Yesterday, a new era began in New York City as Eric Adams’ tenure as Mayor came to an end and Zohran Mamdani’s began. The new Mayor promised a big break from his predecessor and “audacious” strategies for governing New York and meeting its needs. 

We look forward to working with the new Mayor and his administration, and firmly believe that a break from the policies and practices of Mayor Adams is needed. A bold rethinking of many of the failed policies that guided the former Mayor and other recent administrations are desperately needed at this time. 

Toward that end, yesterday Village Preservation sent a letter to our new Mayor outlining both local and citywide agenda items we hope he will tackle, and diverge from his predecessor’s troubling and wrong-headed approaches — READ OUR LETTER HERE.

This includes:

• Ending Mayor Adams’ unprecedented and dismal track record on new landmark designations and aversion to protecting threatened sites, and to consider long-proposed and vulnerable historic areas including the proposed South of Union Square Historic District, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary, and Most Holy Redeemer Church. 
• Dropping Mayor Adams’ plan for demolition of the landmarked Tony Dapolito Recreation Center, and fulfilling his campaign promise to repair and reopen it. 
• Reconsidering Mayor Adams’ oversized and poorly designed plan for 388 Hudson Street. 
• Going back to the drawing board on Mayor Adams’ outrageous plan for a 600-ft.-tall tower filled with luxury condos on public land in the Meatpacking District 
• Ending the impunity for developers and property owners whose work damages their or others’ older or historic properties, resulting in displacement and loss of older, more affordable housing 
• Supporting our zoning challenge against the planned 538-ft.-tall luxury condo tower at 5 West 13th Street. 
• Rethinking upzoning plans like SoHo/NoHo, which encourage the destruction of existing older and often more affordable housing stock, make neighborhoods more unaffordable not less, fail to meet promises around equity, and destroy neighborhood character and scale 

We urge our new Mayor to make all of these part of his agenda for a better New York.  We strongly encourage you to ask him to do so as well. 

TO HELP: