Click here for a PDF of this letter.

September 7, 2023

Supervisor Peter Van Scoyoc and Members of the Town Council
Town of East Hampton
159 Pantigo Road
East Hampton, New York 11937

Dear Supervisor Van Scoyoc and Members of the East Hampton Town Board:

The Preservation League of New York State and the National Trust for Historic Preservation are writing to voice our support for the local advocates behind the Brooks-Park Arts and Nature Center (BPANC) and their management plan for the Brooks-Park Home and Studios in Springs.

The Preservation League of New York State empowers all New Yorkers to use historic preservation to enrich their communities, protect their heritage, and build a sustainable future. The National Trust for Historic Preservation works to save America's historic sites; tell the full American story; build stronger communities; and invest in preservation's future. Both of our organizations have identified the James Brooks and Charlotte Park Home and Studios as an incredibly important site worth saving. The Trust listed the Brooks-Park site as one of their 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2022, with the League including the site among its Seven to Save shortly after. Since those listings, we have worked closely with the BPANC volunteers and have been continuously impressed by their dedication to creating a vital community asset at the Brooks-Park site.

With the Building Conditions Report from Michael Devonshire of Jan Hird Pokorny Associates recently completed in March of this year, the Town is poised to stabilize, and eventually restore, these buildings. BPANC is ready to work with the Town to find a future for Brooks-Park. Both James Brooks and Charlotte Park were seminal figures in the 20th Century Abstract Expressionist art movement. Their home and studios are a physical testament to their work and this important moment in American history. But the Brooks-Park site is also a place to experience nature, just as James and Charlotte did as they made art there. BPANC seeks to create inclusive educational programming and arts-related activities alongside “the discovery, research, and experience of its eleven undisturbed acres of natural habitat, bringing focus to these two acclaimed artists, the unique community in which they lived and worked, and the trail system that runs through parts of the property.”

We strongly encourage the approval of their management plan and a path forward for the Brooks-Park site.

Sincerely,

Jay DiLorenzo                                                           
President, Preservation League of NYS                    

Seri Worden
Senior Director of Preservation Programs, National Trust for Historic Preservation

Ask your NY Representatives to sign the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) FY22 Dear Colleague Letter

Don’t let historic preservation get left behind in this year’s appropriations process to determine Fiscal Year 2022 funding levels! Please contact your New York Congressional Representatives today to request they sign-on to the FY22 HPF Dear Colleague Letter requesting $150 million in funding for the HPF.

Find your New York Representatives and contact them ASAP! The deadline for signatures is April 28.

Thank you to the NY Congressional Reps who have signed (as of 4/22), including Representatives: Thomas Suozzi, Kathleen Rice, Antonio Delgado, Brian Higgins, Joseph Morelle, Jerrold Nadler, Paul Tonko, Nydia Velázquez, Hakeem Jeffries, and Mondaire Jones!

This bi-partisan effort is led by the co-chairs of the Historic Preservation Caucus, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) and Rep. Michael Turner (R-OH). If your Representative is not a member of the Preservation Caucus, please also ask that they consider contacting Representative Turner or Blumenauer’s staff for more information and to join.

Preservation advocates nationwide made this a priority at the 2021 National Preservation Advocacy Week in DC and now its your turn to show your support! The request includes:

• $60 million for State Historic Preservation Offices (SHPOs)

• $24 million for Tribal Historic Preservation Offices (THPOs)

• $20 million for the Save America’s Treasures grant program

• $10 million for competitive grants for Historically Black Colleges and Universities

• $9 million for the Paul Bruhn Historic Revitalization grants

• $1 million for a competitive grant program to survey and document historic resources

• $19 million for African American Civil Rights Initiative Competitive Grants

• $7 million for the newly established competitive grants programs to preserve the sites and stories associated with securing civil rights for All Americans

• Support for funding the Semiquincentennial grant program to preserve historical sites commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the United States of America…a commemoration that we at the League are already looking forward to!

If you haven’t already done so, please ask your NY Representatives to sign on as a co-sponsor of the new version of the HTC-GO legislation (H.R. 2294).

Contact your Representatives today to let them know these are incentives that are important to you, your organization, business, or community. Learn more about this legislation and tips on crafting your ask.

A big thank you to our New York regional preservation colleague organizations for signing our support letter for H.R. 2294, and promoting historic preservation as part of the solution to aid in nationwide post-pandemic economic recovery!