Newark Landmarks Commission members resign after Penn Station controversy

Two Newark preservationists have resigned from city council over a controversial project at Penn Station.

Richard Partica, who had served as chairman of the Landmarks and Historic Preservation Commission for the past seven years, protecting the city’s historic buildings, resigned. A few days later, he was replaced by Vice Chair Susana Holguin-Velas. The lack of leadership has left the commission in a slump – they last met in April.

It’s unclear when relations between city officials and the commission began to sour, but Liz Del Tufo, a former commission chairwoman, said Mayor Ras Baraka had long been ideologically averse to the work of preservationists.

“The mayor doesn’t like historic preservation,” Del Tufo said.

Eric Pennington, the city’s business administrator, defended the mayor’s stance on preservation. “Liz Del Tufo is entitled to her own opinions and interpretations of our city and our country’s history, as well as her personal feelings about historic preservation, monuments and statues,” Pennington said. “But she has no right to speak on this issue on behalf of Mayor Baraka, who has repeatedly made clear his pride in the city of Newark, and the story of this city cannot be told honestly without fully showcasing the struggles and triumphs of the people of Newark.”

Condition Finally broke out For whatever reason, the city wanted Partyka’s commission to provide a letter of support for a $110 million pedestrian bridge near the Prudential Center that would connect to Penn Station, rather than a formal review.

In November, the state Historic Preservation Office supported Partica’s position, arguing that because the pedestrian bridge connects to Newark Pennsylvania Station, which is listed on the National Register, the commission needed to formally review the plan, Jersey Digs Reported.

“We’ve never tried to get in the way of a project the city wanted to do,” Particka told Jersey Digs. “We were blindsided by the Penn Station project — they said we didn’t support it, but we didn’t — all of the commissioners thought it could be a worthwhile project if it was handled properly.”

Holguin-Villas declined to comment on the reasons for his resignation. Both resigned after Pennington attempted to remove Partica. On January 10, the City Council passed a resolution to hold a hearing to remove Partica. But both resigned before the hearing took place.

Pennington told Jersey Digs through a public information officer that he believed Partica’s choice to publish his criticism of the pedestrian bridge to the state office on official city letterhead was “inappropriate” and contributed to their falling out.

The Pennsylvania Station project is not the first time the city government under Baraka has tried to exclude preservationists from a major project. The last time was when Washington Square Park was renamed Harriet Tubman Squareand erected statues of abolitionists. The park, like Pennsylvania Station, is listed on the National Register, so the proposed changes would require approval from the Landmarks Commission.

The Landmarks Commission has had to deal with a strained relationship with the city since its inception. Founding Chairwoman Liz Del Tufo was sworn in by Mayor Sharp James in 1990 and served for 16 years before being fired for not bowing to political pressure.

In 2006, Del Tufo and several of her colleagues were fired for refusing to approve the demolition of a historic carriage house at 486 Parker St. in the Forest Hills Historic District that was owned by James’ friend Veronica Orcard.

“It was on the front page of the Star-Ledger,” Del Tufo said of her firing. “James Wells, who was editor at the time, said he received more letters from the public about my firing than he had received about any other issue during his tenure.”

Since then, Del Tufo, the daughter of first-generation Irish immigrants, has been the city’s unofficial leader in preservation and one of Baraka’s harshest critics for his interpretation of Newark’s history entirely through the lens of black nationalism.

Pennington responded to Del Tufo’s characterization of Baraka, accusing her of “whitewashing” and “wishful rewriting” of history.

Architect David Abramson, who succeeded Del Tufo as chairman of the Landmarks Commission for nine years, said the city’s relationship with local preservationists had been cordial during the tenure of Sen. Cory Booker as Newark’s mayor. Abraham believes one reason for that peaceful coexistence is that the city created a paid position, held by Michelle Alonso, now Asbury Park’s planning director, to serve as a liaison between the commission and City Hall.

One of Baraka’s first moves as mayor was to eliminate the position in 2014. “I interacted with Michelle on a weekly basis, and it helped to de-conflict,” said Abramson, who served on the 655 Broad Street Prudential Building during its construction.

The period when Partica and Holguin-Vilas presided over the commission was arguably Newark’s modern skyscraper era, which brought unique tensions to the downtown historic district. In the past few years, developers wanted to build 40-foot-tall glass towers next to three-story, century-old buildings, while community residents called the proposed projects too garish and oversized.

Recently, Vice Chairman Holguin-Veras led negotiations with the KS Group to slightly reduce the height of its proposed 508-foot building on Market Street to pay homage to the tallest building in downtown, the National Newark Building.

They also achieved some conservation victories during their tenure. One of them was Save the Cathedrala significant building in black history, and its accompanying mural designed by Paula Scher, which NJPAC plans to demolish in 2022 to build a loading dock.

In the 34 years since the New York City Landmarks Commission was founded, there have been only four chairmen: Liz Del Tufo, David Abramson, Bill Mikesell and Richard Partyka. Those who have held the unpaid position for so long have had impressive tenures. If the commission’s four-month suspension is any indication, the position won’t be easy to fill.