Preserving Preservation: The Campaign to Restore the Effectiveness of the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
 
Update: Leading NYC preservation organizations launch the 2009 Preservation Platform. Read more...
 

In late November 2008, the New York State Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Citizens Emergency Committee to Preserve Preservation (CECPP), a coalition formed with LW’s instrumental help after the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s refusal to hold a public hearing for 2 Columbus Circle led to the building’s destruction.  CECPP’s lawsuit challenged the Commission’s inaction on landmark nominations (Requests for Evaluation). 

This significant victory was the lead in the first of four investigative articles in The New York Times between November 26 and December 2, 2008, bookended by two Times editorials on October 18, 2008 and December 6, 2008.
 
         

Ezra Stoller, 1964 ESTO
More images of historic 2 Columbus Circle Recent press on 2 Columbus Circle
2 Columbus Circle Advocacy Archive
“And we will probably be judged not by the onuments we build but by those we have destroyed."
~ New York Times editorial on the demolition of Penn Station, 1963

In 2005, the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD), supported by Mayor Bloomberg, destroyed the white-marble façade of 2 Columbus Circle, an original work by architect Edward Durell Stone. 

The New York Times wrote: “…dooming this building without a hearing is an enormous mistake, one that seriously erodes the Landmarks Preservation Commission's purpose and whatever political independence it has managed to attain since it was first created.”
Read the full New York Times editorial

How many more historic places will be lost before New York gets serious about preserving its landmarks? Click here for a photo gallery of historic places at risk now.

Unless New Yorkers work together to help the Landmarks Commission…

*Ensure fairness, transparency and public
ggggaccountability in its process,

*Exercise political independence, and

*Secure funding it needs to do its job
…history will repeat itself again…and again.
   
 
Learn more!
Recent and ongoing advocacy to restore the Landmarks Commission
 
Citizens Emergency Committee to
Preserve Preservation (CECPP)
In May 2006, in the wake of 2 Columbus Circle and other losses citywide, CECPP was formed to focus attention on our city's landmark emergency and to implement a campaign to aggressively address the causes behind it. Visit www.savelpc.org. 		 
 

Preservation Platform for Campaign 2009
As New Yorkers contemplate upcoming Mayoral and City Council elections, a working group of leading preservation groups, including LW!, came together to develop a Preservation Platform outlining the following five principles:

  • Preservation is Sustainability
  • Preservation is Neighborhoods
  • Preservation is an Economic Catalyst
  • Preservation is Historic Religious Properties
  • Preservation is an Effective Landmarks Commission

Click here to read the full Platform, adopted by over 100 civic organizations in all five boroughs (list in formation). Click here to learn more about the 2001 Preservation Platform and related advocacy.
 

Mayoral Breakfasts and Other Candidate Forums For more than two decades, LW! has invited candidates to come speak with preservationists about ideas and plans for safeguarding New York City's historic places. Click here for links to sessions with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others.

Click here to read about our Summer 2009 forums with Mayoral candidates Tony Avella and William C. Thompson.

Preservation Lobby Days on the Steps of City Hall
At a time when the Landmarks Preservation Commission's workload is at an all-time high and historic places throughout the city hang in the balance, the LPC's miniscule budget (0.0076% of the City’s overall expenditures) remains at risk. For the past three years, preservationists have flocked to the steps of City Hall for Preservation Lobby Days. Click here for information about Lobby Day 2009 (May 6, 2009). Click here for a LPC budget fact sheet (developed for Lobby Day 2007). Click here to find, and then contact, your local council member to ask her/him maintain the LPC’s budget and to support the 2009 Preservation Platform!

Women's City Club Report: Problems Experienced By Community Groups Working with the Landmarks Preservation Commission (2004)
Click here for a copy of the full report, which led to a series of City Council oversight hearings on the Landmarks Commission in 2004 and 2005.

 
 
 
 
 
             
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