Village Preservation was joined by preservation organizations and elected officials from across the city yesterday for a press conference at City Hall, condemning the administration for a growing rash of approved demolitions of landmarked buildings throughout the city, and calling for reform.

Watch NY1 News coverage here:

Watch video of the press conference here, and see images here.

Co-organized by Village Preservation and the Historic Districts Council, we were joined by Save Harlem Now!, the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association, Justice for 441 Willoughby (Bedford-Stuyvesant), and Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts. Each of these neighborhoods, like ours, has recently seen landmarked buildings (or buildings under consideration for landmarking) demolished on the City’s watch and with its approval, in spite of the legal protections these buildings are supposed to enjoy. We were also very pleased to be joined by City Councilmembers Chi Ossé (Bedford Stuyvesant), Erik Bottcher (Greenwich Village/Chelsea/Hell’s Kitchen), and Christopher Marte (Lower Manhattan).  

We’ve called out the city for allowing the demolition of 14 Gay Street and 351-55 West 14th Street/44-54 Ninth Avenue (also here) in our neighborhood, and have called for reform to the system that allows these situations to occur all too frequently. 

TO HELP: