Community board votes for massive East Village landmarking

The controversial proposal to landmark 330 East Village buildings was the subject of a two-hour Community Board 3 meeting yesterday that ended with the landmark subcommittee voting to push the proposal forward, East Village Local reported. Representatives from neighborhood synagogues and churches were the leading opponents of the plan, arguing that the designation would prevent them from maintaining their houses of worship. They appealed to local sensibilities, by arguing that such designations impede the neighborhood’s reputation for encouraging free spirits.

“This neighborhood is known for its artistic and independent nature,” said Father Michael Suvak of the Cathedral of Holy Virgin Protection. “By landmarking and adding extra red tape, it’s going against the nature of the East Village.”

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But preservationists, led by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, argued that the designation isn’t as restrictive as opponents make it out to be. The proposed historic district covers the stretch of East 10th Street between avenues A and B that overlooks Tompkins Square Park, and a section of Buildings That Surround Second Avenue Between East 2nd Street and St. Mark’s Place. [EV Local]