South Village Historic District Update
South Village Preservation Update: Momentum continues to grow in our efforts to preserve the South Village. Last week the New York Landmarks Conservancy wrote to Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Robert Tierney about our proposal for designating the South Village a historic district, urging him to “act on the proposal soon,” and calling the South Village “one of New York City’s great historic neighborhoods...steeped in a rich heritage of cultural history” (see here). The proposals have extensive and growing support from elected officials, historic preservation organizations, and local community groups, business leaders, and institutions (see here), but danger to the area is also growing, and we need the City to act on our landmarking proposal.
Toward that end, GVSHP will be holding a Town Hall meeting on landmarking the South Village on Monday, December 10th, which will be a critical opportunity to rally support for the preservation effort and push ahead with this campaign. The Town Hall is co-sponsored by Community Board #2.
Finally, GVSHP has been monitoring, and urging the City take action against, a development at 159 Bleecker Street which we believed violated zoning regulations by, among other things, not containing the “community facility” for which it got a zoning bulk bonus (i.e. got to be bigger than normally allowed). It appears our contentions had merit, as the Dalton School, which the developer had previously claimed was operating a “student dormitory” on site to satisfy the “community facility” requirement (even though Dalton is a day school not known to house students), has recently pulled out of the project. See here for the latest and here for background.
How To Help:
Come to the South Village Town Hall meeting on Monday, December 10th at 6:30 P.M. in the basement hall of Our Lady of Pompei Church, at Bleecker and Carmine Streets (enter on Bleecker Street) and spread the word! — use the flyer here (please note: it is illegal to post flyers on NYC public property).
Write to the City urging them to designate the South Village Historic District right away in light of the urgent threats the neighborhood faces — go to here for a sample letter you can use. Please send this letter even if you have written before!
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