TESTIMONY

Department of Buildings Oversight Hearing (click here to see full article)
November 30th, 2000
City Hall

. . . Illegal development is rampant throughout the city. Permits and plans are routinely switched and/or forged; plans are regularly absent from public view at the Buildings Department, especially when a project is under scrutiny. Construction without permits occurs regularly, with no penalty to the builder; when complaints are made of clearly illegal activity, more often than not the Buildings Department legalizes the work. Furthermore, it has clearly not stopped the endemic bribery and corruption at the Buildings Department. . .



New York City Planning Commission / The Unified Bulk Program (click here to see full article)
(#NOOO244ZRY)
April 25, 2000
City Hall

. . . The Unified Bulk Program exacerbates burdens community facilities present higher density districts and largely ignores the problems experienced in lower and medium density districts. Issues ranging from the definition of community facilities, bulk bonuses, post- construction changes in use, parking to impacts on the infrastructure should be addressed in the Unified Bulk Program. . .



Kew Forest Neighborhood Proposed Rezoning (click here to see full article)
December 23rd, 1999
Queens Borough Hall

. . . In the current mad rush of development which is sweeping across Queens, it is imperative to make sure that the zoning of a neighborhood reflects the current built environment, not the speculative plan that was put in place 40 years ago by the real estate industry in order to serve an estimated 16 million New York City residents which has failed to materialize. As many, many neighborhoods in Queens are at risk, contextual rezoning in places that warrant it can make the difference between small incremental changes that we can accept and vast, deleterious changes in the places in which we live. This is especially true for enclaves such as Kew Forest which are surrounded by different types of development. I implore the Borough President, and for that matter, all Community Boards and neighborhood and civic associations, to carefully examine every square inch of your territory. Examine your deeds; see if you have private restrictions; and fight to maintain the character of your neighborhood any way that you can through zoning, landmarking or defending your covenants. . .



Landmarks Preservation Commission / Fort Totten (click here to see full article)
Proposed Municipal Historic District
May 4, 1999
100 Old Slip

. . . As Secretary of the organization, I am speaking on behalf of the Fort Totten Conservancy today. Our organization was formed several years ago to ensure that when Fort Totten was decommissioned by the Army, it would remain in the public realm. Most importantly, Fort Totten s architectural, historical and natural resources had to be protected for all people to enjoy.
It has been a long and hard battle to save this unique place, something that predates our organization's involvement by almost 15 years, when a request for a National Register historic district encompassing Fort Totten was initially made. For the likes of Fort Totten's historian, Jack Fein, it has been a lifetime of trying over and over to gain official protection. Therefore, we are proud to support a municipal historic landmark district at Fort Totten. . .



Landmarks Preservation Commission/ (click here to see full article)
Hearing on St.Monica's Church in Jamaica, Queens
July 28, 1998
100 Old Slip


. . . When it comes to development and preservation issues, Queens has always been treated under a different set of standards than Manhattan or Brooklyn. For developers, whether they be private individuals and corporations, or the public or governmental sectors, Queens has always been wide-open country, the Wild West of New York City. . . Queens is decades behind the other boroughs in landmark designations; instead of entertaining the idea of officially allowing one of our few long-standing landmark designations to be dismantled and the building subsequently demolished, the Landmarks Preservation Commission should have been, and certainly should be presently, examining what the State Dormitory Authority must do to remedy the situation. Contrary to what the state would have us believe, this "house of God" did not fall by an "act of God" but by years of purposeful neglect, with the sole intent of that state agency to see that building crash to the ground, thereby avoiding anyone having to take the heat for swinging the wrecker's ball. . .



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