Staunch opposition to St. Mark’s air rights plan
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
Lower East Side Councilmember
Carlina Rivera came out against the
proposed air rights transfer from 4
St. Mark’s place to an office tower right
across the street at 3 St. Mark’s Place.
Rivera spoke out in a joint statement with
Assemblymember Deborah Glick and state
Senator Brad Hoylman during a City Planning
Commission hearing on Wednesday.
“This development would clearly be
out of context with the landmarked 4 St.
Mark’s place, as well as the surrounding
street scape and character,” said the
statement, read by a representative from
Councilmember Rivera’s office.”We urge
the City Planning Commission to deny this
application.”
“It’s clear that the developers, in the
wake of numerous concerns raised by
neighborhood groups, Community Board
3, several members of the Landmarks Preservation
Commission, and elected officials,
have not proposed or addressed any serious
‘appropriate conditions and safeguards’
that the 74-79 permit states should be
considered in order to ‘minimize adverse
effects on the character of the surrounding
Rendering of St. Mark’s Place tower. FILE PHOTO
BP Brewer open house highlights women’s history
BY MEGAN MCGIBNEY
Manhattan Borough President Gale
Brewer kicked off Women’s History
Month with an open house
at her lower Manhattan office at 1 Centre
St. on March 1.
With this year being the 100th anniversary
of the ratification of the 19th
Amendment, which gave women the right
to vote, the open house included several
presentations to discuss upcoming events
and projects related to this landmark legislation’s
centennial year.
The biggest event the Borough President
will do to honor this anniversary will be
the unveiling of the Central Park statue
honoring women’s rights activists Susan
B. Anthony, Sojourner Truth and Elizabeth
Cady Stanton in Central Park on Aug. 26.
“Everyone here who works for social
change knows,” said Pam Elam, the President
of Monumental Women, the organization
behind the monument. “That so much
of our history has been hidden from us.”
Elam went on to explain how historical
illiteracy is a big problem, since so many
know little about history, especially women’s
history in general. Many in attendance
nodded and murmured their agreements as
she said this.
area,’” Rivera added in the statement.
“Given that there is a great likelihood
that the City Planning Commission will approve
the transfer, it will likely ultimately
come down to the City Council, where
the body will follow the lead of the local
Councilmember, in this case Rivera,” said
Andrew Berman from Village Preservation
in a statement. ” We are hopeful that
her statement today will be followed by a
no vote in the Council and a call to her
Women’s Suffrage Parade in New York City, May 6, 1912.
Elam also said that her organization will
continue to spread awareness of women’s
history, even beyond the Central Park
statue. She hopes to get other cities to
create monuments or dedicate spaces in
memory of accomplished women.
“Whether it be a trail, a plaque, a street,”
she said. “Who knows who’ll be inspired by
that woman? Who knows who would feel
a sense of energy from that?”
Other presentations included a short
film on Lillian Ward, who founded the
colleagues to do the same.”
In June, the Landmarks Preservation
Commission gave the O.K. for developers
Real Estate Equities Corporation (REEC)
to get a special permit which would allow
them to buy 8, 386 feet worth of air rights
from the landmarked Hamilton Holly
House on 4 St. Mark’s place for $ 4 million
allowing them to build their 10-story-tall
office tower 20 percent larger than what is
normally permitted in the neighborhood.
PHOTO FROM WIKIMEDIA COMMONS.
Henry Street Settlement; an accompanying
booklet to the walking tour, Pioneers of
Women’s Rights in Manhattan, which lays
out the various sites in Lower Manhattan
where women activists did their fight for
equality; and a few archival events happening
during this month.
Towards the end of the presentations,
Pauline Toole, Commissioner of the
Department of Records and Information
Services, gave the audience a list of various
events and projects they, and anyone
In exchange for the air rights, REC would
have to use 5 percent of the sale to maintain
the landmarked building which was once
the home of Alexander Hamilton’s wife,
Elizabeth Schuyler.
Residents and preservationists, particularly
Village Preservation, have repeatedly
pushed back against the deal. At
least a dozen East Village residents and
representatives from Village Preservation
sat in on or testified against the transfer
at today’s CPC meeting upset that tower
would change the historical character
of the neighborhood and that most of
Hamilton Holly House restorations are
complete.
“The nearby merchants House Museum
is a perfectly preserved slice of New York
from 200 years ago. That is not what this
house which is not open to the public
should be or needs to be,” said Harry Bubbins
from Village Preservation. Bubbins
added that while the group continues to
petition for landmark and zoning protections
in the area preservationists do not
want to accelerate the process by allowing
for REEC to have the special permit.
The City Planning Commission’s vote
came after The Villager press time. Check
amny.com for further updates.
they know, can take part in to celebrate the
women of New York.
For one, she wants to see the lights of
businesses, residential homes and even
Empire State Building, to be lit in purple
on August 26th. While the colors of the
women’s suffrage were white, yellow and
purple, Toole explained that purple is a
more obvious choice.
“The lights in New York are already in
white and yellow,” she said. “Purple is more
of a statement, and you can actually see
the purple.” Toole said the idea behind this
comes from the World Pride lights from
last year.
In addition, Toole has a project called
20,000 by 2020. It is where anyone can
enter a story of an inspiring woman, so
there will be 20,000 great women to be
remembered.
“Enter your mother’s story,” she told the
attendees. “Enter your story!”
Many of the women who attended were
delighted to see all these events and projects
being lined up for this year. An eager
energy was clearly in the air.
“It is good that they’re finally highlighting
women’s contributions to society
over the years,” said Manhattanite Susan
Carrington. “So many women have been
overlooked.”
Schneps Media March 5, 2020 3
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