Who's Afraid of Landmarking Bed-Stuy?

Finally, after many years of stop-and-starts, the Landmarks Committee of Community Board 3 is beginning to make significant headway into garnering community consensus and city government support toward landmarking several districts in Bed-Stuy.

, is the first and so far only district to receive historic designation in 1975.

Bordering Tompkins Avenue to the west, Stuyvesant Avenue to the east, Macon Street to the north and Chauncey Street to the south, this 13-block landmark district has consistently fetched record prices for its property.

But there are five additional proposed districts the Landmarks Committee has put forth for consideration: the Stuyvesant Heights expansion, Stuyvesant East Historic District, Stuyvesant West Historic District, Stuyvesant North Historic District and the Bedford Historic District.

On Wednesday, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to calendar as the next for consideration for proposed landmarking. If landmarked, Bedford Historic District will be the second after Stuyvesant Heights to receive historic designation.

And now it appears as though the eastern section of Bedford-Stuyvesant, identified by LPC as “," soon may be next.

? Well, according to Claudette Brady, co-founder of Bedford Corners Joint Block Associations, if an area worthy of historic designation is not landmarked, nothing stands in the way of it becoming the target of reconstruction and development of contextually inappropriate buildings.

, not to mention provides a tremendous boost to the property value. Additionally, the city offers several incentives to property owners -- such as tax credits and some exemptions -- as a way to encourage landmark designation of the city's eligible historic resources.

However, there are many homeowners opposed to landmarking. They say, landmarking greatly raises the cost of upkeep for current property owners, whereby sudden architectural mandates require substantial financial investment.

Others say they prefer the diversity of buildings in a growing community, and the idea of a committee dictating building aesthetics slows natural architectural evolution. And still others say that landmarking is yet one more way to render the community less affordable to those who may have lived in the area comfortably for decades.

So what do you think? As a Bed-Stuy resident are you for or against landmarking the neighborhood? Take our poll, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Correction 5/24: This article states there is only one district in Bed-Stuy that has been designated as historic. In fact, there are two historic districts in Bedford-Stuyvesant: the Stuyvesant Heights Historic District and the Alice and Agate Court Historic District, landmarked in February 2009.