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preservationist.bsky.social
@preservationist.bsky.social
460 followers 350 following 410 posts
Just trying to save preservation
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preservationist.bsky.social
I'm sorry, but Restler, Botcher, Powers, and Hanif all voted yes.

The vibes for people who actually want housing in NYC are good. Sucks to suck if you're a NIMBY!!!!
New York City Voters Pass Contentious Housing Ballot Measures The results reflect how more people are embracing development as a solution to the housing crisis.
November 5, 2025 at 5:53 AM
preservationist.bsky.social
Take it from the Municipal Art Society: Voting YES on ballot proposals 2-5 is a vote for affordability and a stronger city

Unpaywalled link: archive.is/t72uF
paywalled link: www.crainsnewyork.com/op-ed/op-ed-...
Op-ed: Municipal Art Society urges yes vote on charter amendments to boost housing Keri Butler
November 4, 2025 at 12:24 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
I mean nearly every townhouse on the UES east of Lex was multi-family at mid-century! They've all been converted back to single-family since then (the buildings in red). Maybe we'll repeat the process again
Map showing that while the Upper West Side and East Sides of Manhattan have a similar quantity of row houses the two neighborhoods are very different in terms of the mixture of conversions and non-conversions. Large portions of the Upper East Side have seen row houses converted from single-family to multi-family before being deconverted back into single-family (red). By contrast, on the Upper West Side most row houses are still multi-family (grey).
November 3, 2025 at 1:30 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
Happy Halloween? WTF is @council.nyc.gov wasting my money on....

Ballot Proposals 2, 3, and 4 would BUILD AFFORDABLE HOUSING. How is that related to duct taping someone's mouth shut?
A man has his mouth duct taped shut with the words "Ballot Proposals 2,3, and 4" written on the duct tape
October 24, 2025 at 8:24 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
Why is the @council.nyc.gov wasting my tax payer dollars when I'm trying to waste time on my lunch break. I'm gonna vote Yes on 2-6 because I want a city that people can afford and actually builds affordable housing for people!
A large flyer lying to people saying that ballot questions 2,3,4 are bad, when in reality they'd build a lot of affordable housing
October 24, 2025 at 4:44 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
This map also matches
Fire insurance map of the two wanamakers
October 21, 2025 at 10:06 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
More detailed map: www.loc.gov/resource/g38...
floor plan showing the south building of Wanamaker's at Astor Place
October 21, 2025 at 9:53 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
What's especially awesome is that CM Paladino literally had more affordable housing built in her district last year than the speaker!
BOTTOM 10 DISTRICTS AFFORDABLE Housing Construction 2024 Linda Lee Gale Brewer Adrienne Adams Vacant Shekar Krishnan Joann Ariola Vickie Paladino Shaun Abreu Francisco Moya Keith Powers
October 17, 2025 at 8:05 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
Actually CM Holden is the only person who doesn't like 2-4 too...Compare the list of Pros for Q2 to Cons for Q2....

Pros: Habitat for humanity, Regional Plan Association, Citizens Budget.

