Potential Proposed East Village Historic Districts Unveiled, Hearing May 12
 As we have recently reported, the City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is considering proposing two historic districts in the East Village. As the East Village is woefully under-represented in terms of landmarks protections, and as the LPC has protected some important sites in the neighborhood while refusing to protect others, we are pleased that they are taking this step. It is especially important now as more and more buildings in the neighborhood are being torn down or insensitively altered.
However, the scope of the LPC’s current study areas is limited, and only covers a fraction of the neighborhood’s important historic resources. The LPC has said that they are willing to consider other areas of the neighborhood for possible historic district designation in the future, and it is important that we make clear that such additional consideration is essential. However, we also believe that, given the areas the LPC is looking at right now, they can and should expand the boundaries of their study areas to include other important nearby historic resources.
Therefore GVSHP, the Historic Districts Council, and the Lower East Side Preservation Initiative have asked the LPC to expand their study area to include several adjacent areas (see letter, map, and descriptions HERE). We are hopeful that the LPC will study these additional areas as well as part of their current effort.
 The LPC is only studying these areas for possible consideration for historic district designation, and has not taken any formal action towards designation yet. It is therefore critical that we let them know that we want them to move forward with historic district designations in the East Village, that we want them to expand their study area boundaries, and that we want them to consider additional areas soon.
The LPC will be presenting their proposal to Community Board #3’s Landmarks Subcommittee this Thursday. This is an important opportunity to let the LPC and Community Board #3 know that we want to see landmark protections expanded in the East Village.
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