MANHATTAN — Greenwich Village residents want to expand the neighborhood's historic district to save buildings that were once home to figures in the beat movement.
At a Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting Tuesday, activists urged officials to approve a proposal to give historical protection to 235 buildings in the South Village. They say the LPC isn't moving fast enough, and the neighborhood has already lost too many important buildings, the New York Post reports.
"In the last several years we have seen more and more of this historic neighborhood's fabric and significant sites compromised or destroyed," said Andrew Berman, director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation.
In the 1950s, the Village became the home of the Beat Generation, a group of poets, artists and writers including Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.
If expanded, the historic district would encompass 12 blocks running from West 4th Street to Bedford Street and between Sixth and Seventh avenues.
"We're moving ahead and we're moving as swiftly as we can," Landmarks Chairman Robert Tierney said at the meeting, according to the Post.