Cons: CM Holden

The way the Council has decided to fight progress here sucks so hard
Groups supporting Q2-4 Habitat for Humanity New York City and Westchester County Association for Neighborhood & Housing Development (ANHD) Regional Plan Association Abundance New York New York Housing Conference Citizens Budget Commission Person anti 2-4 Robert Holden
October 17, 2025 at 12:13 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
According to the NYC Votes online voter guide it's literally just CM Holden and BP Fossella who don't like it.....
Institutional and elected respondents: Staten Island Borough President Vito J. Fossella Council Member Robert Holden
October 17, 2025 at 12:13 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
I'm literally crying. (BTW it's obviously "D")
Walt Whitman’s famed poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry” now refers to what sex act? 1) Fucking on a canoe in the Gowanus Canal 2) Handjob in a cab on the BQE 3) Making out on a sliding car on the Wonder Wheel 4) When you have to cross a bridge twice in one night because your Manhattan crush fell asleep after texting you
October 16, 2025 at 2:28 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
These buildings were built as industrial lofts, but were part of a large re-development that saw 2 additional stories added to the Broadway buildings and the extra FAR used for a large development on Mercer
Buildings in NYC at Broadway and Bond Zola lot for 77 Mercer
October 14, 2025 at 12:34 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
Really crazy stat from the NYC Charter Revision Commission's final report: In 1960 when NYC changed it's zoning code ~10% of congress was from NY, today its ~6% and only expected to decline
In 1960, the last time New York City comprehensively changed its land use policy, New York voters elected 9.5% of the House of Representatives.32 Today, New York elects only 6%, with recent population estimates suggesting New York will lose another two seats by 2030.33 This trend highlights a broader shift in New York City’s history, with the city growing more slowly than the country at large. The result is a city with less and less say in our nation’s capital. So long as the city continues to rely on the federal government for support — from investments in NYCHA, to new subway lines, health care, and more — maintaining a meaningful federal presence is critical. To retain its power on the national stage, New York City must embrace, and plan for, growth.
October 10, 2025 at 8:14 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
My kingdom for a city that has historic preservationists who want to talk about historic preservation instead of their aversion to tall buildings.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/06/n...
In a city where expensive supertalls have punched through the skyline, that question is being raised by Andrew Berman, the executive director of Village Preservation, a group that focuses on architecture in Greenwich Village, the East Village and NoHo. His target is a 30-story condominium tower planned for West 13th Street. That is so tall that Sean Khorsandi, the executive director of the local preservation group Landmark West!, said that the tower would be “head and shoulders above its context,” meaning other buildings in the neighborhood.
October 6, 2025 at 11:41 AM
preservationist.bsky.social
Hasn't gotten much attention, but the 2025 Ballot Charter Proposals (specifically Q3) would also make it easier to do this kind of buy-out in the future
The proposal would also allow ELURP for voluntary buyouts from homeowners of one- to four-family homes within the 100-year flood plain upon enactment, and also voluntary buyouts as subsequently authorized through a buyout program created by local law. This change would significantly streamline the process for owners who want to get out of harm’s way and do not wish to wait for the years it can take to initiate and complete a full ULURP. For obvious reasons, there is little or no private market for these homes. Acquisitions of any properties would also be possible via ELURP in an area declared by the federal government to be a disaster and within five years of the declaration.
October 3, 2025 at 2:00 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
It's shockingly infrequent....To argue that this is a sea-change is laughable
Examples of Member Deference Being Over-Ruled in ULURP Actions Since 2000:60 Year ULURP # Description Category 2021 210351ZMM New York Blood Center Commercial 2009 090403 PSQ New York Police Academy City Project 2009 090184 ZSK Dock Street Development Residential / Mixed-use 2009 090415 HUK Broadway Triangle Rezoning Residential / Mixed-use 2009 090470 PPQ College Point Corporate Park Commercial 2007 070315 (A) ZRQ Jamaica Rezoning Residential / Mixed-use 2007 20095400 SCQ Maspeth High School City Project 2004 040217 ZSK Watchtower Development Residential / Mixed-use 2004 040445 ZSM Harlem Park Hotel Commercial 2003 030158 PSK NYCEM Headquarters City Project 2002 010602 ZSM Special Permit for a Manhattan Parking Garage (Upper West Side) Other 2001 M 820995 Hotel near La Guardia Airport Commercial
September 23, 2025 at 1:34 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
Yes! oh my god thank you!
Open atrium in Tweed Courthouse in NYC
September 10, 2025 at 6:21 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
Anyone know where this is?
Octagonal atrium in a lobby
September 10, 2025 at 6:03 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
You'll never guess who CH-1 is!
From on or about March 2, 2022, to on or about November 2, 2024, LEWIS-MARTIN conspired with GINA ARGENTO, TONY ARGENTO (“the ARGENTOS”), and BROADWAY STAGES to push changes to DOT’s approved bike lane redesign of McGuinness Boulevard. Overriding DOT’s subject matter experts and ignoring almost a year of technical analysis and the community’s position, LEWIS-MARTIN pushed the ARGENTOS’ and BROADWAY STAGES’s interests and designated an employee from the Mayor’s Office, “CH-1,” as her representative with DOT, even though CH-1 did not usually work with DOT. LEWIS-MARTIN instructed the DOT Commissioner that she and CH-1 should be part of any discussions about DOT’s plans for McGuinness Boulevard. LEWISMARTIN also directed CH-1 to discuss DOT’s plans with the ARGENTOS, and, in turn, to relay their views and concerns to DOT.
August 21, 2025 at 2:20 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
Yes
original midcentury office building with prominent balconies post-conversion to residential with balconies retained but significantly more glazing
August 20, 2025 at 10:10 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
Maybe Gale could try just a little bit harder? You can only go up if you're literally building 0 units a year :)
“Take Manhattan off the list,” Brewer told City Limits in a phone call. “We want affordable housing,” she added, noting that it’s harder to get affordable housing built in her already-dense district compared to others. “Come up with a different formula,” she said. Chart showing that in 2024 there were 0 affordable housing units built in Gale Brewers district ranking her district the worst in all of NYC
July 24, 2025 at 6:44 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
The water is tidal and quite clean, you just need to put in place structures that keep people from getting swept away.
public pool off manhattan's west side
July 2, 2025 at 7:29 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
bsky.app/profile/dipl...
But in a world where Israel is going to be as brutal as it has been in Gaza — and is going to play much more of a role of a regional hegemon militarily, which is what it has stepped into — people are going to have very strong opinions — including strong negative opinions — on what it means for there to be roughly 7 million Palestinians who do not have equal rights and who are under Israeli control. It’s very important. You just have to be able to be against what the Israeli state has become and not antisemitic. I think it’s an incredibly dangerous game that pro-Zionist people have played trying to conflate those things. Because if you tell people enough times that opposing Israel is to be antisemitic, at some point they’re going to say: Then I guess I’m antisemitic.
June 29, 2025 at 6:29 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
An interesting angle we were discussing in the office today is that when actual work is going on people may opt for bigger sidewalk sheds because there's no where to store materials
gigantic sidewalk shed spanning both sides of a street
June 9, 2025 at 4:19 PM
preservationist.bsky.social
Damn....and it has explanatory footnotes!

