Historic District Designation for South Greenwich Village

We, the undersigned, support the following letter by NY Production Designer and USA 829 member Dan Leigh:

Dear Chair Tierney:

I am a concerned New Yorker and a thirty-year resident of Greenwich Village. I am writing to you and the Landmarks Preservation Commission as a professional in an industry directly and negatively affected by the disintegration of the South Village. Every year dozens of film, television, and commercial productions film sequences in Greenwich Village. The Village canvas is an irreplaceable resource to an industry that generates billions of dollars every year into the New York City economy. The City tax revenue from the entertainment industry is nearly a billion dollars annually. As Village streetscapes are jeopardized by building loss, ill-suited replacement, inconsistent zoning, and lax renovation guidelines, the film and television industry is weakened in it's ability to compete with cities like Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, and even Montreal where respect for the architecture of the past and the history of all classes is nurtured and maintained.

Much of the country and the world are introduced to New York City through images in films and television shows. There is a direct positive correlation between the New York entertainment industry and tourism. Tour buses travel Village streets and visitors on foot infuse our economy. Not because a travel agent or guidebook told them to see the Village, but to experience, first-hand, streets and locations impressed upon them through film and television. Lines of patrons at the Magnolia Bakery and John's Pizza illustrate the positive impact of film and television on tourism and commerce.

I suggest that you and the members of your Commission walk along Downing Street where concurrent large-scale construction projects are radically altering the setting. Or stop for lunch at an outside table at the Cornelia Street Cafe, knowing that, a few doors up, the gracious carriage house at 23 Cornelia, a frequent stop for walking tours, is about to be crowned with an incongruous mass of architectural grandstanding. These streets are being rendered less appealing to residents, less attractive to visitors, and certainly less viable as film and television locations. Inaction on the South Village Historic District paves the way for other cities and even Hollywood back lots to become more enticing than the real New York City.

Tens of thousands of New Yorkers comprise the membership of union locals and guilds that depend on the visual mosaic of our five boroughs. Surely there are ways to allow development without harming an industry vital to the City economy. Through your leadership and the swift action of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the escalating loss currently under way would be curbed.

I urge you to act and no longer postpone the addition of the South Village to the Historic District.

Respectfully,

Dan Leigh
Production Designer
IATSE / United Scenic Artists Local USA 829