| Preserving the
past, planning for the future
Preservation conference 2007
Schedule
of Events ~ Conference
Overview ~ Keynote
Address ~ Facts and
Figures ~ Related
Press ~ Images
Given the ambitious housing and development plans
currently being pursued and the expected population
increase in the next few decades, what will happen to the historic
neighborhoods of New York City over the next generation? Will they
disappear under high-rise developments? Will they be discovered
and transformed by arriving waves of future New Yorkers? Will they
become ignored and neglected in the new real-estate marketplace?
How can we work to preserve and enhance our city's historic communities
while planning for a civilized and sustainable future?
A distinguished group of preservationists, planners,
artists, architects, educators and developers from New York City’s
five boroughs and beyond will address these issues. All of the panelists
have been personally involved with, or seen neighborhoods affected
by, preservation practices. The Conference will consist of three
panel discussions: “The Greening of Preservation,” “Smart(?)
Growth: Brooklyn in the 21st Century” and “The Future
of New York: With Preservation or Without?”
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SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday, March 1, 2007
6:30pm Pre-Conference Lecture
In The Footsteps Of Jane Jacobs, featuring some
of New York City's most active community organizers
6:30pm, Parish Hall, St. Marks Church in-the-Bowery
131 East 10th Street at 2nd Avenue, Manhattan
Over 45 years after she successfully
combated Robert Moses and his plan to build a massive thoroughfare
through SoHo, Jane Jacobs’s legacy continues to inspire New
Yorkers to preserve the character and quality of the city’s
many neighborhoods. This panel will feature some of New York City’s
most ambitious grassroots organizers as they discuss their currents
efforts in political activism and detail how community-driven campaigns
have evolved since Jacobs first began her crusade.
Andrew
Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village
Society for Historic Preservation, will moderate this informal conversation
between Reverend Billy
and Savitri D.
of the Church of Stop Shopping; Candace
Carponter, steering committee member and legal team
lead, Develop Don’t Destroy Brooklyn, Yolanda
Gonzalez, executive director, Nos Quedamos, and Miquela
Craytor, deputy director, Sustainable South Bronx.
Program co-sponsored by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic
Preservation.
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
6:45pm-8:30pm Pre-Conference Lecture
Screening of Atlantic Yards Documentary “Brooklyn
Matters”
Two Boots Pioneer Theater
155 East Third Street at Avenue A, Manhattan
Brooklyn is a distinct but integral
part of New York City. With its historic architecture, beautiful
parks, livable neighborhoods, and rich ethnic diversity, Brooklyn
continues to maintain its own unique identity after over a century
of incorporation into the greater urban agglomeration. On the upswing
and vibrant, it faces a new challenge—an uncommon development,
designed by world famous architect Frank Gehry, that threatens to
redirect Brooklyn’s future and reshape its identity.
Isabel
Hill, a past recipient of the Municipal Art Society’s
Elliot Willensky Award, directs an insightful documentary which
reveals the fuller truth about the Atlantic Yards proposal and highlights
how a few powerful men are circumventing community participation
and planning principles to push their own interests forward. The
film is urgent, timely, and a must-see for anyone concern about
the future of our city.
Program followed by a brief question and answer session with
the filmmaker.
Friday, March 9, 2007
6pm-8pm Opening Night Reception
Children's Aid Society, Greenwich Village Center
219 Sullivan Street, Manhattan
Join us for a cocktail reception in
the auditorium at the Children’s Aid Society’s Greenwich
Village Center to honor the Greenwich Village Society for Historic
Preservation. Founded in 1980, GVSHP has grown into one of the most
effective and innovative community organizations in New York dedicated
to preserving the architectural and cultural heritage of their neighborhood.
Their newest project focuses on documenting the cultural history
and preserving the architectural history of the South Village, a
40 block area south of Washington Square Park the Society is proposing
for landmark designation. The Children’s Aid Society, built
in 1891, is a striking Victorian Gothic style brick building and
one of about a dozen structures designed for the society by Calvert
Vaux. Originally used as an industrial trade school benefiting impoverished
children and privately financed by philanthropists Mrs. Joseph M.
