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GVSHP Keeping up the Fight

During the holiday season we reflect back on the past year.  Here at GVSHP we’ve certainly had some big accomplishments.  We have also had a lot of wonderful support from our members and neighbors, but we need your help to continue the fight.  Please consider GVSHP in your year-end giving!

speechbubble-useAlice Carey and Geoffrey Knox, co-founders of Perry Street Crusaders and 40-plus years Village residents, had this to say when asked what GVSHP means to them:

“We can’t say enough how GVSHP was instrumental in our Far West Village community’s fight against an oversized hotel being built at the corner of Washington and Perry Streets.  While neighbors mobilized quickly in outrage, what we needed was advice, and GVSHP was with us every step of the way…

What was special about GVSHP was that it guided but never dictated a way forward- we organized and gathered support within the community on our own.  While they gave us strategic advice and encouragement, our community grew stronger by working hard ourselves and fighting forward in true equal partnership with GVSHP.

Over the course of four years, they stuck with us, never wavering, always supportive.  The end result?  Victory!  Not only was that hideous hotel never built, but joining with a larger coalition of groups we were able to get a previously forgotten strip of the Far West Village rezoned in record time.  We have to keep fighting new threats to preserve our neighborhood, but we’re stronger and more confident with a superb ally in GVSHP.”

Click here to read more testimonials and find out what GVSHP means to your neighbors and friends.

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The Stonewall Inn

In the past year GVSHP has spearheaded numerous efforts continuing our mission to protect and preserve Greenwich Village and the East Village.  The Stonewall Inn was designated as  New York City Landmark on June 23, 2015 thanks to the year-and-a-half campaign by GVSHP.  The rebellion at Stonewall is regarded as the single most enduring event in the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender civil rights movement.  This insurrection gave birth to the gay liberation phase of the lesbian and gay rights movement, transforming the struggle for homosexual equality from a small group of activists into a mass movement, making possible a rapid series of political successes.

GVSHP continues to advocate for the recognition and designation of other LGBT sites.  Click HERE to read more.

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On November 10, 2015, GVSHP, elected officials, residents, business owners and neighbors turned out in huge numbers at the LPC hearing to urge rejection of the proposal for demolition and large-scale new development at 46-74 Gansevoort Street in the heart of the Gansevoort Historic District.  The proposal calls for the demolition of two of the buildings and grossly out of scale additions to the market buildings which define the District.  Hundreds came and the hearing lasted for hours, with only two people speaking in favor of the proposal, and all others speaking forcefully against it.  In the coming year, the proposal will be considered at a future meeting at the LPC.  Click HERE to get updates on this application and click HERE to see our Landmarks Application webpage.

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(l. to r.) 57 Sullivan Street, 2 Oliver Street, 138 Second Avenue, and 801-807 Broadway – just four of the nearly one hundred sites the LPC was planning to ‘de-calendar’ en masse.

In an important victory for preservation efforts, the Landmarks Preservation Commission announced in June, 2015 that they would hear and consider for potential landmark designation approximately 95 sites previously considered for “de-calendaring,” rather than simply removing them all from the list of those under consideration for landmark designation as formerly planned.  On November 5, 2015, GVSHP presented testimony for the designation of four sites on the list in our area and of special concern to GVSHP – 57 Sullivan Street (Broome/Spring Streets) in the South Village, and 1816 Federal-style house, 2 Oliver Street on the Lower East Side, an 1821 Federal-style house, 138 Second Avenue (St. Mark’s Place/9th Street) in the East Village, an 1832 Federal-style house, and the former James McCreery & Co. Store/Cast-Iron Lofts at 801-807 Broadway/67 East 11th Street, built in 1868. For more information on the history of these buildings, click HERE.  Decisions by the LPC will be rendered in 2016; stay tuned!

Help us continue the fight and donate to GVSHP today.

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