New York City’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted April 7 to designate three buildings in Brooklyn and Manhattan tied to the city’s immigration history as individual landmarks, the commission’s press office announced, capping a designation process that began with a public hearing the agency had advised was scheduled in March. The commission, which titled its announcement “LPC designates three buildings in Manhattan and Brooklyn linked to New York City’s rich immigration history,” framed the action as part of its work preserving sites connected to the city’s immigrant past; the commission did not release the specific addresses in the advisory text provided to reporters, though independent coverage later identified the three sites as the Public School 15 Annex at 372 Schermerhorn Street, the Church of Saint Mary at 440 Grand Street, and the Lithuanian Alliance Building at 307 West 30th Street.
The landmark vote was one strand of a busy stretch of civic business in and around Bushwick this spring, much of it routed through Brooklyn Community Board 4, the 50-member volunteer board that serves as the neighborhood’s advisory voice on land use, the city budget and municipal services. The board, an independent city agency, holds committee meetings at its district office at 1420 Bushwick Avenue and full board meetings at the Hope Gardens Older Adult Center at 195 Linden Street, with a Zoom option requiring registration for each session, according to its newsletters.
The most consequential item on the board’s spring calendar arrived at its March 18 public hearing, where Jamar Hooks, a deputy commissioner with NYC Social Services, and Yuri Sanchez, assistant deputy commissioner for intergovernmental and legislative affairs, joined Alfredo Matthews, senior vice president of ACACIA Network Housing, to present on Rennie’s House, described in the board’s notice as a new men’s shelter in the district. The same hearing included a review by CB4 leadership of agency responses to the board’s preliminary budget register, the board said. The March meeting agenda also listed a report from Deputy Inspector Thomas Maffei, commanding officer of the 83rd Precinct, a fixture of the board’s regular sessions.
At its April 15 public hearing, the board took up a slate of development and workforce items, according to its notice. Ron Mandel, a partner at the firm Belkin Burden Goldman, and law clerk Alaina Greene appeared on behalf of Melrose Towers Corp., which the board said is seeking zoning amendments for a site at 132-136 Melrose Street to develop a six-story, 18-unit mixed-use building, with five units set at 60 percent of area median income under Mandatory Inclusionary Housing Option 1. The board also heard a presentation on the Bushwick 1000 youth jobs initiative from a coalition of officials including Laura Imperiale, chief of staff, and Bruno Daniel, senior advisor for special initiatives, in the Brooklyn Borough President’s Office, alongside representatives of RiseBoro Community Partnership, Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow and St. Nick’s Alliance. Kristine Malden, chairperson of the board’s Permits and Licenses Committee, presented the committee’s proposed Good Neighbor Policy, an item that carried over to subsequent meetings.
Transit and infrastructure ran through the season’s agendas as well. The board’s February newsletter listed a Brooklyn Bus Network Redesign presentation from the advocacy group Passengers United at its February 12 environmental and transportation committee meeting, and its May newsletter scheduled a New York City Transit Authority presentation on the MTA’s Interborough Express, the proposed light-rail line, for May 14. At the May 20 public hearing, Megan Flynn and Kana Ervin of the MTA, joined by project managers Carlos Lopez and Kritika Sethu of the firm Forte, were slated to present on the Gates Avenue Accessibility Project, according to the board’s notice.
That May 20 session also marked a turnover in the board’s ranks. The board welcomed 16 newly appointed members and announced its 2026-2027 executive officers, with Robert Camacho continuing as chairperson, Christian C. Tate as first vice chairperson and Milagros Sandoval as second vice chairperson, the notice said. Andrew Choi was named recording secretary and Felix Ceballos treasurer, both filling seats the board had listed as vacant in April, while the Rev. James Steward II moved to parliamentarian. The board also noted that Luis Munive had joined the staff as assistant district manager under District Manager Celestina León. The hearing’s other public items included a presentation on stroke and mental health awareness from clinicians at NYC Health + Hospitals/Woodhull, including stroke director Dr. Edward Lee, and a tentatively scheduled return of the Good Neighbor Policy item.
Beyond the marquee hearings, the board’s routine work continued on its monthly cycle. Its Permits and Licenses Committee reviewed liquor license and cannabis retail license applications in February and a liquor license docket in May, and used its May 12 meeting to take up district needs and budget request priorities, the newsletters said. The May calendar also set an Economic Development and Housing and Land Use Committee presentation on a proposed project at 150 Noll Street for May 26, along with a pair of planning sessions for the board’s annual Shape-Up Bushwick event. The board separately flagged that it was hiring an assistant district manager in its February newsletter, a vacancy later filled by Munive.
The landmarks commission’s spring docket, meanwhile, had moved on a parallel track. The agency advised in March that it would hold a public hearing on the proposed designation of three sites in Brooklyn and Manhattan, then advised in early April that it would vote on the proposed designations, before announcing the April 7 designations themselves, according to its press office. The commission characterized all three buildings as linked to New York City’s immigration history.