White and Miss M. W. Bruce, it continues to house Children’s
Aid Society programming today. This building is one of the many
notable structures within the proposed South Village Historic District.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
Panel Discussions and Keynote Speaker
Harold Lewis Auditorium, Hunter College School of Social Work
129 East 79th Street, Manhattan
9:30am-10:45am
SUSTAINABILITY,
SMART GROWTH AND HISTORIC PRESERVATION
Keynote Address by Donovan
Rypkema of PlaceEconomics
11am-12:30pm
THE GREENING OF PRESERVATION
Historic preservation is the ultimate in recycling. Preserving and
adapting old structures rather than erecting new ones avoids the
dumping of tons of building materials into landfills and reduces
the energy required to produce and use new materials. By pairing
traditional elements (such as overhangs for cooling shade and dormers
for better ventilation) with modern techniques (like low-energy
light fixtures, improved insulation and storm-water collection systems),
both history and the environment are preserved. In this panel, practicing
architects and planners will speak about projects involving the
intersection of green architecture and preservation.
Participants will include Carl
Elefante of Quinn Evans Architects in Washington, D.C.,
Stephen Tilly
of Stephen Tilly Architect in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and Stephen
Goldsmith, acting director of the Center for the Living
City at Purchase College.
2pm-3:30pm
SMART(?) GROWTH: BROOKLYN IN THE 21ST CENTURY
It’s undeniable that Brooklyn is undergoing a massive growth
spurt; whether that growth can happen in a way that preserves the
special character of the borough remains to be seen. Panelists will
speak on timely issues such as the Williamsburg upzoning, Atlantic
Yards, Red Hook, Downtown Brooklyn and how preservation can play
an integral role in building the borough in the 21st century.
Participants will include Carter
Craft of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, Lisa
Kersavage of the Municipal Art Society
and Ronald Shiffman
of Pratt Institute.
3:45pm-5:15pm
THE FUTURE OF NEW YORK: WITH PRESERVATION OR WITHOUT?
Everyone knows that New York City is ever-changing. The city is
constantly reinventing itself in a continuous cycle of demolition
and construction. But why today do current projects and preservation
seem more in conflict than in years past? Panelists will speak from
a wide range of opinions on how the city is developing and how preservation
and development do and don’t work in tandem.
Participants will include Alex
Garvin of Alex Garvin & Associates, Julia
Vitullo-Martin of the Manhattan Institute, City Council
Member Tony Avella,
Queens historian Dr.
Jeffrey Kroessler and author and urbanist Roberta
Brandes Gratz.
Sunday, March 11, 2007
10am-1pm Walking Tours around a wide selection
of New York City neighborhoods.
The tours last approximately 2-3 hours each.
WALKING THE PLAN: DEVELOPMENT
IN DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN
Join noted tour guide Francis
Morrone as he takes walkers on an eye-opening survey
of the rapidly changing Brooklyn downtown. Tourgoers will note a
special emphasis on historic areas ignored in the Downtown Brooklyn
Plan, including what may have been an Underground Railroad site
on Duffield Street and the handsome and historic buildings in the
Fulton Mall.
GREENING THE CROSSROADS OF
THE WORLD: NEW ARCHITECTURE AND GREEN BUILDINGS IN TIMES SQUARE
AND MIDTOWN MANHATTAN
Explore an area of New York City that is rapidly changing, with
new architecture on almost every block. Tour guide John
Kriskiewicz will highlight several cutting-edge structures,
especially those like the Hearst Tower and 4 Times Square that have
incorporated green building elements.
