Keeping Preservation on the Ballot: Visit our Elections 2025 Resource Page
As New York City heads toward the 2025 general election, we are making sure that historic preservation and thoughtful urban planning remain front and center in public debate. Our Elections 2025 webpage offers an invaluable civic resource.
While the mayoral race tends to draw the headlines, the decisions made by City Councilmembers and Borough Presidents can also have a profound impact on preservation, zoning, and land use. Through public forums and educational outreach, we hope to help residents understand just how much these positions influence the future of our neighborhoods.
As a nonprofit organization we cannot endorse candidates, but we do offer platforms for open civic dialogue. Our goal remains to give voters access to candidates’ views on preservation, development, and neighborhood character, and to encourage participation in the democratic process.
In partnership with other preservation and civic organizations, we have organized a series of public forums bringing candidates face-to-face with preservation issues. These forums invite candidates to share their approaches to historic designation, zoning reform, affordable housing, and balancing growth with neighborhood integrity.
Mayoral Forum on Preservation Issues (March 24)
Co-hosted with nine preservation groups and 26 co-sponsoring organizations, the mayoral forum featured candidates including Michael Blake, Corrine Fisher, Brad Lander, Jessica Ramos, Scott Stringer, and Jim Walden.
Manhattan Borough President Forum (April 16)
Hosted with five preservation partners, this forum brought together Brad Hoylman-Sigal and Keith Powers to discuss preservation priorities for Manhattan.
City Council District Forums
Covering the neighborhoods where Village Preservation works, the forums included:
District 1 (April 30): Jess Coleman, Christopher Marte, Helen Qiu, and Eric Yu
District 2 (April 23): Sarah Batchu, Harvey Epstein, Andrea Gordillo, Allie Ryan, and Anthony Weiner
District 3 (May 7): Erik Bottcher, Louis Flores, and Dominick Romero
Each session delved into key issues facing downtown Manhattan — including adaptive reuse, affordable housing, small business protection, and how future zoning changes might shape Greenwich Village, the East Village, NoHo, and surrounding neighborhoods.
You can rewatch these forums and most past Village Preservation programs anytime on our YouTube channel.
It is also important to remember that elections are about more than candidates. The organization’s Elections 2025 hub highlights City Charter revisions and ballot questions, which can significantly reshape how planning and preservation powers are distributed across agencies. In particular, the 2025 Ballot Questions 2–4 address governance and oversight, topics that can influence how land use and preservation decisions are made in the years ahead.
The October 15 webinar “Mayor Adams’ Dangerous Ballot Measures, and Why You Should Vote NO in November” with our Executive Director Andrew Berman breaks down what these measures would do and why all New Yorkers should oppose them, as well as what concerned voters can do to help.
Important Dates for NYC Voters
Early Voting: October 25 – November 2, 2025
Election Day: Tuesday, November 4, 2025
Use the link to the NYC Board of Elections so you can check your district, polling site, and sample ballot.
With our Elections 2025 webpage we hope to reiterate that preservation is not a sideline issue — it’s a critical one. Every zoning amendment, development proposal, and historic designation is ultimately a political decision. By organizing these forums and sharing information publicly, we want to give New Yorkers the tools to ask better questions, make informed votes, and hold elected officials accountable.
Wherever you live in our neighborhoods, remember your vote has a direct role in shaping the character and livability of the city.