Institute of Judicial Surveys: Commercialization of Residential Neighborhood by Apple Stores

NEW YORK, June 16, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The following is an open letter from Norman B. Arnoff Esq., on behalf of Mr. Herbert Feinberg:

I am the special counsel to Mr Herbert Feinberg, who is the managing member of the Institute of Judicial Surveys. My client is a home owner, resident and neighbor on the Madison Avenue and Seventy-Fourth Street Block and a member of the Seventy-Fourth Street Block Association. He as well as others are raising the serious concern that he and other members of the Block Association and neighborhood have with respect to Apple Stores' construction and intent to put an Apple Store in the Old Landmark Bank Building at 940 Madison Avenue, New York City 10021. The owners of the building have signed a lease with Apple Stores so that it can occupy the Landmark Bank Building on the ground floor at the northwest corner of Seventy-Fourth Street and Madison Avenue. No timely or published notice was given, notwithstanding the building is a designated landmark.

It is inconceivable to my client and his neighbors that such activity will not destroy the landmark status and appearance of the building and the neighborhood with the high quality residential buildings and boutique establishments (the only form of retail activity that has occurred up to now) that presently pervade the neighborhood. My client and the neighbors believe that there will be commotion and traffic to an excess that will be brought to the neighborhood and will be of a similar and negative character to the Apple Store location on sixty-eighth street and Broadway.

My client made inquiry with respect to why a Building Permit was not conspicuously displayed at the front of the building and was rudely responded to by one of the workman at the corner. Further inquiry was made and it was discovered that a permit was issued but only issued on the certification of a contractor and not after an inspection by the Building Department or Landmark Preservation Commission.

My client and other concerned and good citizens in the neighborhood urge the Governor the Mayor, the City Council, the New York State Assembly and Senate to take immediate steps to stop this commercialization adverse and detrimental to the neighborhood. Landmark status and neighborhood character are inextricably linked and therefore this issue needs to be fully and meaningfully addressed and a careful process of review and discussion take place before the character and appearance of a landmark and neighborhood is destroyed. Justice Louis Brandeis once said "Sunlight is the best disinfectant". Accordingly Apple Stores should be stopped at this point so that all interested parties can have their opportunity for a true say on the issue and the public interest not superficially dismissed..

Norman B. Arnoff Esq
([email protected])  (917-912-1165)

SOURCE Institute of Judicial Surveys