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PUBLIC TESTIMONY
Testimony by Mark Ruffalo, Supporter of Center at West Park
1:46:22
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4 min
Mark Ruffalo, a supporter of the Center at West Park, testified about the importance of preserving landmarks in New York City, particularly focusing on the efforts to save the church at West Park. He emphasized the need for better communication between the Landmarks Preservation Commission and the public, and highlighted the economic and cultural value of preserving historic buildings.
- Criticized the lack of public access to Landmarks Preservation Commissioners during the hearing
- Highlighted that 24,490 people have shown support for saving the church at West Park
- Mentioned that $8 million has been raised to fix the church's shed, demonstrating public commitment to preservation
- Called for City Council involvement when property owners refuse to make repairs despite available funds, to prevent "demolition by neglect"
Mark Ruffalo
1:46:22
Okay.
1:46:23
Good.
1:46:24
Hi.
1:46:24
It's Mark Ruffalo.
1:46:25
I'm sorry I was there.
1:46:26
I had to leave.
1:46:27
I was an hour late for work, but I wanted to I wanted to participate, and I wanted to I wanted to weigh in with the commissioners.
1:46:36
It's sad that they were they were actually taken out of the room.
1:46:40
I I just found out.
1:46:43
But it it it does feel like a just for the city council and thank you, chairman Powers, for having us today.
1:46:50
It just feels, from my experience with Landmarks and the general counsel, to be kind of indicative of the relationship that Landmarks has with the the public today.
1:47:06
They're sequestered.
1:47:08
They they they spend more time talking to developers and so on and so forth, and the public gets to speak to them.
1:47:17
And it was an experience that I had when I first met with Landmarks, which is on the street of 80 Sixth Street.
1:47:24
Gail Brewer was there, and the council for Landmarks refused to allow the tenant, the center, to speak about the church.
1:47:37
And so I I urge you, as as a city council, to do all you can to make sure that that we have a connection to our commissioners because they're so integral to the quality of the city and and the the quality of what we see, and and those are economic drivers.
1:48:02
So I wanna just move to the to the church, the the center at West Park, which I'm part of, and just say how much in the past two years we've seen an influx of support.
1:48:17
This goes back to this question about where does the public sit within the conversation with the commissioners.
1:48:26
I think it's an integral part of it, and and it needs to be it needs to have an equal sort of footing as any other person or community member in those conversations.
1:48:41
Since the two years that we've been trying to save the church, 24,490 people have come expressly to show support for saving that landmark.
1:48:52
Now what that relate how that relates to the rest of the city is how that drives our economy.
1:48:59
And I I don't think it's I I I I don't think we could put enough importance on how important these landmarks are, not just to us as artists, but also to the growth and the economy of the city, which is in great part an art center.
1:49:16
And I think something that's happened and is happening with our landmarks is they're being targeted for these kinds of demolitions by neglect.
1:49:31
And I know there was only one last year, and I and I do wanna say I thank the commission for for its diligence.
1:49:38
They did the due diligence, and and they saw that the that the numbers that were gonna be needed to repair the church were inflated by the by the developer by by tenfold.
1:49:52
That was that was beautiful to see, and I and I I hope that I I don't know if any of this will ever get to them, but I hope that they are able to know that they should be independent.
1:50:03
They should remain independent.
1:50:05
And there's gonna be a lot of outside forces that are gonna want to control these decisions.
1:50:10
I mean, these are multi multi million, tens of million, billion dollar industries that are asking to tear down these landmarks.
1:50:21
Lastly, I wanna say that we have raised the money to going back to Gail's question, we have raised the money to fix that shed.
1:50:29
It's $8,000,000.
1:50:30
Those are the those are the 24,000 people that that showed up to pay for fixing that shed.
1:50:36
And I'm asking the commission I mean, city council to remember that because this is this becomes a loophole.
1:50:44
If the money is sitting there and and the the the people who are trying to de landmark for hardship are refusing to make the the adjustments, I think the city council has to get involved.
1:50:58
And and that's the end of my that's the end of my comments.
1:51:01
I'm sorry if I went too long.