Monday, April 6, 2026, 10 a.m. (New York City time), 250 Broadway - 8th Floor - Hearing Room 1
Committee: Committee on Rules, Privileges, Elections, Standards and Ethics
0:13 Very much good morning and
0:13 welcome to today's New York
0:14 City Council hearing for the
0:15 committee on rules privileges
0:17 elections standard and ethics
0:18 at this time I would like t
0:20 oremind everyone that sound so
0:22 electronic devices also at
0:23 this point going forward no
0:25 one is approached approach t
0:25 otheirs
0:25 . Till we're ready to begin.
0:31 Good morning and welcome t
0:33 othis meeting of the committee
0:35 on rules privileges elections
0:37 standard and ethics I'm
0:39 council ong a committee before
0:40 we we begin I would like t
0:41 orecognize other members of the
0:42 committee who are present
0:44 Council Member rally we also
0:45 joined by Council Member morte e
0:49 to the council to the
0:50 committee jeff campania and
0:51 the committee staff that
0:52 worked on today's hearing
0:54 director of pop integrity
0:56 francesca De La vecchia deputy
0:58 director of public integrity
1:00 alicia vassal and chief ethics
1:01 counsel pearle mawr by letter
1:04 dated April 24 2026 Mayor zara
1:08 madani requested advice and
1:09 consent of the council
1:11 regarding his proposed
1:13 appointment elisa casa vich t
1:15 obe a member of the landmarks
1:17 preservation commission today
1:18 we'll hold a public hearing
1:19 pursuant to section 31 of the
1:21 charter to consider this
1:23 nomination section 30 20 of
1:25 the charter establishes that
1:26 the New York City landmarks
1:28 preservation commission also
1:29 known as lpc is responsible
1:32 for establishing a regularly
1:34 landmarks portion of landmarks l
1:36 landmarks and scenic landmarks
1:38 and historic districts delpy
1:41 also regulates auto
1:44 alterations buildings della p
1:45 c consists of 11 members
1:46 membership must must include
1:47 at
1:47 . Least three architects one
1:49 historian qualifying the the
1:52 one City planner a landscape
1:53 architect and one realtor and
1:55 must include at least one
1:56 resident from each of the fiv
1:58 eboroughs members serve for the
1:59 term of three years and served
2:00 until the appointment of a
2:02 successor.
2:02 The Mayor also designates
2:04 one of the lpc members t
2:05 oserve as a chair of the
2:06 . Lpc and designate another
2:08 member to serve as vice chair
2:10 of the lpc these lpc members
2:12 shall serve until his
2:12 successor is designated the
2:14 members of the lpc the
2:15 exception of the chair serves
2:18 without compensation by
2:19 reimbursed for necessary
2:21 expenses and incur in the
2:21 course of performing their
2:23 duties the Mayor has expressed
2:24 his intent to designate the
2:27 New chair of the commission
2:29 the chairs current sally is
2:34 too hundred $23000 3 hundred
2:34 and 19c lisa savage joins us
2:35 today she has been on the
2:37 staff of that landmark
2:39 preservation commission since
2:41 2015 when she joins the
2:43 director of special projects
2:45 and strategic planning since
2:46 20 19 she has been executive
2:48 director of the agency in
2:49 which role she conceived
2:52 drafted and executed the
2:53 agency's equity agenda t
2:55 oshort diversity and inclusion
2:57 and lpc s historic
2:59 designations prior to joining
3:00 lpc from 20 12 2 20 15 savitch
3:04 was a project manager at the
3:06 van ela institute where she
3:08 oversaw a 3 million design
3:10 competition to develop a
3:11 sustainable vision of the
3:13 lower mississippi delta from
3:16 2004 2 2012 she worked at the
3:18 municipal art society as a
3:20 fellow the director of
3:22 advocacy and policy and as a
3:24 senior director of
3:26 preservation and
3:27 sustainability where she led
3:27 the campaign to construct a
3:29 monahan station she also
3:31 served as executive director
3:32 of the friends of the upper
3:33 east side historic district
3:35 from 19 99 2 2004 and from 1
3:40 997 2 19 99 where she was a
3:42 publication specialist as what
3:43 is now known as you know its
3:45 architects miss kay savage on
3:46 her bachelors of art and art
3:49 history from pennsylvania
3:50 state university and master's
3:51 degree in historic
3:53 preservation from columbia
3:55 university
3:55 . If appointed miss cassava
3:57 serves the savitch will serve
3:58 the remainder of a three year
3:59 term that will expire on jun
4:02 e28 2028 while come miss kay
4:02 savage and thank you for being
4:04 with us here today before you
4:07 begin please raise the right
4:07 hand to be sworn in your firm
4:10 to tell the truth the whole
4:12 truth and nothing but the
4:13 truth in your testimony before
4:14 this committee and an answer
4:15 recognized to give an openings
4:20 statement great thank you very
4:22 much herr good morning to you
4:24 and Council Member Marte and
4:26 two members of the committee
4:28 on rules privileges elections
4:30 standards and ethics I'm
4:31 honored to be Mayor mom
4:33 donnie's nominee to be chair
4:34 of the landmarks preservation
4:36 commission I believe the work
4:37 of l is important and that the
4:39 preservation of historic
4:40 resources can support
4:43 communities foster economic
4:44 development and contribute t
4:46 othe vitality of New York City.
