Recap: Rally to Save 35 Cooper Square

Two-foot snow embankments, freezing temps, and narrow sidewalks couldn’t stop dozens from rallying in support of 35 Cooper Square yesterday evening.  At 185-years-old, the Federal-row style structure was recently purchased for $8.5 million, and is currently staring down a death sentence via wrecking ball.  The rally, co-organized by the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors (BAN), was an effort to help nudge the Landmarks Preservation Commission to calendar this property for preservation.

Other usual suspects of city preservation were also in attendance – Historic Districts Council, LES Preservation Initiative, GVSHP – alongside State Senator Tom Duane and State Assemblymember Deborah Glick.  Without the benefit of a bullhorn, the politicians and executive directors from each organization spoke of the urgent need to landmark 35 Cooper. Stat.

Most spirited, however, was the speech from poet and Cooper Square War survivor Hettie Jones. “THIS IS NOT ABU DHABI,” Jones proclaimed. And how, as New Yorkers we should “care about not only what we build, but what we save.”

In a twist, each presenter had to talk above blinged-out Jim “Mosaic Man” Power who was there protesting another important issue, the Astor Place redesign.  The iconic artist is afraid that his life’s work (i.e. Mosaic Trail) will be destroyed by the city once the “beautification” begins. His sign was priceless!

The crowd was composed of mixed age, students and jobbers alike. However, it was quite promising to see the even younger generation in attendance, hailing from the Children’s Aid Society.