That’s Life In The Historic District

Residents of a condo on a landmarked Tribeca street recently asked the community board for permission to remove the bumpy cobblestones outside their building. The response was perhaps less empathetic than they expected:

“We like the look of the neighborhood, we are only trying to be practical,” Lilli Momtaz, a building resident and president of the condo board, said in an interview. One week earlier she had gone to the Landmarks Committee of Community Board 1 with what she thought was an innocent request — to pull up the ragged cobblestones and replace them with a more even surface.

. . .

“They laughed us out of the room,” said Paul Brensilber, a managing agent for 44 Laight Street who presented the residents’ case. “I’m absolutely surprised about how closed-minded they were.”

Here’s the problem for the condo owners of 44 Laight Street: Their block, which faces the Holland Tunnel Rotary, is part of the Tribeca North Historic District, a city designation that requires that any proposed changes to building facades or fixtures in the old industrial neighborhood be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

The commission often take its cues from community boards, and below Canal Street that means passing muster with CB1’s Landmarks Committee, whose members include many longtime residents who consider the north section of the neighborhood to be the last unspoiled territory in Tribeca. Here, the cobblestones are protected and enjoy near-sacred status.

Committee member Rick Landman, who also chairs the community board’s Tribeca Committee, marveled.

“I’ve been here for 25 years, and this is the first time anyone has asked to remove cobblestones from outside their building,” he said.

“You should respect what the neighborhood is,” fumed committee member Paul Sipos. “You say it is unsightly. I take big exception to that. And as for the trouble with pushing baby strollers, well that’s life in the historic district.”

The request was swiftly voted down.

“It is rejected, thank you,” said Roger Byrom, the committee’s chairman, cutting off Brensilber as he continued to plead his case.