In a letter to Mayor Bill de Blasio, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, and Commissioner Corey Johnson, founder of the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, David Mulkins enumerates the frustrations of his group in attempting to protect what he calls “New York City’s most architecturally diverse and historically significant streetscape”. With its long history, as “a Native American footpath, Dutch farm road, site of the city’s first free African American homesteads, Washington’s triumphal march route during the British Evacuation, and site of Lincoln’s epochal anti-slavery speech at Cooper Union”, Mulkin’s believes this would be a prime candidate for a historic district based on its architectural and cultural legacy. He even cites outgoing LPC Chair Srinivasan:
We protect historic sections of the city not only for their architecture but for their social and cultural patterns that give insight into New York City’s development history
And remains befuddled on the rejection of the group’s Request for Evaluation (RFE). Read the entire letter HERE.