New York City: Historic Preservation

Historic Preservation is often seen as an elite club whose membership is bought by the cities' median income. A cycle of investment and disinvestment is what generates cities today. The lower class is constantly being displaced by economic actors to serve the middle class. Some will leave this cycle having benefitted from it, able to buy the ideal single family home. Others, the renters, will have been pushed to another soon to be or already blighted area. Progress in city growth has come to be accepted as gentrification.
Concentrated “ghettos” or blighted areas were created by systematic means of segregation. Starting with deed restrictions on the individual level and restrictive covenants on the level of the community. Local governments …show more content…
In 1965, the NYC Landmarks Law was passed, “the law was intended to safeguard buildings and places that represent New York City’s cultural, social, economic, political, and architectural history”. The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the organization that determines landmark and historic district designations and regulates those sites. “The Commission’s scope includes reviewing alterations to existing historic buildings, reviewing new construction within historic districts, and deciding upon new historic designations”. As of March of 2016, 115 local historic districts and 1,355 landmarked sites were in existence. Only 4% of NYC lots are under the control of the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Leaving 95% of the land to developed without …show more content…
The balance between gentrification and preservation is a tough one. Professionals have even began asking themselves if gentrification is a positive occurrence. “Gentrification is a double-edged sword. It is often a productive byproduct of revitalizing city neighborhoods, but it can impose great costs on certain individual families and businesses, often those least able to afford them”. Various government policies welcome gentrification as a way to create economic opportunities and improve the quality of life for residents. While crime rates may drop and job opportunities rise, landlords force tenants out of their homes, and banks, realtors, and insurance companies actively seek out wealthier residents. From urban renewal to revitalization preservation has straddled the line of being active participants and the accused. Research shows that through preserving neighborhoods with historic designations that displacement will continuously be a consequence of