Help save a historic church!
From our friends at Landmark West!
Are the days of destructive developer-driven bail-outs of religious institutions over? One hopes…
We can’t afford to squander the city’s historic legacy, piece by piece, to put a Band-Aid on today’s financial woes. We need our history. Preservation may have to save our cities again. ~ James S. Russell, US architecture critic, Bloomberg News (click for the full article dated March 17, 2009)
Invoking the 2006 “Dakota Stables debacle,” in which a politically connected developer was allowed to short-circuit the landmarks designation process, Bloomberg News critic James S. Russell writes, “A similar act of vandalism might have befallen [West Park Presbyterian Church]. Two years ago, West Park embraced a proposal by Richman Housing Resources, an affordable housing developer, that would sacrifice the 1884 chapel (about a third of the ensemble) for a 21-story condo of insipid blandness”.
This time, the Landmarks Preservation Commission stepped in and calendared West Park for a public hearing, protecting it against active demolition. The hearing still has not been scheduled – please send letters/faxes/emails urging the Commission to move swiftly to designate West Park and end its “landmarks limbo”! See contact list below.
“Neighborhoods everywhere treasure houses of worship built not just to the glory of God but to the glory of their communities. These buildings matter to more than their congregants,” Russell writes as he calls for a “broad, concerted effort by the city” together with preservation advocates “to unite cash, communities and expertise” for saving at-risk houses of worship like West Park.
Landmark designation is a crucial step in establishing preservation–not a developer’s bottom line–as the guiding principle for successful revitalization. Let’s get this process off the dime. Send in your letters today!
Please send a letter to the Landmarks Commission, urging them to schedule a public hearing for West-Park, and to designate it, as soon as possible. Send copies by email to [email protected] or fax to 212-875-0209.
Hon. Robert B. Tierney, Chair
NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1 Centre Street, 9th Floor
New York, NY 10007
[email protected]
212-669-7888 (phone)
212-669-7955 (fax)
Letters also need to go to the following key officials (if you know someone personally, please consider also calling them):
Hon. Michael R. Bloomberg
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
Email: go to http://www.nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html and type your message
212-788-3000 (phone)
212-788-2460 (fax)
Hon. Gale A. Brewer
NYC Council Member
563 Columbus Avenue
New York, NY 10024
[email protected]
212-873-0282 (phone)
212-513-7717 (fax)
Hon. Jerrold Nadler
US Congressman
201 Varick Street, Suite 669
New York, NY 10014
http://www.house.gov/nadler/emailform.shtml
212-367-7350 (phone)
212-367-7356 (fax)
Hon. Scott R. Stringer
Manhattan Borough President
1 Centre Street, 19th Floor
New York, NY 10007
[email protected]
212-669-8300 (phone)
212-669-4900 (fax)
Hon. Linda B. Rosenthal
NYS Assembly Member
230 West 72nd Street, Ste 2F
New York, NY 10023
[email protected]
212-873-6368 (phone)
212-873-6520 (fax)
Hon. Eric T. Schneiderman
NYS Senator
80 Bennett Avenue, Ground Floor
New York, NY 10033
http://www.nyssenate31.com/contact_info.asp
212-928-5578 (phone)
212-929-0396 (fax)
Hon. Christine Quinn
NYC Council Speaker
City Hall
New York, NY 10007
[email protected]
212-564-7757 (phone)
212-564-7347 (fax)
Hon. Jessica Lappin
NYC Council Member & Landmarks Committee Chair
336 East 73rd Street (Suite C)
New York, NY 10021
[email protected]
212-535-5554 (phone)
212-535-6098 (fax)