Watch-Blog

Close the Loopholes! Joint letter to City Planning Commission
In July, LW! joined preservation organizations across the city in communicating their ongoing concerns about loopholes in the Zoning Resolution that developers use to build bigger and taller than intended. Why is the city so slow to correct these issues? Read the full...

UPDATED: CPW Bike Lane Up for Vote
CB7 Full Board Meeting Tomorrow, July 2nd beginning 6:30 pm at Goddard Riverside Center, 593 Columbus Avenue at 88th Street FULL MEETING AGENDA While there are many important community issues on the agenda, we want to draw your attention specifically to the...
BSA Allows 200 Amsterdam Gerrymander
In today's hearing, the city Board of Standards and Appeals upheld 200 Amsterdam Avenue's building permits for a 668' building that gets its height from a gerrymandered lot that should never have been allowed. Read the full Gothamist article.

200 Amsterdam: Advocates Fight the Gerrymandered Lot…AGAIN. Go Show Your Support for Fairness in Zoning!
GO to the Hearing: Tues, June 25th, 10am Spector Hall, 22 Reade Street In March, the New York State Supreme Court, ruling on an Appeal by the Committee for Environmentally Sound Development and the Municipal Art Society alleging that the developers abused zoning...

Belvedere-Beautiful View Looking Beautiful!
The Belvedere "Castle" (actually a Victorian Folly) is set to reopen after a lengthy renovation. Its current incarnation, still capping Vista Rock is the closest it has been to the Calvert Vaux, Frederick Law Olmstead and Jacob Wrey Mould version first envisioned in...

If 137 West 71st Street Could Talk…NOW IT CAN!
The LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION designated 137 West 71st Street as an Individual Landmark Today! Already a landmark within the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District, this former row house, originally built in 1890, now has increased protections...

How to Game the Zoning Codes to Build Supertall Skyscrapers by James S. Russell
In CityLab, James S. Russell (with a little help from LW! Executive Director, Sean Khorsandi, who was interviewed for the article) focuses on three supertall NYC skyscrapers--including 50 West 66th Street (see Page 2 of the article below)--to reveal just how creative...

Support our Bravest!
LANDMARK WEST! has been asking #isitsafe and the FDNY has just answered: "No". Is the Dept. of Buildings listening? When LW! first learned of the bait and switch at 50 West 66th Street - from a 292-foot, 25 story building to a 775-foot, 39 story building with just 127...

Upper West Fraud?
The Upper West Side is known for many things--but fraud? Not necessarily as EXTELL's 50 West 66th Street hasn't been named yet, but read on: Our friends at THE REAL DEAL (linked, but article since removed) Published "Extell's former EB-5 regional center director says...

Upper West Pride
LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION will hear 137 West 71st Street for Individual Landmark Designation. Tuesday, June 4th from 10:50-11:10 am LANDMARK WEST! is COMING OUT in SUPPORT of this DESIGNATION. READ LW! TESTIMONY Join us to testify, and be witness to...