Let’s Make 2012 a Year to Remember
We hope that you had a wonderful New Year celebration! With the arrival of 2012 we all have some resolutions that we plan to work on in the coming months – whether it’s working off some of those extra holiday pounds, taking up a new hobby, or spending some more time volunteering. Here at GVSHP, we’ve got some of our own resolutions and we hope you can join us in making them happen!
2012 is going to be a critical time for many important issues affecting our neighborhoods. If you haven’t heard already, NYU’s got some huge expansion plans that will flood the area south of Washington Square Park with millions of square feet of oversized new development.
We need you to help us stop this plan from moving forward, and this first month of the new year is chock-full of public meetings where you’ll have a chance to voice your concerns. The first meeting — a town hall that we’re co-sponsoring with dozens of other community groups — is coming up just this Wednesday. We hope to see you there!
Adjacent to the area where NYU is planning its expansion is the South Village. GVSHP and community groups have been chugging away trying to protect this area for years, and we’ve recently gotten the city to landmark nearly two hundred fifty buildings around Bleecker, Carmine, Bedford, and Downing Streets. But there’s still about two thirds of the neighborhood (see the map) that has been left unprotected from demolitions and insensitive renovations. We need your help to pressure city officials to move on protecting this remaining two thirds. Give your fingers a workout and write a letter today!
Like the South Village, over in the East Village things are moving, but we need your help to keep up the pressure on the city. We’re heartened that after multiple delays in moving ahead with consideration of designation of the proposed East Village Historic Districts (see maps here and here), the Landmarks Preservation Commission has said that they will hold a hearing this month. Please circle January 17th on your calendar to attend the hearing. We’re going to need your help at the hearing and via letters to get the City to move ahead quickly with landmark designation before more buildings are lost, and to consider landmarking the remainder of this under-protected, historic neighborhood.
These are just three examples of the resolutions we need to keep in 2012, and there’s so much more to do!
Take a minute and see how you can help affect the outcome of an issue that matters to you.
And if you haven’t already, make sure you renew your GVSHP membership for the new year or join us for the first time today!