New Landmarks Commissioner Has Ties to Queens

The City Council unanimously reappointed four commissioners and appointed a new one to the Landmarks Preservation Commission yesterday (via the NY Observer). Four of the five have ties to the outer boroughs.

The newest, Diana Chapin, is the Executive Director of the Queens Library Foundation and a founding member of the Historic House Trust, which protects and preserves historic houses. She has served in various positions in the City Parks Department and was the Queens Borough Commissioner. She replaces the Rev. Thomas F. Pike of Manhattan who described 980 Madison Ave. as a marriage that made him nervous.

The appointment comes following criticism over the Commission’s Manhattan-centric ways. In November, novelist Tom Wolfe accused the commissioners of being entangled with developers like 980 Madison’s Aby Rosen and called the Commission “de facto defunct.”

Unlike George Bush, we think Chairman Robert Tierney reads newspapers.