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Q&A
Stephen Wilder shares personal experience with community landmark loss and preservation efforts
1:01:40
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162 sec
Stephen Wilder, a nominee for the Landmark Preservation Commission, shares his personal and professional experiences with community landmark loss and preservation efforts. He discusses growing up in Harlem and witnessing the changes in the neighborhood, as well as his work with the Preservation League of New York State.
- Wilder recounts seeing culturally significant places in Harlem disappear, which sparked his interest in landmarks preservation
- He mentions his experience on the 'Seven to Save' committee, which selects seven preservation projects annually from numerous applications
- Wilder emphasizes the importance of public education and partnerships in preserving historical places
Stephen Wilder
1:01:40
Thanks for your question.
1:01:41
So I think for me this is a two part answer.
1:01:47
I think as similar to what's been stated, from my understanding of how things work, the Landmarks Preservation Commission staff are the ones that looks at these types of projects throughout the New York City communities.
1:02:03
So as a commissioner, I'm not sure if I'm if I have a role in getting to decide how that process works.
1:02:10
So that's the first part.
1:02:11
But the second part is kind of my personal and professional experience with these types of things.
1:02:18
And I'm one of those people that mentioned in my testimony having to kind of endure and see those things right before my eyes.
1:02:26
Growing up in growing up in Harlem and kind of living through the changes of what it's what it was and what it is now, it was definitely bittersweet to see places that I grew up going to whether it was restaurants or various buildings that were and spaces that were in places that we thought were historic.
1:02:50
And seeing those things no longer there, especially today, I think those are some of the things that sparked my interest in Landmarks and wanted to learn more and seeing how I can empower myself and also my community.
1:03:06
And then also the fact the past few years that I've been a board member or trustee on the preservation league of New York State, every year they put me on the seven to save committee.
1:03:17
And so it's like you get thirty, forty, 50 applications to review and you can only pick seven throughout the entire state.
1:03:27
And so you hear you see these really long applications that people put and they're you know putting it all out there of why this project should be saved and you kind of wish you could save all of them but it's called seven to save, it's it's limited in what we can do.
1:03:43
And so I think something that can always be done is really informing the public, right?
1:03:52
I think it can go both ways in terms of the public really understanding what they have in their communities, what the value of some of these historical places are, so that it becomes more of a relationship with with landmarks in the entire city of what should be kept and and what's the process of making sure that these places are preserved.
1:04:11
And I think most of the work I do is really about partnerships and not just hey, this is our job, but I think as an entire city, we all have to look at all of these different situations.