ON THE WATERFRONT: A WALKING
TOUR OF ST. GEORGE, STATEN ISLAND
Follow Patricia
M. Salmon, curator of history at the Staten Island
Institute of Arts & Sciences, as she navigates the historic
waterfront community of St. George. Special emphasis will detail,
among other things, the area’s descriptive architecture and
surprising infrastructure, as well as the historic Staten Island
Ferry and recent development within the neighborhood.
FROM KING MANOR TO LA CASA:
THE NEW JAMAICA CENTER
Downtown Jamaica, Queens, is undergoing revitalization with new
building projects and renovations going on side by side. Follow
tour guide Roy
Fox as he showcases the many changes happening in this
diverse community, including stops at King Manor, Jamaica Performing
Arts Center, former nightclub La Casina and a former Jamaica Savings
Bank building.
VILLAGE OF THE DORMED: GOING
UP IN DOWNTOWN
What exactly is compatible development, and who decides how best
to preserve a neighborhood’s character? Join Anna
Sawaryn of the Coalition to Save the East Village as
shes visits the sites of several major developments in the East
Village, including the Astor Place Sculpture for Living, the future
site of Cooper Union’s new academic building, Avalon Christie
Place, a handful of university dormitories and the controversial
Bowery Hotel. Find out why many residents are opposed to these new
developments, and see some examples of new buildings that have been
successfully adapted to the district.
LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN: THE
NEW FACE OF RED HOOK
Red Hook is one of New York City’s most up-and-coming neighborhoods.
But how can we balance its residential and commercial future with
its industrial past? Explore this mixed-use community with tour
leader Dan
Wiley, including stops at the Beard Street Warehouses,
the endangered Red Hook Graving Dock and the New York Water Taxi
headquarters.
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CONFERENCE
OVERVIEW
Click
here for a full summary.
FOCUSING ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT, "smart" growth
and "green" buildings, the Historic Districts Council's 13th Annual
Preservation Conference kicked off on Friday evening, March 9, with
a party celebrating the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.
GVSHP was honored for their successful leadership efforts to marshal
community support for the preservation of the architecture and culture
of their neighborhood. Fittingly, the reception took place in a
historic community center in the South Village, an area below Washington
Square Park that GVSHP is currently focused on preserving .
On Saturday the keynote address and discussion panels
were held at the Harold Lewis Auditorium of the Hunter College School
of Social Work in Manhattan. Morning sessions might be summarized
as, "Nothing is as green as old buildings."
Members of the first panel, "The Greening of Preservation,"
emphasized that historic buildings already have embodied energy
and that to destroy them uses energy just to get back to empty land,
after which even more energy will be expended to rebuild.
One of the panelists was Stephen Goldsmith, a sculptor
and co-founder of the Center for the Living City at SUNY Purchase
and also a teacher at the University of Utah's College of Architecture
and Planning. Mr. Goldsmith spoke about going to New Orleans in
the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to learn about the rebuilding
efforts. While there, he saw miles of destruction and debris fields
that scrap dealers were being paid to take away. In an effort to
help reknit the fabric of the community, he helped put together
a local community organization that became the Katrina Furniture
Project; to make furniture out of the debris, create more jobs and
a "second harvest" of materials.
Carl Elefante, a principal with Quinn Evans Architects
in Washington D.C. and its director of sustainable design, spoke
next, saying that historic preservation did more than the green
community for conservation because it emphasizes building renewal.
Less energy is required to rehabilitate older structures than is
needed to tear them down and build anew, he said. Moreover, only
a very small number of new buildings are green. According to figures
he cited from the Department of Energy, 27 percent of the existing
commercial-building stock went up before 1960, 45 percent between
1960-90, and 28 percent since 1990, when green technology began
to be used. Of that last group, only a very small percentage is
green, which means that of the existing commercial-building stock,
a negligible amount is green. He criticized modules such as window
assemblies, saying that their components last only ten years, and
since the components cannot be replaced, the windows need to be.
He passed along a comment he once heard a worker say: "Anything
that is maintenance-free can't be repaired."
