Rally for LPC Funds Wednesday, May 9th at 12:30pm
Reminder! Join us on City Hall steps at 12:30 this Wednesday, May 9th to support More Money for New York’s Landmarks! HDC will be joining other preservation groups this Wednesday, along with City Council Members Tony Avella, Jessica Lappin and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer to speak out on the need for more LPC funding.
The LPC protects our city’s historic fabric by regulating alterations to designated landmarks and designating unprotected buildings and districts. At its current staffing levels, the commission cannot adequately do both. With development booming, the LPC is inundated with permit applications and must devote more and more of its scarce resources and staff time to the regulation of existing landmarks—at the cost of new landmark and historic district designations. Furthermore, it is critical that the LPC be able to issue permits efficiently, which requires adequate preservation staff. The Commission therefore needs a $1 million budget increase to hire a larger staff.
In relation to the City’s budget, the LPC’s budget is almost infinitesimal ($4,300,000 of $59,000,000,000 in FY 2008). Even with a $1 million increase, the LPC’s budget will remain less than one one-hundredth of one percent of the City’s expenditures. Because of inadequate funding, the LPC’s staff is overburdened. Although applications for permits have more than doubled since 1990, the LPC staff has been cut by almost one third. As a result, the commission’s regulatory workload has skyrocketed. Please help us get this funding!
Whether or not you can attend this Wednesday’s rally, please call your Council Member and ask them to support the $1 Million increase.
Go to http://www.nyccouncil.info/constituent/index.cfm to find your Council Member.
This initiative is supported by: 10th & Stuyvesant Streets Block Association, American Institute of Architects, NYC Chapter, Bay Improvement Group, Bay Ridge Conservancy, Beachside Bungalow Preservation Association of Far Rockaway, Boerum Hill Association, Brooklyn Community Board 2, Brooklyn Community Board 6, Brooklyn Community Board 13, Brooklyn Heights Association, Brownstone Revival Coalition, Cambridge Place Action Coalition, Carnegie Hill Neighbors, Citizens Emergency Committee to Preserve Preservation, Cobble Hill Association, Committee to Save The RKO Keith’s Theatre of Flushing, Committee to Save the Trylon Theater, Crown Heights North Association, Defenders of the Historic Upper East Side, DOCOMOMO US New York/Tri-State Chapter, The Drive to Protect the Ladies’ Mile Historic District, DUMBO Neighborhood Association, East Side Rezoning Alliance, East Village Community Coalition, Fiske Terrace Association, Fort Greene Association, Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance, Friends of First Avenue Estate, Friends of Terra Cotta, Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, Friends of West Park, Fulton Ferry Landing Association, Gramercy Neighborhood Associates, Greenwich Village Community Task Force, Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, Historic Districts Council, Historic Landmarks Preservation Center, Historic Neighborhood Enhancement Alliance, Jackson Heights Garden City Society, Juniper Park Civic Association, Juniper Valley Park Conservancy, Landmark West!, Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association, Manhattan Community Board 1, Manhattan Community Board 5, Manhattan Community Board 9, Maspeth-Middle Village Task Force, Merchant’s House Museum, Metropolitan Historic Structures Association, Modern Architecture Working Group, Morningside Heights Historic District Committee, Municipal Art Society, New York Landmarks Conservancy, New York Marble Cemetery , New York Preservation Alliance, North Shore Waterfront Greenbelt, Park Slope Civic Council, Place Matters, Preservation League of Staten Island, Preserve & Protect, Queens Civic Congress, Queens Community Board 4, Queens Preservation Council, Rego-Forest Preservation Council, Richmond Hill Historical Society, Senator Street Historic District, Serpentine Art and Nature Commons, Society for Clinton Hill, Society for the Architecture of the City, Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance, Tribeca Community Association, Vinegar Hill Neighborhood Association, Waterfront Preservation Alliance of Greenpoint and Williamsburg, West 54 – 55 Street Block Association, West Brighton Restoration Society, West Cunningham Park Civic Association, Westerleigh Improvement Society, Women’s City Club of New York, World Monuments Fund, Yorkville Historic Society