In Time of Cuts, Extra Funds Sought by Preservationists

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun

Preservationists are lobbying the City Council this week to add hundreds of thousands of dollars to the budget of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, one of five city agencies whose 2009 budget has not been cut by Mayor Bloomberg.

The Municipal Art Society, the Historic Districts Council, and several council members are scheduled to rally on the steps of City Hall tomorrow, calling on the council to approve $300,000 in additional funding.

Landmarks has a budget of $4.3 million for fiscal year 2008, and proponents say the addition of $300,000 in any other financial environment would receive scant notice. Given Mr. Bloomberg’s call for more than $1.3 billion in budget cuts and his pledge that spending in the city would remain almost completely flat, any additional funding, regardless of its size, receives added scrutiny.

“My colleagues are seeking that money for preservation just like I am seeking approximately $450 million for education,” Council Member Robert Jackson, the chairman of the education committee, said yesterday. “Education has been cut, and so our children are receiving inadequate education. And to me that is much more important than landmarking.”

The additional council funding, which was established at $250,000 in 2006 and increased to $300,000 last year, has been used to hire five new staff members who have been surveying, researching, and designating individual landmarks and historic neighborhoods. The additional money has not been incorporated into the agency’s annual budget and must be approved by the council each year.

“When it comes to budgets, it is all about priorities, but I think that this is money that has been well spent and has proven to be worthwhile,” the chairwoman of the council’s Landmarks, Public Siting, and Maritime Uses Subcommittee, Jessica Lappin, said yesterday.

Preservationists including the director of the Historic Districts Council, Simeon Bankoff, said the increased level of output by the commission in the past few years is evidence that the additional money is having its intended effect. Last year, the agency designated 26 individual landmarks and four historic districts, including DUMBO in Brooklyn and Fieldston in the Bronx.

“Without having this enhanced survey capacity, a lot of the work that it does evaluating landmarks and historic districts will be very negatively impacted,” Mr. Bankoff said, adding that each new building or district designated by the agency requires additional regulation, and manpower.

A spokeswoman for the commission, Elisabeth de Bourbon, declined to comment beyond saying that the five surveyors hired and supported by the council funds “have done incredibly effective work.”


The New York Sun

© 2024 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use