What We've Been Up To
As regular readers know, HDC is active in neighborhoods throughout the city, reviewing projects which affect historic properties and working with community groups who are fighting to preserve their neighborhoods. Over the past few weeks, we’ve gotten involved with projects in Greenwich Village, Park Slope, the Upper West Side, NoHo and City Island to name just a few. By reviewing projects across the city, we can bring a broader perspective to issues and can help make connections between local community groups.
Recently, we helped a group of Park Slope neighbors fighting against a backyard school expansion connect with the activist group Landmark West!, who, in addition to also struggling with a backyard school expansion on the Upper West Side, have initiated a multi-year study on the environmental benefits of keeping backyards as open space.
For the NoHo project, we teamed with local partners in NoHo and Greenwich Village to protest what we called “a structure that sticks out like a sore thumb, or another finger, on the block”. Unfortunately, the Landmarks Commissioners did not seem to agree with our criticism of the project, and although a final decision has not been made, it is more than likely that the design will be approved (here’s a fuller report on the hearing).
For a bi-weekly newsletter about projects we review, please email [email protected] with “HDC @ LPC” in the subject line.