Stephen Tilly is principal of a planning, preservation,
landscape and architectural firm in Dobbs Ferry, New York, and has
been involved with both preservation and sustainable design since
the 1970's, including two recent geothermal housing projects. Older
buildings were designed to conserve energy, he said, and have such
features as high ceilings, passive cooling and ventilating systems,
recesses and overhangs. Optimally, designers should combine these
methods with such new ones as cooler-burning lamps and roof tiles
that contain photoelectric cells.
In the question-and-answer session, the panelists
talked about LEED, an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design. LEED is a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building
Council to establish standards for energy- and resource-efficient
buildings; it issues guidelines to help architects and builders
comply with them. Developers may seek certification on various levels-Certified,
Silver, Gold and Platinum-which will be granted depending on their
degree of compliance and issued in the form of plaques. LEED also
initiates legislation and seeks executive orders, resolutions and
incentives throughout the United States and abroad.
After lunch a panel led by HDC board member Franny
Eberhart discussed "Smart(?) Growth: Brooklyn in the 21st Century"
and examined current planning and preservation issues in the borough.
Recent development such as the Atlantic Yards proposal, the new
Ikea in Red Hook, the Downtown Brooklyn plan, and the massive rezoning
in Greenpoint-Williamsburg were discussed. Carter Craft, director
of the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, a soon-to-be independent
New York-New Jersey coalition which spun off from the Municipal
Art Society (not unlike HDC), said we needed to take a life-cycle
approach to the waterfront, one that takes into account cleansing
of all waste-carrying water before it enters the rivers. This is
especially important as global warming brings more rainfall that
flows into bays and canals and overwhelms the system. Among several
locations singled out, he mentioned that the East River is not a
river at all but a tidal strait between the Upper Bay and Long Island
Sound. As such, it does not flush, and contaminants just move around
in it, so it needs to be monitored. Key things to think about for
the future, he said, were environmental stewardship of the water,
community access to it, community-based planning, and that waterfronts
open up "placemaking opportunities."
Lisa Kersavage, Kress/RFR Fellow for historic preservation
and public policy at the Municipal Art Society, examined the ten
major rezonings in Brooklyn that have happened under the Bloomberg
administration. Using maps that showed greater demolition in rezoned
areas, Ms. Kersavage remarked on the increased difficulty of preservation
for these areas, since these rezonings have put so much development
pressure upon them. In Greenpoint/Williamsburg, for instance, she
said the city had identified eight known historical resources and
12 potential ones. MAS in its own survey identified 264 potential
historic resources, including 1850's workers' housing, churches
and factories. In the future, historic resources must be identified
before zoning changes are proposed, she urged, and the Landmarks
Preservation Commission should act to protect them before zoning
changes are enacted. Twenty-two acres of Red Hook were rezoned to
allow an Ikea big-box store there, and Ikea has begun to fill in
a graving dock in continuous use despite legal action by MAS to
save it. Environmental-review laws exist, she reminded her listeners:
"Politicians can withhold permits, and we need to insist that they
do it."
Another panelist, Ronald Shiffman, was honored last
year by the New York City chapter of the American Institute of Architects
for his contributions to affordable housing. He is a 45-year veteran
of city planning who specializes in innovative community-based financing
and planning. He said Brooklyn is booming because of its diversity
of people, uses and building types. He decried the Atlantic Yards
development, saying that if land is publicly owned, the public should
be engaged in planning before it is brought to the developer and
that there should not be one developer in a project of that size
but a dozen. Many neighbors of the project sold out because they
were afraid they would lose their property to eminent domain. "You
don't take private land and give it to private developers," Mr.
Shiffman said. Speaking of the development process in general, he
noted that we now have environmental reviews at the end of the process,
whereas we need planning first so we can build without displacing
jobs or homes. We need job opportunities and manufacturing jobs
that help create a diverse economy, not just a service economy.
