Well, here we are. Day 2 of Phase 2. Offices can open. Our Office Manager, Kera Reid, has outfitted us with masks, hand sanitizers, disinfectant sprays, and a thermometer that takes temperatures at the forehead.
A few of us will be going in once or twice a week—masked and spaced apart—but most of us will continue to work from home for the summer. We’ve all stayed busy.
Conservancy Team Updates
The Historic Properties Fund (HPF) approved four new loans two weeks ago to property owners in Fort Greene, Bed-Stuy, Greenpoint and Jackson Heights. Two earlier HPF projects have restarted work. Mark Weber, Jim Mahoney and Blaire Walsh are working on getting paperwork finalized on four others that also were held up when non-essential construction was shut down.
We recently gave a $20,000 Emergency Grant to Casa Belvedere on Staten Island after our Technical Director, Alex Herrera, reviewed their plans for badly needed structural repairs. Casa Belvedere is home to the Italian Cultural Foundation, which reclaimed the once vacant 1908 mansion. Their public arts, cultural and educational programs are housed there.
Andrea Goldwyn, our public policy director, has been following the virtual Landmarks Commission hearings and testifying on projects we’ve reviewed.
Ann Friedman, our Sacred Sites director, has been bicycling to a Brooklyn church to help with some issues in re-installing a giant stained glass window. We gave $44,000 in grants towards the work.
We are also continuing to plan virtual programming. Glen Umberger’s talk on the Custom House at Bowling Green was well received. So Glen, our manager of special programs, is working on future talks based on his past walking tours. We also hope to feature more about our programs.
For those of you who have mailed us only to have the envelopes returned… we are now getting regular mail deliveries at the office. Please do try again.
It felt good to be in the office again. But, from wherever we are stationed, we are thrilled to work on projects that help the recovery of the City we love.
With best wishes from all of us for your health and safety,
Peg Breen, President
The New York Landmarks Conservancy
info@nylandmarks.org