Keeping Up With the Joneses In Cobble Hill

Finally the Post's Andrea Peyser weighs in on Windowgate, the ongoing controversy starring Norah Jones—who had the audacity to install windows in her new Cobble Hill home. (Catch up here.) She got 7 of her 10 windows after fighting the Landmarks Preservation Commission regarding their archaic ways, and now the Grammy winner has her natural light. But Peyser says her win "is a warning to the aging Italian-American population that remains in gentrifying Carroll Gardens."

Word is there's now a move to expand the entire neighborhood into a historic district, which would give landmark status to all houses... and the old timers are not happy about this kind of gentrification preservation! Pizza-parlor owner John Esposito points out, "Not everyone here is a doctor or lawyer or singer with an endless amount of money."

That kind of landmarking sweep could prevent anyone from making cost-friendly repairs; and Michael Di Meglio, a member of Citizens Against Landmarking, simply says: "We don't need Big Brother to protect us."

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By Jen Carlson in News on April 1, 2010 5:06 PM

Comments [rss]

LB

Lol i love it ! When people of a higher tax bracket move into a poor neighborhood and jack up the price of everything No one except those affected by it complain . It's viewed as "A change for the better, Or my fav, "Were taking it back " . Now the folks that gentrified the area in the first place are bitching because someone in a higher tax bracket is doing what they did to the poor folk .

Kevin Walsh

I sent Andrea a note. Here it is.

I applaud the efforts of the Landmarks Preservation Commission to make sure the beautiful architecture of the past will be saved for future generations to enjoy. If you haven't noticed, the architecture of the 2000s is of no comparison.

For the past decade I have chronicled the destruction of neighborhoods that are unprotected by the LPC in my website Forgotten New York (www.forgotten-ny.com). I have watched as neighborhoods like Astoria Village, Flushing, and others have been plundered by developers whose only consideration is the almighty dollar. So far, neighborhoods like Murray Hill, Queens and the neighboring Broadway-Flushing have pushed unsuccessfully for landmarking as crapitecture featuring concrete lawns, meters by the front door, rusting balconies, and the ubiquitous Fedders air conditioner cuts have been gradually taking over the landscape. You wouldn't want that to happen in Cobble Hill, and that's what would happen if not for the Landmarks law.

In my opinion, the LPC hasn't done enough to preserve neighborhoods, especially in Queens. If landmarking means the mandatory use of one lightbulb over another type, it's an acceptable tradeoff to make sure that garbage architecture doesn't encroach on what remains of our terrific architectural legacy.

www.forgotten-ny.com

Sommelier

Until somebody across the street starts to build something really, really ugly, and then the same "We don't need Big Brother to protect us" people start screaming "Why isn't the city doing something to protect us?"

Armchair_warrior

you can't save or shouldn't save everything its ridiculous. cities shouldn't be a bubble. no new thing can't be added etc.. hell i would love them to build taller more density much better for environment. only the very rich right now can afford low density.

what ever happen to saving historical important buildings instead of whole sale saving everything that's just old?

god i hate people who can't look at the bigger picture.

unretrofiedforu

Here's the big picture. Ravi Shankar's daughters wants windows in her apartment but someone told her no. Here's a bigger picture: WHO THE FUCK CARES.