Comments link at the bottom of this blog post.

Big News on Comissioner Appointments

Yesterday, CECPP received a response from the City of New York's lawyers, regarding our lawsuit to force the Mayor to reappoint or replace the 8 LPC Commissioners whose terms have expired. In reading through the document, we discovered that the city is claiming that our case is moot because:

"On February 15, 2007 the Mayor sent the names of five persons to the City Council to be appointed as Commissioners to the Landmarks Commission. It is also anticipated that in the summer of 2007 the names of two or three other Commissioners will be sent to the City Council. "

To put this in context, a few weeks ago, the City asked the court for an extension, in order to better prepare their response to our case. During that extension, it appears that the Mayor put together his list of Commissioners and submitted them to the City Council. Therefore, one can reasonably conclude that the Mayor made his appointments in response to the court case. So, a big congratulations and thank you to everyone who joined CECPP v Bloomberg. It appears that the lawsuit is already having a positive effect on the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Now the question is, who are these potential commissioners? Also, what are their qualifications and where are they from?

If any of you know any of the names, please feel free to submit them via email (Citizens@savelpc.org) or in the comments section of this blog.