4:46 I bring to the commission
4:48 more than two decades of
4:49 experience working at the
4:50 intersection of historic
4:51 preservation urban planning
4:53 and sustainability as well as
4:54 a strong track record of
4:56 executive leadership in both
4:56 government and the nonprofit
4:58 sector I believe my experience
4:59 and approach to preservation
5:00 will enable me to serve as an
5:02 effective chair and I hope
5:03 that you will support my
5:05 nomination an interest in
5:06 architectural history and
5:07 urban planning brought me t
5:08 othe field that is.
5:10 And has shaped the direction
5:11 of my career having a lifelong
5:13 dream of of living working in
5:15 New York City I was excited t
5:17 omove here for graduate studies
5:19 at columbia university where I
5:20 focused on the public policy
5:22 and urban planning aspects of
5:24 historic preservation after
5:25 working at the preservation
5:26 nonprofit friends of the upper
5:27 east side of start districts I
5:30 held senior positions at the
5:32 munich municipal society of
5:33 New York where the advocacy
5:37 was deliberately
5:37 interdisciplinary.
5:38 Looking at how preservation
5:40 can contribute to neighborhood
5:42 plans rezoning h's and
5:43 economic development projects.
5:45 That approach to historic
5:46 preservation has been an
5:47 important guiding principle to
5:49 me at a man I led a large
5:51 project to improve the energy
5:53 efficiency and sustainability
5:54 of historic buildings later I
5:56 was able to apply my
5:57 resiliency and climate change
5:59 interests leading an ambitious
6:02 design competition sponsored
6:03 by the environmental defense
6:04 fund and van allen institute
6:06 convening global teams of
6:08 interdisciplinary experts t
6:10 ore imagine a more sustainable
6:12 lower mississippi river delta
6:14 subsequently I joined lpc
6:15 . Where I've worked for 1
6:17 1years serving first as the
6:18 director of strategic planning
6:20 and special projects and for
6:20 the last seven years as
6:23 executive director.
6:24 The time that I've been at
6:26 the agency I have helped make
6:28 advancements to increase
6:29 efficiency transparency and
6:30 accessibility of our
6:33 permitting process to
6:34 designate significant historic
6:34 resources across the City and
6:37 prioritizing places that
6:38 reflect the city's diversity
6:40 and to educate property owners
6:42 about permitting processes and
6:44 grant opportunities taking on
6:44 the role of chair at this time
6:47 is personally important as I
6:48 am to help advance the goals
6:49 of the mondaini administration
6:53 to address affordability
6:54 increase housing and make
6:55 government work for all New
6:58 yorkers
6:58 . As chair addressing housing
7:00 issues will be a priority and
7:01 would align with my inner
7:03 dissident interdisciplinary
7:04 approach to the field
7:05 . Finding the right balance
7:07 between protecting the
7:08 character of New York city's
7:09 historic districts and
7:11 landmarks while allowing for
7:12 the development of New housing
7:13 is an obligation that I'm
7:14 confident in my abilities to
7:16 take on another priority for
7:18 me is continuing to advance
7:20 equitable representation and
7:22 designations prioritizing
7:23 those that reflect New York
7:25 city's diversity and that are
7:27 in areas less represented by
7:29 landmarks and striving to tel
7:30 lthe story of all New York er's.
7:31 In addition I believe it is
7:33 important to work closely with
7:35 agencies such as the
7:36 department of City planning t
7:38 oidentify opportunities for
7:40 preservation in areas planned
7:42 for gross supporting property
7:44 owners of designated landmarks
7:45 is another priority as shero
7:47 continue advancing our work t
7:49 osupport property owners and
7:50 ensure that we are issuing
7:52 guidance that is clear and
7:53 that we consider rule
7:55 amendments to expedite the
7:55 type of work typically
7:57 undertaken by small property
7:58 owners
7:59 . Another priority is
8:00 addressing sustainability
8:00 issues and our historic
8:02 resources encouraging work
8:03 that's sensitively improves
8:05 energy efficiency and
8:07 resiliency is important and I
8:08 will consider measures to
8:11 streamline permitting to
8:11 support this type of work
8:13 finally supporting and
8:15 nurturing lpc staff is also a
8:17 priority over my time at lpc
8:19 I've witnessed their
8:20 dedication to the field and t
8:22 othe New York City residents
8:23 that they serve and I'm
8:24 honored to lead such a
8:25 talented team I am excited for
8:27 the future of preservation in
8:28 New York City and thank the
8:31 City Council for considering
8:31 and supporting my nomination
8:33 as chair of the landmarks
8:35 preservation commission thank
8:36 you again for offering the
8:37 opportunity to testify and I'm
8:39 happy to answer any questions
8:40 that you have.
