NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Named

This morning New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio announced his choice for Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair – architect and urban planner Meenakshi Srinivasan.

Srinivasan, a native of India, has a bachelor’s degree in architecture from New Delhi’s School of Planning and Architecture and a master’s degree in city planning, urban design, and architecture from the University of Pennsylvania. In 1990 she began work at the Department of City Planning, and in 2000 was named deputy director of Planning’s Manhattan office where she led the Special Midtown District Theater Subdistrict rezoning, the Sixth Avenue rezoning, and the Hudson Yards Master Plan.

According to an announcement by the Historic Districts Council: “Srinivasan has been the Chair of the Board of Standards and Appeals for the past decade where she strove to increase transparency of the review process and to ensure that decisions were consistent, thorough, and legally defensible.”

In her Chair’s greeting on the BSA website, Srinivasan writes, “Sound growth and development, and preservation of neighborhoods are paramount to the well being of the City and its future.”