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June 18, 2015
Stonewall Landmarks Hearing Next Tuesday at 10AM
Capping
a year-and-a-half
campaign spearheaded by GVSHP, next Tuesday, June 23rd
at 10 am, the Landmarks Preservation Commission will hold a public
hearing on the proposal to landmark the Stonewall
Inn, a site connected to three nights of protests in June, 1969
considered the birth of the modern LGBT
(lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights movement. The
public is encouraged to attend the hearing and testify. The
Commission may vote on the designation at that time, or at a later
date.
While this is an
important and long-overdue step forward, we hope that it will be the
first, but not the last, step the city takes to recognize and protect
sites of importance to LGBT history in and around the Village.
GVSHP has also urged the Commission to consider landmarking
three other sites:
- Julius’
Bar at 159 West 10th Street, the oldest gay bar in
New York City and the site of the first civil disobedience for
LGBT rights in 1966, a protest against NY State’s de facto
prohibition on gay bars. Built in 1826, Julius’ has been
located here since 1864.
- The Lesbian, Gay,
Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center at 208 West 13th
Street, one of the oldest such community centers in the world, and
the birthplace of ACT-UP and many other highly influential
activist and service organizations. Built in 1869, expanded
in 1899, former home of P.S. 16 and the Food & Maritime Trades
Vocational High School.
- The (former) Gay
Activists Alliance Firehouse, 99 Wooster Street, home of one of
the most highly influential LGBT groups of the post-Stonewall era,
whose “zaps” and face-to-face confrontations were highly
influential upon other subsequent activist and political
groups. The GAA was located in this abandoned city firehouse
until a firebombing of the structure targeting the group in
1974. Designed in 1881 by acclaimed architect Napoleon LeBrun.
HOW
TO HELP:
- Come to the hearing on
Tuesday, June 23rd at 10 am at the Landmarks Preservation
Commission hearing room, Municipal Building, One Centre Street (at
Chambers St.), 9th floor. Bring photo ID.
Testify and urge the Commission to landmark the Stonewall Inn and
the three other LGBT history sites, or just come to show support
(stickers to wear will be provided)
GVSHP
and Casa Vera productions has also created a website dedicated
to the effort to protect these sites of significance to LGBT history here. Learn more about the Village’s
LGBT history here.
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City Seeks to Reduce Zoning Protections, GVSHP
Seeks to Expand Them
Last
week the City’s Planning Department made presentations to local
community boards regarding its ‘Zoning for Quality and
Affordability’ proposal, which would increase the allowable height of new
residential development throughout the five boroughs. Though the
City modified
the plan slightly in response to concerns by GVSHP and others, the
plan would still allow or encourage larger, taller developments in much
of our neighborhood, with little or no real public benefit in
return. The plan was met with considerable skepticism at both
Community Board 3 (East Village/Lower East Side) and Community Board 2
(Greenwich Village/SoHo/NoHo), where a standing-room-only, overflow crowd
expressed unanimous opposition to the plan. Neither Community Board
voted but will continue to examine the proposal, which will begin the
formal public hearing and review process in the fall.
While the
City is seeking to move ahead with this plan which would weaken local
zoning protections, GVSHP is seeking to strengthen and expand such
protections. We have proposed (and received strong
support for) new contextual zoning districts in the South
Village and the University
Place/Broadway Corridors. In these areas current zoning allows
and encourages the construction of dorms and luxury condo towers of 300
feet in height or greater; in fact, one such 300+ ft. tall luxury condo
tower is planned
for the Bowlmor site at University Place
and 12th Street.
Ironically,
the City claims its
plan
will increase housing production in New York City and make for higher
quality, more affordable housing. Many skeptics have questioned
this claim, but it is unquestionable that GVSHP’s proposed rezonings would do help achieve those goals –
by eliminating incentives for dorm construction as opposed to residential
construction; by providing some incentive for including affordable
housing at some locations; and by eliminating the possibility of sky-high
towers which shatter the scale of neighborhoods. And yet thus far the City has
refused to act upon these proposals.
Find
out more and read GVSHP’s Op-Ed on this issue HERE
HOW TO HELP:
·
Write
City officials urging them to save
our existing zoning protections and urging them to expand zoning
protections to the South
Village and University
Place/Broadway Corridors (click on each for letters)
Business of the Month:
Cobblestones 314 East 9th Street
Can
you imagine opening a shop at the age of 21 and still running it
successfully more than three decades later? Delanee
Koppersmith’s winning charm keeps Cobblestones
filling the vintage needs of stylish folks from near and far. Learn all
about this East Village native’s shop in our article on Cobblestones,
our Business of the Month for June.
“It’s a very social thing, a
store. My closest friends, I’ve met here,” Koppersmith
told us.
The local fan who nominated Cobblestones for Business of the Month said: “Not only has she
sold wonderful vintage clothing at reasonable prices, she has helped many
elderly people she has met through the store…[she] takes a personal
interest in the people that walk in and out of her establishment.”
With GVSHP's "Business of
the Month" program, each month a local, independent business is
featured on GVSHP's website, blog and social media, to showcase one of our
neighborhoods' great and unique commercial treasures. The program
underscores what makes each business so valued and distinctive. We hope
it will increase support and patronage, aiding our local small businesses'
health and viability.
We're asking you, the public,
to nominate your favorite businesses for consideration for our
"Business of the Month." To nominate a business just fill in this brief
form.
See our past Businesses of the Month here.
Another important way to
support mom-and-pops is by backing the Small
Business Jobs Survival Act, a bill in City Council that deserves consideration. Click here to urge City Council to hold a hearing.
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