8:42 Thank you we also joined by
8:44 Council Member and I will ask
8:46 you some questions before I
8:47 turn over to my colleagues as
8:50 executive director lpc you
8:51 played a leading role in
8:53 crafting and implementing the
8:55 agency's equity initiative can
8:56 you explain what that is sure.
8:59 What we did in is look at
9:02 the agency wide how we we
9:06 improve equity transparency
9:08 across the entire agency so
9:09 some of that work was related
9:11 to making sure that our
9:13 permitting processes it's very
9:15 clear for everybody else
9:17 unusual agency and that our
9:19 applicants range from
9:21 individual property owners t
9:23 osay architects or land use
9:24 attorneys so we wanted to make
9:25 sure that the individual
9:28 property owners have equal
9:29 access to information that
9:30 they could apply to lpc on
9:31 their own and make sure that
9:33 our staff was working with
9:35 them closely to help support
9:37 them I think most importantly
9:40 to with our
9:41 . Landmark designations we
9:44 really sought to prioritiz
9:46 edesignations that reflect the
9:47 diversity of the City um and
9:49 to also look at designations
9:53 that geographically diverse in
9:53 the City as well and t
9:57 oundertake research that is
9:58 very inclusive that really
10:00 makes sure.
10:00 To tell those stories I
10:01 think especially telling the
10:03 stories of social justice and
10:05 civil rights is also very
10:06 important to us so we use that
10:09 as a framework to prioritize
10:12 designations over the last
10:14 several years and
10:14 . I think that work is very
10:16 important and will continue.
10:18 Thank you so when analyzing
10:20 whether a slight should be
10:21 landmark how should the
10:22 historic nature of its site be
10:25 balanced with its esthetic
10:28 uniqueness that's a great
10:29 question
10:29 . You know we the landmark's
10:31 law is quite broad but we over
10:34 the six years of the agency
10:38 have developed you know
10:40 criteria and comparative
10:42 analysis to really look at how
10:43 we can identify places that
10:46 merit designation typically
10:48 places are architecturally
10:49 significant but we also can
10:54 recognize historic significant
10:55 cultural significance and we
10:56 usually look at the
10:57 combination of all of them t
10:59 odetermine that significance
11:01 we've also been joined by
11:05 council Encarnación as
11:06 executive director how do you
11:08 respond to requests for
11:10 designation for
11:10 . Advocates do you can you
11:12 explain the regulatory
11:13 thresholds for these
11:15 designations sure um so l l p
11:18 c s
11:18 applications for
11:22 . Designations other cities do
11:24 that but we do have a process
11:27 to have people request whether
11:29 a site merit designation and
11:31 that's the request for
11:33 evaluation so those come into
11:35 us and our our research
11:37 department guided by our
11:39 director of research analyzes
11:42 whether the property merit
11:45 designation and we do a lot of
11:47 research into these sites and
11:48 then respond to the person who
11:50 sent it to us and importantly
11:52 that information goes into our
11:53 survey so if it is a place
11:54 that merits designation it
11:56 goes into her survey but it
11:59 doesn't necessarily lead to a
12:02 designation.
12:03 I'm sorry can you clarify
12:04 what does it mean going to a
12:06 survey
12:06 . So our research department
12:09 has surveys of historic
12:12 buildings historically
12:12 culturally and architecturally
12:13 significant buildings across
12:14 the City those are our
12:16 internal working dot um
12:19 guidelines for places and we
12:21 refer to them in environmental
12:25 review and other you know
12:26 analysis that we do some of
12:29 those we advance to designate
12:31 either as an individual
12:33 landmark interior landmark or
12:34 a historic district.
12:36 And do you explain that
12:39 whole process to advocates
12:42 about how you know
12:43 . How to get the designation
12:45 how do you explain the whole
12:46 process of advocates yeah and
12:48 it's and it's I admit a bit
12:52 confusing so because I think
12:53 people do often think there is
12:55 an application process for
12:56 designation so we do try very
12:58 hard to communicate that
13:01 clearly and I think you know
13:03 that that.
13:04 Advocacy organizations I
13:05 think understand that but I
13:07 think particularly individual
13:08 property owners sometimes
13:09 reach out to us or you know
13:12 other
13:13 . Other people we do in our
13:14 responses to people trying t
13:17 oexplain that and you know that
13:19 it's and if a building merits
13:22 designation that it doesn't
13:23 necessarily mean that we are