By Della Hasselle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A woman known for steadfastly protecting historic New York buildings was removed from the Landmarks Preservation Commission after serving seven years, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.
Roberta Brandes Gratz, an outspoken advocate for landmarking old buildings, expects to be relocated to the mayor's committee on sustainability, according to the Times. The commission made the decision to remove her.
It's unclear why Gratz, the author of "The Battle for Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs," is being reassigned and other advocates say she'll be missed.
"She's a preservationist, she's of the preservation community, she knows these issues backwards and forwards and has always demonstrated the ability to be independent, to not take marching orders from the mayor or the chairman," Kate Wood, executive director of the preservation group Landmark West, told the Times.
Gratz, who told the Times that she has "mixed feelings" about the move, said she plans to remain candid about preservation issues.
"I don't plan to disappear," she said.