ALERT: Update on LPC Commissioner Appointment
From Landmark West! (www.landmarkwest.org)
The City Council confirmation hearing on Margery H. Perlmutter, Mayor Bloomberg’s nominee to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), was postponed until May 24. But all is not quiet. The Mayor’s office, we have learned, is seeking a ruling from the Conflict of Interest Board that would clear the way for Perlmutter’s appointment, despite serious concerns about her record and professional interests as a land-use attorney and registered lobbyist. The ruling may come down as early as tomorrow (Friday). The last-minute delay of the hearing originally scheduled for yesterday left the door wide open for this maneuver.
Your calls, emails and faxes to Council members are absolutely critical! Urge them to keep their eyes and ears open to the facts. Margery Perlmutter, who lives and works in Manhattan, is an attorney and registered lobbyist on the Land Use Team of Bryan Cave LLP, a law firm that routinely targets the LPC, City Planning Commission and community boards on behalf of developer clients. According to http://www.bryancave.com/, the firm’s “clients expect and receive positive results.” The last thing the LPC needs is a commissioner who values delivering for developers above preserving landmarks.
Even more disturbing information has come to light. Public records available at www.nyc.gov/lobbyistsearch show that, at the time Perlmutter was appointed to Manhattan Community Board 8 in April 2001, her law partners were actively lobbying the board on behalf of clients seeking to develop in historic districts on the Upper East Side. This is a blatant violation of Section 2604(b)(6) of the City Charter, which, according to Advisory Opinion No. 96-4 of the Conflict of Interest Board, expressly prohibits the firm or business partners of a board member to represent private clients before the member’s board.
Based on these facts and others, it may be that the preservation community can submit a request for a separate ruling from the Conflict of Interest Board, one that would hopefully underscore the importance of preserving the independence and integrity of the LPC. This possibility is being studied. In the meantime, please reach out to your council members!
IMPORTANT CONTACTS:
Council Member Diana Reyna, chair of the Rules, Privileges & Elections Committee
[email protected]
718-963-3141 (phone)
718-963-4527 (fax)
Council Speaker Christine Quinn
[email protected]
212-564-7757 (phone)
212-564-7347 (fax)
Your local council member (go to http://www.cmap.nypirg.org/netmaps/MyGovernment/NYC/MyGovernmentNYCMaps.asp?DistType=cncl_06_03 for contact information). **Members of the Rules, Privileges & Elections Committee include CM’s Maria Baez, Yvette D. Clarke, Leroy G. Comrie, Jr., Inez E. Dickens, Erik Martin Dilan, Lewis A. Fidler, Daniel R. Garodnick, Robert Jackson, Melinda R. Katz, Michael E. McMahon, James S. Oddo, Christine C. Quinn, Joel Rivera, and David I. Weprin**
Your friends and neighbors – please urge them to put in their own calls and emails to Council members.
And don’t forget the Mayor’s office – [email protected] (Andrea Davis, Advisory Committee on Appointments).