March 8, 2004
Hon. Adrian Benepe, Commissioner
City of New York / Parks & Recreation
The Arsenal, Central Park
830 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10021
Dear Commissioner Benepe,
The Historic Districts Council is dismayed to
again have to write in opposition to the proposal for an outdoor
café in Stuyvesant Square Park. Although leasing park space
to a concession may be a viable solution to the Parks Department’s
devastated budget and strained resources in some instances, it
is the wrong solution for this historic park.
As you are aware, and as we stated in our previous
letter of October 2002, Stuyvesant Square Park is restricted by
a deed on the land to ensure its future as “a sitting park.”
This deed restriction has previously been enforced by the courts
in the 1930s as a result of a lawsuit triggered by the Parks Department’s
plans to create a playground within the park. At that time, the
court issued a permanent injunction was issued banning any playground
on the site. This decision was later upheld on appeal. It is HDC’s
opinion that the current plan to install a concession in the park
would be in violation of the original deed restriction.
Deed restrictions are an incredibly important
tool of preservation and are not to be thrown aside lightly. They
provide legal antecedents to legislation such as the National
Historic Sites Act of 1935, the National Historic Preservation
Act of 1966, and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969,
to say nothing of New York City’s own Landmarks Law of 1965.
As an organization dedicated to the preservation and enhancement
of our historic, cultural and physical environment, we depend
on these prescient laws to be upheld in order to help preserve
our city’s built heritage for future New Yorkers. As recently
as last year, deed restrictions were used successfully by a neighborhood
group in Kew Gardens to prevent a community- destroying development
from being built.
In addition to the incredibly bad precedent granting
this proposed concession would create, the community served by
this park is united against it. Elected officials, the community
board, area residents and local civic organizations have all registered
their displeasure at this plan, not once, not twice but three
times in the past six years. One is forced to wonder what possible
community could be well-served by this proposal when all apparently
affected parties are in opposition to it. Both legal and common
sense would therefore conclude that this is not an appropriate
proposal for Stuyvesant Square Park and this request for proposals
should be withdrawn immediately.
Thank you for your attention and for all your
hard work and dedication to New York City.
Sincerely,
Simeon Bankoff
Executive Director
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