We need a mix of places to live and work, and we need to rethink
density. Production and residential facilities can now be next door
to each other, he pointed out, because now many manufacturing operations-printing,
for example-have become "clean."
The final panel, entitled "The Future of New York:
With Preservation or Without?", did not ask the question in its
title but in lively exchanges summed up the issues earlier panels
treated. Starting off the discussion, moderator Roberta Brandes
Gratz, a commissioner at the Landmarks Preservation Commission and
an award-winning writer and lecturer on many urban issues, wondered
whether success in preservation could be its undoing and observed
that "people who opposed historic preservation in the 1970's and
'80's are now making money on it."
City Councilmember Tony Avella, who has represented
northeast Queens since 2001 and is chair of the Council's Zoning
and Franchises Committee, was next to comment. A strong supporter
of community-based preservation efforts, and the lead sponsor of
the 2005 "Demolition by Neglect" legislation, stated that the system
is still geared to developers and development. "We let the real
estate industry do the planning ... Planning and preservation should
be one and the same and should be from the bottom up, but planners
at the top won't let that happen. It shouldn't be such a battle
for us. We're trying to save a way of life for the future-everybody
has a stake in preserving their neighborhood."
Former City Planning Commissioner Alex Garvin took
more controversial, less preservation-friendly position. Mr. Garvin
currently heads of his own planning and real estate consulting firm
that specializes in guiding development of the public realm. He
served on the City Planning Commission for 9 years and admitted
that the city has made mistakes in that planning has not adequately
served the city's needs. However, he worried about the costs of
preservation and even its extent. Preservation decisions should
be guided by historic significance, he said, such as the Liberty
Bell; by aesthetic prominence, such as the University of Virginia
(he asked whether we were "cheapening" designations by adding too
many); by social/cultural significance, such as the Lower East Side
Tenement Museum (but not too many tenements); and by public spaces
such as Yosemite Park (but not all parks).
In one of the more surprising moments of the conference,
Mr. Garvin said that one third of Staten Island had been downzoned
and that, in his view, it had to do with keeping people out. "I'm
surprised the NAACP has not brought suit," he declared. Council
member Avella countered by stating that, at least in Queens, minority
groups were asking for downzoning and HDC vice president and historian
Jeffrey Kroessler added that he was "tired of affordable housing
being an albatross around the neck of historic preservation."
Ms. Gratz rejoined by saying that historic districts
are more diverse than new areas, which are built, more often than
not, along economically-segregated lines. This type of segregated
development is only aided by the city's abandonment of manufacturing
zones. "We have light manufacturing," she said. "We now have furniture
manufacturing, lighting, stage production companies. Small manufacturing
has allowed us to ride the volatility of economic conditions."
She was joined in that sentiment by Julia Vitullo-Martin,
a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute and director of the Center
for Rethinking Development, who said that New York City was now
healthy and strong. "New York in time of growth is amazingly resilient,"
she said. "I fear for New York in hard times." Dr. Kroessler then
remarked that in his view, it was the impulse to preserve that saved
New York City during the widespread abandonment of urban centers
in the 1970's. Without the passion and dedication of New Yorkers
devoted to the city and their neighborhoods who continued to work
to improve our city even when it was abandoned by Washington and
Albany, the vibrant place we all call home today would have never
survived.
As a final event for the weekend, on Sunday, people
took walking tours of areas that related to conference themes; such
as Downtown Brooklyn; Times Square, Manhattan; St. George, Staten
Island; Downtown Jamaica, Queens; the East Village, Manhattan; and
Red Hook, Brooklyn.
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KEYNOTE
ADDRESS
Preserving structures saves energy and resources,
boosts the economy and revitalizes communities. Historic preservation
is smart growth, and preserving the past is planning for the future.
The keynote presentation discusses specific reasons why historic
preservation is smart growth and is one of the most beneficial sustainable-growth
tools available today.
