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We, the undersigned residents of New York City, call for an end to the violence that real estate developers have inflicted on our skyline, parks, public areas, and cityscape with the proliferation of dramatically over-scaled buildings that ignore the historic context of our city.

Whereas:

1. We are angered when developers seize our commonly shared light, air, gardens, and iconic views for private consumption.
2. We are aggrieved when we see developers plunder our historic neighborhoods and bury them in a sea of glass, all for luxury housing that destroys more affordable apartments than they create.
3. We are dismayed that small businesses are being hounded out of their premises by an army of banks and chain stores.
4. Many parts of our city are already too dense such that the public infrastructure in those places cannot support more people without a decline in the quality of life, destruction of historic fabric, and deterioration of the urban experience that makes New York so great.
5. Economic growth and affordable housing are indisputably compatible with both a human-scaled city and the preservation of our historic neighborhoods and architecture.

We conclude that reform must take place or the unique character of New York City will be lost forever.

We call upon the Mayor and the City Council to prioritize and develop zoning changes, height restrictions, demolition moratoria, strengthened environmental review processes, and to implement regulatory reforms and laws to guide future development towards a human-scaled future – one that protects rather then destroys New York’s historic fabric. We ask that appointees to regulatory bodies be free of ties to the real estate industry and that the revolving door between regulatory agencies and the real estate industry be shut. We call for widespread public debate and referenda on these policies and discussion as to what kind of planning is needed to realize a human-scaled city.

We also call on the political clubs to field candidates for all offices who are willing to challenge the power and influence that the real estate lobby has accrued within our government.

SPONSORS:

If your organization would like to be a co-sponsor, please email coordinator@humanscale.nyc.

If your organization would like to be a co-sponsor, please email coordinator@humanscale.nyc.

Art Loisada Foundation
Artists Studio Affordability Project
Auburndale Improvement Association
Bay Improvement Group
Bay Ridge Conservancy
Bedford Stuyvesant Society for Historic Preservation
Bowery Alliance of Neighbors
Brooklyn Bridge Park Defense Fund
Bronx County Green Party
Chelsea for Peace
Citizens Emergency Committee to Preserve Preservation
Citizens Defending Libraries
Coalition for a Livable West Side
Committee for Environmentally Sound Development
Committee to Save Sheepshead Bay
Community Action Alliance on NYU2031
Committee to Save the New York Public Library
Concerned Citizens for Community Based Planning
Corona East Elmhurst Historic Preservation Society
Crown Heights North Association
Crown Heights South Association
Defenders of the Historic Upper East Side
DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance
East Harlem Preservation
East River Fifties Alliance
East 83rd/84th Street Block Association
El Barrio Unite
Fiske Terrace Association
Friends of Brook Park
Friends of Bushwick Inlet Park
Friends of City Hall Park
Friends of Damrosch Park
Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus
Friends of Greenwich Street
Friends of Lamartine Place Historic District
Friends of the Lower East Side
Friends of the Lower West Side
Friends of South Street Seaport
Friends of Tribeca Park
Fulton Area Coming Together (FACT)
Gerritsen Beach Cares
Gramercy Park Block Association
Greater Astoria Historical Society
Green Park Gardeners NYC
Hell’s Kitchen Neighborhood Association
Historic Districts Council
Inwood Preservation
LANDMARK WEST!
Limited Equity and Affordability at Penn South
Lower East Side Dwellers
Lower East Side Preservation Initiative
Madison-Marine-Homecrest Civic Association
Marine Park Civic Association
McCarren Park Conservancy
Merchant’s House Museum
Movement to Protect the People in Crown Heights
Moving Forward Unidos (Inwood)
Murray Hill Neighborhood Association
North Avenue A Association
North Manhattan is Not For Sale
NYU Faculty Against the Sexton Plan
100 West 16th Street Block Association
People for Green Space
Project for Public Spaces
Preservation League of Staten Island
Preserve Stuyvesant Square Historic District
Queens Historical Society
Residents for Reasonable Development – Yorkville
Sara Roosevelt Park Community Coalition
Save Chelsea
Save Cobble Hill
Save Gansevoort
Save Harlem Now!
#SaveNYC
Save the View Now
Save our Seaport
Save the Flushing RKO Keith’s Theatre Committee
Seward Park around Canal East Block Association (SPaCE)
SoHo Alliance
South Bronx Unite
South Village Neighbors
South Midwood Residents Association
Sullivan-Ludlam-Stoddard Neighborhood Association
Sunnyside Artists, Inc.
Sunnyside Gardens Preservation Alliance
TakeBackNYC
TenantNet
Tribeca Trust
Turtle Bay Neighborhood Association
Union Square Community Coalition
29th Street Neighborhood Association
Victorian Society of New York
Vinegar Hill Neighborhood Association
Wa Greene Block Association
Washington Street Historical Society
West 46th Street Association
West 80’s Neighborhood Association
West Village Committee
Women of Woodlawn