“Grading buses is an easy way to let commuters know what they’re getting, and let the MTA know where they need to improve,” Lappin said in a statement. “For the past two years I’ve issued a report card on Select Bus Service, and it’s been a great transparency tool. Why not extend it to all bus lines?”

Earlier this year, Lappin issued a report card that gave Select Bus Service a “B” for its quality of service. MTA itself conducts customer satisfaction surveys for its overall service on buses, but does not rate individual bus lines.

VANDERBILT YMCA HOLDS CLOTHING DRIVE, FREE DINNER
Vanderbilt YMCA at 224 East 47th Street is conducting a clothing drive throughout the month to benefit victims of Hurricane Sandy. The organization is seeking donations of coats, thermals, gloves, scarves, hats and socks, which they will bundle and distribute to needy families and individuals who attend their free Christmas dinner on Dec. 25. Clothing collection runs through Dec. 21.

STRINGER SEEKS NEW BOARD MEMBERS
Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer is selecting next year’s class of Community Board members. Manhattan is divided geographically into 12 communities, each of which has its own board of up to 50 unpaid local members appointed by Stringer. The boards have no administrative rights, but present requests to the city’s administration that address neighborhood quality of life, business and residential issues. Stringer is holding information sessions about the application process on Thursday, Dec. 13, and Tuesday, Jan. 8, in the Municipal Building at 1 Centre St., 6:30 to 8 p.m. RSVP to cbinfo@manhattanbp.org.

EAST RIVER C.R.E.W. HOPES TO FUND BOAT REPAIRS
East River CREW (Community Recreation and Education on the Water) is wrapping gifts this month to raise repair funds for its two 25-foot boats. The nonprofit, which provides free non-competitive rowing to educate New Yorkers about the East River, will be at the Barnes & Noble at 150 E. 86th Street on Thursdays from 5 to 10 p.m.

According to the organization, one of its boats was punctured during Hurricane Sandy. The second boat was damaged while being wheeled to the East River Esplanade at East 96th Street. The nonprofit uses the boats to promote stewardship of the city’s waters, and runs many programs for schoolchildren.

The organization is also seeking tax-deductible donations. More details can be found at East River CREW’s website, www.eastrivercrew.org.

FREE CHRISTMAS GALA
Arts at the Park, a component of the Park Avenue Christian Church, is holding a free Christmas Gala on Wednesday, Dec. 19. The show will feature a program of choral and instrumental music and readings, with a focus on female composers. Works include organ pieces, a medieval English carol and an African-American spiritual. The concert will conclude with sing-along Christmas tunes and a hot chocolate toast. The concert begins at 8 p.m. at 1010 Park Ave.

Photo courtesy of Wiki Commons.

Preservationists, residents, politicians save 128 E. 13th St. following six-year push

It took six years to accomplish, but hard work and perseverance paid off for city preservationists as the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted unanimously last week to landmark 128 E. 13th St., a building once used to auction off horses.

The campaign to landmark the 1903 building, whose varied uses included the city’s last surviving horse auction mart, studio space for famed painter and sculptor Frank Stella and a World War II-era defense industry training center for women, was spearheaded by the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) and had support from Council Member Rosie Mendez and the Historic Districts Council, among others.

“This designation was especially gratifying, in part because it was so long in the making and in part because we came so close to losing the building,” said Andrew Berman, GVSHP executive director.

In 2006, Berman’s group uncovered a plan by a new owner to tear the building down and replace it with a seven-story condo.

Berman said that shortly after that discovery, his organization alerted the LPC and requested an emergency hearing to save the building. The hearing was made possible because the new owner had not yet filed demolition permits, creating a small window of opportunity to try to save the building.

“128 East 13th Street’s progression from a place where horses, then manufactured goods and then great works of art were produced perfectly captures the arc of downtown’s development,” Berman said during his 2006 testimony before the LPC.

While the building’s use from 1978 to 2005 as the studio of renowned artist Stella was well known, research supplied to the landmark’s commission from the GVSHP revealed it was originally built as the Van Tassel and Kearney Horse Auction mart, a place where affluent city families, including the Vanderbilts, Delanos and Belmonts, went to inspect and select horses for purchase.

Distinguishing physical traits of the building include high central halls, where horses were paraded around on rings for potential buyers to review. The GVSHP’s research also showed that although horse auction marts were at one time very common buildings in New York City, this was the last remaining intact structure of its type.

Despite the fact that the LPC’s emergency hearing in 2006 prevented demolition of the building, the commission refrained from voting on designation for six years.

In 2007, the building was listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places and in 2008 the GVSHP sent a letter signed by Borough President Scott Stringer, State Sen. Tom Duane, Mendez and Assembly Member Deborah Glick in a renewed attempt to push for landmark designation.

“This is a good example of how a historic building can be adapted to new uses that benefit its community without sacrificing its historic character,” said Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council, referring to the building’s current tenant, the Peridance Capezio Dance Center.

“After six years of pushing for landmark status, the Village and the city can now be assured that this unique monument, which evolved from a place which produced horses to manufactured goods to great works of art, will be with us for generations to come,” Berman said in an emailed statement.

“And with it,” he continued, “a steel and masonry record of New York and the Village’s dramatic evolution over the 20th century will also be preserved.”