Please send copies of all letters to GVSHP

232 East 11th Street, NY NY 10003

or (fax) 212/475-9582

or e-mail: gvshp@gvshp.org

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

DATE

John Fowler, Executive Director

Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP)

Old Post Office Building

1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 809

Washington D.C., 20004

Fax: (202) 606-8647/8672

E-mail: jfowler@achp.gov

Re:  United States Postal Service’s Repeated Violation of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act Regarding Air Rights Sales

I write to urge your agency to demand that the Post Office withhold consent for use of its air rights at its Cooper Station on East 11th Street in Manhattan until a Section 106 review takes place, and that your agency insist that no further air rights sales move ahead, including the one contemplated at the Canal Street Station, until clear guidelines are adopted to ensure that the Post Office does conduct meaningful Section 106 review for air rights sales in the future.

It is outrageous that the Post Office has lied both about its promise to abide by Section 106 in the future, and that it was powerless to perform a Section 106 review in the case of the Cooper Station because that sale had already been completed.  As we now know, the Post Office retained the right to halt that project at any time, and the Post Office must do so NOW before construction proceeds and it is too late for a meaningful review to take place.  It is also clear that the Post Office is moving towards completing a sale of its air rights from its Canal Street Station WITHOUT performing the promised (and required) Section 106 review.  It is CRITICAL that your agency take action BEFORE this sale is completed in order to force the Post Office to live up to its Section 106 obligations. 

Please do not allow the Post Office to further flout the law or to impact the historic landscape of Lower Manhattan without the appropriate and required review.  Please take action NOW to halt this process before it is too late and ensure that the Section 106 review, examining impacts upon historic resources in the immediate vicinity of these Post Offices, is undertaken.

< <   ADD ADDITIONAL COMMENTS HERE   > >

Sincerely,

NAME

< < Be sure to include this information

ADDRESS

______________________________________________________________________________________________________

DATE

Bernadette Castro, Commissioner

New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (OPRHP)

Agency Building No.1, Empire State Plaza

Albany, NY  12238

Fax: (518) 474-4492

E-mail: bernadette.castro@oprhp.state.ny.us

Re:  United States Postal Service’s Repeated Violation of Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act Regarding Air Rights Sales

Dear Commissioner Castro:

I write to urge your agency to demand that the Post Office withhold consent for use of its air rights at its Cooper Station on East 11th Street in Manhattan until a Section 106 review takes place, and that your agency insist that no further air rights sales move ahead, including the one contemplated at the Canal Street Station, until clear guidelines are adopted to ensure that the Post Office does conduct meaningful Section 106 review for air rights sales in the future.

It is outrageous that the Post Office has lied both about its promise to abide by Section 106 in the future, and that it was powerless to perform a Section 106 review in the case of the Cooper Station because that sale had already been completed.  As we now know, the Post Office retained the right to halt that project at any time, and the Post Office must do so NOW before construction proceeds and it is too late for a meaningful review to take place.  It is also clear that the Post Office is moving towards completing a sale of its air rights from its Canal Street Station WITHOUT performing the promised (and required) Section 106 review.  It is CRITICAL that your agency take action BEFORE this sale is completed in order to force the Post Office to live up to its Section 106 obligations. 

Please do not allow the Post Office to further flout the law or to impact the historic landscape of Lower Manhattan without the appropriate and required review.  Please take action NOW to halt this process before it is too late and ensure that the Section 106 review, examining impacts upon historic resources in the immediate vicinity of these Post Offices, is undertaken.

< <   ADD ADDITIONAL COMMENTS HERE   > >

Sincerely,

NAME

< < Be sure to include this information

ADDRESS