L’marks considers 6 L.G.B.T. sites
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
Six L.G.B.T. historically signifi cant sites are
up for possible landmarking, City Council
Speaker Corey Johnson recently announced.
“As a preservationist, I have always believed
that the cultural signifi cance of a building is as
important as its architectural signifi cance,” Johnson
said, in a statement on May 19.
The locations include the L.G.B.T. Community
Center, at 208 W. 13th St.; as well as 99 Wooster
St., previously home to the Gay Activists Alliance
Firehouse; 137 W. 71st St., James Baldwin’s former
home; 31 Cornelia St., the site of the former
Caffe Cino; 243 W. 20th St., the erstwhile Women’s
Liberation Center; and Audre Lorde’s home,
207 St. Paul’s Ave., on Staten Island.
The New York City Landmarks Preservation
Commission was created in 1965 in response to
public outrage over the demolition of the old Pennsylvania
Station two years earlier. Since then, the
agency has designated landmarks based on architectural
signifi cance and historical merit.
A public hearing by the L.P.C. commissioners
on whether to landmark the half-dozen sites will
be held Tues., June 4. The commission will then
vote on the sites at a later date.
The process caps a four-year campaign by Village
Preservation (formerly Greenwich Village Society
for Historic Preservation) to urge the agency
to landmark the L.G.B.T. Community Center and
former Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse.
V.P. has launched an online petition to rally
support for the landmarking designations ahead
of the June 4 hearing. And while the organization
is glad these sites are being considered for
landmark status, the group is also urging the city
to formally landmark more historically signifi cant
L.G.B.T. sites, like Julius’ bar, at 150 W. 10th St.
“In a city as diverse and progressive as New
York, it’s hard to believe that until 2015 we had
no landmarks refl ecting L.G.B.T. history, and up
until now only had one — the Stonewall Inn,” says
the preservation group’s online petition. “All the
threads of the rich tapestry of our city’s history
deserve to be recognized and preserved. On the
50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which
also occurred in Greenwich Village, we should
be refl ecting back upon that history of progress
and honoring the people and places which made
it possible.”
Open houses, ULURP on E. Side resiliency
BY GABE HERMAN
As the public-review process for
the much-debated East Side
Coastal Resiliency Project moves
ahead, locals are having a chance to learn
more about the current state of the plan
and to weigh in on it.
The project’s goal is to protect the East
Side waterfront from E. 25th St. to Montgomery
St. from fl ooding.
Peter Cooper Village, at 360 First
Ave., at E. 21st St., is host to two open
houses, one on Wed., June 5, from 4 p.m.
In the early 1970s, 99 Wooster St. was home to the pioneering Gay Activists Alliance Firehouse.
to 8 p.m., and another on Thurs., June 6,
from 2 p.m. to 8 p.m., on the lower level.
Present at the open houses to answer
questions will be representatives from
city agencies, including the Department
of Design and Construction, the Mayor’s
Offi ce of Resiliency, the Parks Department,
the Department of Transportation
and the Department of Environmental
Protection.
The resiliency plan’s current version
calls for East River Park — including its
sports fi elds, playgrounds and comfort
stations — to be elevated 8 to 9 feet,
which is above the current and future
100-year fl oodplain.
The project is expected to take threeand
a-half years and cost $1.45 billion.
The work is to be jointly funded by the
city and federal government.
Links to information about the project,
including the Uniform Land Use Review
Procedure, or ULURP, application and
Draft Environmental Impact Statement
for it, can be found on the Community
Board 3 Web site.
The following week, there will be a
ULURP public hearing on Tues., June 11,
at 6:30 p.m., hosted by the C.B. 3 Parks,
Recreation, Waterfront & Resiliency
Committee, at P.S./M.S. 188, The Island
School, at 442 E. Houston St. (Entrance
at E. Houston St. and Baruch Drive.) Individuals
who want to testify will each
have two minutes to speak.
In addition, on Thurs., June 13, the
C.B. 3 Parks, Recreation, Waterfront
& Resiliency Committee will hold its
regular monthly meeting at 6:30 p.m. at
the Henry Street Settlement Youth Services
Gymnasium, at 301 Henry St., near
Grand St.
Schneps Media TVG June 6, 2019 3