Donovan Rypkema is principal of PlaceEconomics,
a firm that provides services to clients who deal with commercial-area
revitalization and the reuse of historic structures. In 2004 he
established Heritage Strategies International for clients outside
North America. He has worked in 49 states and 22 countries and is
the author of numerous publications and a book, “The Economics
of Historic Preservation.” Mr. Rypkema holds a degree in historic
preservation from Columbia University. He is on the board of Global
Urban Development and teaches a graduate course on the economics
of historic preservation at the University of Pennsylvania.
SUSTAINABILITY, SMART GROWTH AND HISTORIC
PRESERVATION
Keynote address by Donovan Rypkema, principal, PlaceEconomics.
Thank you. I am most pleased to have been invited
back to the annual conference of the Historic Districts Council.
I think it was at the first of these conferences that I was invited
to speak. And I remember two things: 1) it was a miserable wet snowy
day in New York, and 2) Ruth Messinger sat in the front row and
did the Times crossword puzzle – and it was the Saturday paper
so it couldn’t have been easy.
I really do have the best job in America. Every year
I get to visit a hundred or so towns and cities of every size in
every part of the country. And that part is good, but this part
is even better. I get to go in, pretend that I know what I’m
talking about, and I leave. No follow-through, no implementation,
no responsibility. None of you has that great of a job.
But some weeks are better than others. And this is
a great one. I started this week in La Mars, Iowa, (population 9,237)
and from there I went on a 5 towns in 3 days tour of Iowa which
included Story City (population 3,141), Marshalltown (population
27,000), Waverly (population 9,298), and West Union (population
2,485). Yesterday I received emails from both Hillary Clinton and
Rudy Giuliani assuming I was part of their Iowa caucuses advance
team. I spent Thursday in Boston at the Traditional Buildings conference
and came down here yesterday afternoon. Nobody has a better job
than that.
I’m sure many of you are thinking “There’s
nothing I have to learn from some tiny town in the middle of Iowa”
and I can assure you most people in Story City think there’s
nothing to learn from New York City. But you’re both wrong.
The size of the buildings is different, but the nature of the challenges,
the reasons given to raze rather than restore, and most importantly
the necessity of a passionate commitment of citizens to save the
most important of their own built environment is no different. That
is the same in West Union as in the West Village. And that, in fact,
is one of the most wonderful things about the historic preservation
movement.
I also want to point out before I begin that this
session is scheduled to last for an hour and a half. I only know
of two people who could talk that long – Fidel Castro, and
Bill Clinton at the 1986 Democratic convention. I just telling you,
I ain’t talking for no 90 minutes. Hopefully there will be
plenty of time for questions, comments, alternative views, or “go
back to Iowa you fool”. And if not, I’m sure we are
not more than 27 feet from a Starbucks somewhere.
There was a Broadway producer who once told an aspiring
playwright, “If you can’t write your idea on the back
of my business card, you don’t have a clear idea.”
So I’m going to begin by giving you this entire
presentation at a length you can put on the back of your business
card.
1. Sustainable development is crucial for economic
competitiveness.
2. Sustainable development has more elements than just environmental
responsibility
3. “Green buildings” and sustainable development are
not synonyms.
4. Historic preservation is, in and of itself, sustainable development.
5. Development without a historic preservation component is not
sustainable.
So that’s my presentation – everything
I say now is just fill.
To read the rest of Donovan
Rypkema's keynote address, click here.
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FACTS
AND FIGURES
Related Links:
Panelist Contact Information:
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RELATED
PRESS
“Proposed
Park Slope traffic changes driven by AY?,”
Atlantic Yards Report, March 13, 2007
“Preservation,
planning, and Brooklyn at issue at HDC conference,”
Atlantic Yards Report, March 26, 2007
“PlaNYC
2030: what might sustainability mean?,” Atlantic
Yards Report, March 27, 2007
“The
Ward Bakery demolition and environmental sustainability,”
Atlantic Yards Report, March 22, 2007
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IMAGES
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