LANDMARKS COMMISSIONER NOMINATION HEARING

The City Council public hearing on Margery H. Perlmutter, Mayor Bloomberg's nominee to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), has been rescheduled for Wednesday, May 24, at 10:30 AM in the Council Chamber at City Hall.

The announcement of Ms. Perlmutter�s nomination a few weeks ago raised considerable concern about potential conflicts of interest based on her record as an attorney and registered lobbyist with Bryan Cave LLP, a law firm that routinely targets the LPC, City Planning Commission and community boards (including Manhattan Community Board 8, on which Ms. Perlmutter currently serves as co-chair of the Landmarks Committee) on behalf of developer clients.

Based on information provided by Ms. Perlmutter, the Conflicts of Interest Board has ruled that she may serve on the LPC as long as she recuses herself from every matter that her firm handles before the LPC. However, given that Bryan Cave attorneys "appear frequently before the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on behalf of clients seeking permission to alter protected properties or to develop in historic districts" (www.bryancave.com), the LPC may find itself one commissioner down on any number of important landmark issues. It doesn't matter which side she represents, someone who continues to work for a firm that regularlly lobbies the LPC does not belong on the Commission.This is the wrong choice!

Please reach out to your council members!

IMPORTANT CONTACTS:

Council Member Diana Reyna, chair of the Rules, Privileges & Elections Committee
reyna@council.nyc.ny.us
718-963-3141 (phone)
718-963-4527 (fax)

Council Speaker Christine Quinn
quinn@council.nyc.ny.us
212-564-7757 (phone)
212-564-7347 (fax)

Council Member Jessica Lappin, chair of the Landmarks, Public Siting & Maritime Uses Committee
lappin@council.nyc.ny.us
212-535-5554 (phone)
212-535-6098 (fax)

Your local council member (go to http://www.cmap.nypirg.org/netmaps/MyGovernment/NYC/MyGovernmentNYCMaps.asp?DistType=cncl_06_03 for contact information). **Members of the Rules, Privileges & Elections Committee include CM's Maria Baez, Yvette D. Clarke, Leroy G. Comrie, Jr., Inez E. Dickens, Erik Martin Dilan, Lewis A. Fidler, Daniel R. Garodnick, Robert Jackson, Melinda R. Katz, Michael E. McMahon, James S. Oddo, Christine C. Quinn, Joel Rivera, and David I. Weprin**

Your friends and neighbors - please urge them to put in their own calls and emails to Council members.

And don't forget the Mayor's office - adavis@cityhall.nyc.gov (Andrea Davis, Advisory Committee on Appointments).