Ratner award sparks intra-preservationist fight

Dana Rubinstein

A venerable preservationist group will on June 11 honor a developer deplored by preservationists, and the resulting intra-preservationist controversy has boiled over into a proper, public scrum.

On Monday afternoon, the Historic Districts Council sent out an email to the press declaring itself “appalled” by the actions of its colleagues over at the Municipal Art Society for their decision to bestow the coveted Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal on Bruce Ratner and Maryanne Gilmartin, the executive chairman and president and C.E.O, respectively, of Forest City Ratner Companies, the real estate concern that gave us MetroTech, Atlantic Yards, Atlantic Center Mall and New York by Gehry at 8 Spruce Street.

“Conflating the company’s record of bulldozing neighborhoods with Mrs. Onassis’s pivotal role in preserving New York City’s Landmarks Law is something H.D.C. feels should not go unnoticed,” reads the email.

“It’s not like they’re building great spaces,” said Simeon Bankoff, the group’s executive director, in a follow-up interview.

http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/city-hall/2014/06/8546446/ratner-award-sparks-intra-preservationist-fight