Preservation League Advocacy Day Recap | February 26, 2020
On February 26, 2020 Preservation Advocates traveled to Albany from near and far to advocate for historic preservation in New York State!
We kicked off the day at our headquarters with our legislative brief and opening remarks by Erik Kulleseid, Commissioner of the Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation.
Downtown at the Capitol, we had engaging meetings with the offices of Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, Senator Jose Serrano, Senator Liz Krueger, Senator Brian Benjamin, Assembly Majority Leader Crystal Peoples-Stokes, Assemblymember O’Donnell and Assemblymember Helene Weinstein. Thank you to all for taking the time out of your busy schedules.
During these meetings, our advocates articulated the importance of preservation initiatives in their communities, their professions, and to them personally. Focus areas for this year included:
Improving the historic tax credit program here in New York- specifically supporting the two improvements in proposed legislation S3645B/A5760C & S6711/AS8491;
The importance of funding for historic preservation in the Environmental Protection Fund, Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, New York State Council on the Arts, and the proposed $3 billion Bond Act;
Our support of legislation recognizing historic businesses in New York State; and
Supporting prevailing wage exemptions necessary to ensure preservation projects can continue.
To finish off our day, we were invited to step out on the Assembly floor after they concluded the day’s business. This provided our advocates not only a wonderful opportunity to see the beautiful Assembly chamber, but also to say thank you to some of our preservation champions supporting our legislative priority of improving the historic tax credit program. We sincerely thank Assemblymembers Carrie Woerner, John McDonald, Pamela Hunter, and Patricia Fahy for taking time to speak with our group.
Lastly, thank you to all our attendees…we could not have done this without YOU.