Love to learn about the 1961 reforms that reduced Borough Presidents power
According to City Administrator, Maxwell Lehman: “the Borough Presidents had their powers sharply cut under the new charter. The Charter Revision Commission had bitter debates as to whether the Borough Presidents should be eliminated altogether. A compromise was reached, mainly on the ground that local residents still want a center within the borough to which they can come with their complains. The Borough Offices lost control over highways, sewers and even bathhouses. But each Borough President was empowered to retain a topographical bureau, to recommend capital construction projects, be a member of the board which selects the sites for municipal structures, hold public hearings on matters of public interest, make recommendations to the Mayor and to other city officials in the interests of the people of his borough. They also select and exercise some supervision over the local district planning boards, which are designed to provide an effective voice for local neighborhoods.” Maxwell Lehman, “Power Distribution and Administration in New York City Government,” Pratt Planning Papers 3, no. 2 (November 1964), at 18. A minority of the 1975 Charter Revision Commission proposed undoing this change and returning the “responsibility for the design, construction, operations and maintenance of local streets and sewers” to Borough Presidents, but it was resoundingly defeated. See 1975 Charter Revision Commission, A More Efficient and Responsive Municipal Government: Final Report to the Legislature of the State Charter Revision Commission for New York City, 1977, at 2
May 22, 2025 at 4:56 PM