Special Election for City Council Tomorrow – what do they think about preservation?
Tomorrow is the special election for three City Council seats, District 49 on Staten Island and Districts 21 and 32 in Queens. Last week, as part of our League of Preservation Voters initiative, HDC held two candidate forums, questioning candidates on preservation and development issues and giving constituents a chance to voice concerns for their neighborhoods. Prior to the forums, HDC and our partners crafted candidate questionnaires which included district-specific, in-depth questions about local preservation concerns. You can read the questionnaire for District 21 here, and the one for District 49 here (unfortunately, no current candidates for District 32 submitted their answers). The Daily News and the New York Observer both covered the event in Jackson Heights, and the Staten Island Advance advertised it.
So, if you’re too busy to read both questionnaires, what’s the bottom line on these candidates’ views on preservation? Well, on the North Shore of Staten Island, it’s pretty much agreed that one of the biggest issues is over-development and neighborhood preservation (not necessarily landmark designation) is a priority. How one achieves this in a manner that is equitable to property owners resistant to government oversight is a matter of some debate. Appropriate zoning is, in general, a more-trusted tool than landmarking. Everyone is in favor of the proposed National Lighthouse Museum.
In Jackson Heights, the responses are pretty strongly pro-preservation across the board and the candidates promised to become strong advocates for landmarking. They seemed to be well-informed about the process and even agreed that the Queens Museum of Art, which is housed in the New York City Building from the 1939 World’s Fair should be protected as a landmark.
Thanks to all our Neighborhood Partners who helped make this effort a reality. Special elections are hyper-accelerated campaigns and we would not have been able to do as much as we did without the aid of local advocates. If you would like to get involved in League efforts, please contact HDC’s Community Coordinator Lauren Belfer at [email protected]
Remember: IF YOU LIVE IN THESE DISTRICTS, PLEASE VOTE TOMORROW. yOU CAN FIND YOUR POLLING PLACE AT http://gis.nyc.gov/vote/ps/index.htm