Disabled Vietnam Vet Hot Dog Vendor Arrested Outside Met
Stuy Pyro Leaves Notes In Hieroglyphics
Photos of D Train Murder Depict Bloody Panic
Dubai Debt Issues Push Stocks Down
Tenants' Rights Flash Cards!
+ The Landmarks Preservation Commission has been doing its job, but what about the buildings and districts behind the numbers? Meanwhile, 980 Madison developer Aby Rosen says Tom Wolfe “should stick to writing books.”
+ Speaking of the Commission, it has stripped landmark status from land where a deteriorated 1871 building once stood. That's only happened twice before.
+ For developers, sluggish condo sales mean only one thing: more upscale hotels, natch.
+ The city's latest landmark building is an 1850s Italianate Villa in Clinton Hill.
+ A 1000-plus word NY Sun article on the Whitney's future reports very little on, um, the Whitney's future.
+ Starchitect-designed homes for the Target set? Probably not anytime soon.
+ And, breaking news: Designers' assistants snag furniture from the street!
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From that Observer article:
"In other recent years, the commission’s Manhattan-centric push rings even louder.
"In fiscal year 1998, during the reign of Rudy Giuliani, whom Mr. Wolfe accuses of rendering “the undead commission only … undeader,” 19 of the 25 landmarks designated were in Manhattan. Nineteen of 25 were also in Manhattan in the previous 12 months; and, in the succeeding 12 months (fiscal year 1999), 17 of 25 were in Manhattan."
I appreciate Wolfe's tweaking of the LPC.
However, the LPC's Manhattan-centric policies are denuding Queens of its historic buildings, as one by one they have fallen to the greed and duplicity of developers, as in Maspeth and Middle Village alone, the 1730 Morrell House has been razed, the 1850 Niederstein's Restaurant has been removed (for an Arby's!) and St. Saviour's church is standing today only because a dedicated civic organization has fought a developer tooth and nail.
Mr. Wolfe, come to Queens. If you can stand it.
www.forgotten-ny.com