Voices from the Neighborhood
HDC board member Susan Hopper sat down with the leaders of a few neighborhood groups that HDC has worked with. To read their stories and find out how HDC assisted them view below.
BROOKLYN
Claudette Brady: Bedford Stuyvesant; Bedford Corners Historic District “HDC has helped in an all round advisory capacity, what strategies to use, what directions top go in. Everything they told us has been effective. HDC has been very responsive in terms of returning calls or coming out to meetings, and very helpful in editing letters to have the correct wording, whether to the Landmarks Preservation Commission or elected officials.
To read the full interview click here
Doreen Gallo: DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance “I don’t know what the City would be without HDC [they] testified before LPC time after time and helped us focus on the right issues. We would not be an historic district without HDC! ”
To read the full interview click here
Deborah Young & Suzanne Spellen: Crown Heights 
North Historic District; Crown Heights North Association ”HDC has been most helpful in teaching us how to effectively maneuver through the bureaucracy, prepare letters in a manner that would best ensure the support of our elected officials, and how to strategically reach out to other organizations that could help us, such as the Landmarks Conservancy, Municipal Art Society, and others. They also told us whom to connect with at the LPC. ”
Manhattan
Fern Luskin: Lamartine Place Historic District; Friends of Lamartine Place & Gibbons Underground Railroad Site “ Use HDC as a resource because they know what they are doing and can offer advice how to go about creating a district from every front, architectural, political, LPC, and the media. I had floundered prior to my involvement with this invaluable organization.”
To read the full interview click here
Zella Jones: NoHo Historic District; NoHo East; and NoHo Extension “HDC provided guidance and shared information during that process—we knew which Council members were going one way or another and we changed a few minds. I don’t think NoHo would have had as cohesive a district had it not been for HDC’s aid.”
To read the full interview click here
Erika Petersen: West End Preservation Society “I remember Richard saying at a meeting, we have someone here from HDC, Nadezhda Williams, director of preservation and research, to help us. She said to us, ’You are not the only ones going through this.’ HDC included us in an enormous community”
To read the full interview click here
QUEENS
Julia Schoeck: Douglaston Historic District; Douglaston/Little Neck Historical Society “HDC was instrumental in developing guidelines for our district.”
To read the full interview click here
Fred Baer: Fiske Terrace—Midwood Park Historic District “We owe a great deal to HDC in helping us get there, especially Frampton. Simeon Bankoff, executive director, was also very helpful—he actually came to our public hearing”
To read the full interview click here
Herbert Reynolds: Sunnyside Gardens Historic District; Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance
“With their personal advice and their manual, Creating an Historic District, HDC gave us a roadmap, and then made sure we could follow it and not veer off the most effective route. The manual was our first primer, and we shared it right away with neighborhood activists, to let them know how much work would be involved and invite them to join in forming a preservation group. ”
To read the full interview click here
Staten Island
Cynthia Mailman: St. Paul’s Ave-Stapleton Heights Historic District; Mud Lane Society for the Renaissance of Stapleton ”HDC was helpful with our first district. They came to meetings, gave us a tremendous amount of information, and were there to talk to us when we were not sure. In terms of the current efforts, HDC has also been extremely helpful. When we had a meeting they sent Frampton Tolbert, deputy director. They encouraged us and told us to send letters to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, distributed our letters of support, and wrote us up in their newsletter. ”
To read the full interview click here
