Mary Beth Betts

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission Director of Research Mary Beth Betts supervises a staff of 12 that is responsible for the research and writing of designation reports, the review of requests for evaluation submitted to the Commission, and the conduct of surveys to identify buildings or districts worthy of designation. She is also involved in the environmental review process for major City projects, the identification of significant historic resources, and helps to educate the public about the City’s landmarks.

Betts has served the Commission for almost 14 years, after a career spent largely in academia and museums. She received her doctorate in architectural history from City University after obtaining her undergraduate degree in art history from the University of Virginia. The subject of her doctoral dissertation was Austrian-born architect Joseph Urban, whose work in the City includes the New School and the Hearst Building. She has taught architectural history at the Cooper Union, worked for the Brooklyn Museum, where she helped organize their archives, and served as curator of architecture for the New York Historical Society. She began serving the City in the mid-1980s through the Art Commission, where she worked in the archives and curated exhibitions. Betts applied to Landmarks after the preceding Director of Research, Marjorie Pearson, left the position in 1999, and has been at Landmarks ever since. (read more…)

Stephen Levin, District 33 Council Member. (Official NYC Council Photo by William Alatriste)

District 33 – Brooklyn Heights, Greenpoint, parts of Williamsburg, Park Slope, Boerum Hill

Council Member Stephen Levin grew up just outside of New York City, in Plainfield, New Jersey. He knew he wanted to be in Brooklyn even while he was attending Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. To get there though, he dabbled with various jobs including working as a waiter (he was fired), a book store clerk, and an artist’s assistant. About a year after graduation from Brown, he was living in Bushwick, Brooklyn and starting his political career, although maybe he didn’t quite know it at the time. He got his first advocacy experience at the Lead Safe House Program in Brooklyn, which gets children with elevated lead levels out of danger and into a safe space. Levin ran the program and worked with families and building owners from across the borough, as well as State and City agencies. He also helped families tackle various other issues, such as education and health, during their stay at the Lead Safe House. Seeing families through a sometimes difficult bureaucratic process, he couldn’t help but make the connection between government policy and effective direct service. It was here that he first thought that if the opportunity to actually conceive and implement good policies presented itself, he would take it.

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Domenic M. Recchia Jr., District 47 Council Member. Credit: Official NYC Council Photo by William Alatriste.

New York City Council Member Domenic M. Recchia Jr. represents District 47, covering Brooklyn’s Bensonhurst, Gravesend, Coney Island, and Brighton Beach neighborhoods. He is Chair of the City Council’s Finance Committee. He graduated from Brooklyn’s John Dewey High School, played football and received his undergraduate degree at Kent State University, and earned his juris doctor from Atlanta Law School. Recchia also has a Brooklyn private practice specializing in medical malpractice and personal injury.

Brooklyn beginnings. Recchia represents the community he’s grown up and lived in for most of his life. He fondly remembers his childhood days spent at Steeplechase Park. To memorialize those times and perhaps to predict his bright leadership ahead, he has a picture of himself as a young boy with his father at Coney Island, his bathing suit reading “I’m the boss.” As a boy, he witnessed the somber closing of Steeplechase Park in 1964.  He recalls the long economic decline of the area, when Steeplechase Park remained vacant after plans to build high-rise apartments fell through and projects like MCU Park, built in 2001, were erected without forethought to smart future development. Though he thinks the field brings enormous economic benefits to the area, the Park was placed in the middle of City-owned land, which made rezoning and planning difficult during the Coney Island Comprehensive Rezoning Plan process. (See CityLand’s past coverage here). As Council Member, Recchia has been instrumental in breathing new life into the area through his work on the Comprehensive Rezoning Plan and is forging the way back from Hurricane Sandy’s devastation to the area.

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Michael Best

Michael Best, Counselor to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, was appointed in May 2012, replacing Anthony Crowell, now Dean of New York Law School. Best serves as General Counsel in the mayor’s office and is one of the mayor’s senior management and policy advisors, helping to coordinate and oversee City agencies, boards, and committees. Best has served in City government since 1991, having worked as General Counsel to the City’s Criminal Justice Coordinator, Director of the Office of Contracts, Deputy Counsel to Mayor Bloomberg, and General Counsel of the New York City Department of Education. Best began his career as an Assistant District Attorney in Manhattan.

Gearing up for Hurricane Sandy. On Friday, October 26, 2012, Mayor Bloomberg issued his public announcement concerning the City’s preparations to respond to fast-approaching Hurricane Sandy. As Counselor to the Mayor, Best was behind the scenes helping to turn those preparations into a reality. Best is no stranger to City crises; he worked in the Office of Contracts in Rudolph W. Giuliani’s administration during the tragic events of September 11, 2001 and was responsible for overseeing emergency contracts to help the City recover following the terrorist attack. When Mayor Bloomberg took office in January 2002, Best joined the City Hall team as Deputy Counsel. The City was still in a state of emergency and Best helped with mayoral emergency orders related to traffic and safety issues around the World Trade Center site. During Hurricane Sandy, Best drew on his past emergency experience as well as the knowledgeable team of lawyers who had previously handled the City’s response to Hurricane Irene in 2011.

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Carol Samol

As director of the Department of City Planning’s Bronx Office, Carol Samol uses zoning tools to promote sustainable economic development in the Bronx. She has also participated as a leader in a broader City effort to reform the City’s Uniform Land Use Review Procedure’s pre-certification process.

Journey to the Bronx. Samol grew up in the upper Ohio Valley near Wheeling, West Virginia and studied English at Berea College, a small liberal arts college in Kentucky. Berea College admits academically promising students who are able to attend for free so long as they work in some capacity for the school. After graduation, Samol moved to the Bronx where she earned a Master’s Degree in Philosophy from Fordham University. Philosophy served as an extension of Samol’s English studies, allowing her to expand her analytic skills. Samol searched for a practical application of her studies, ultimately developing an interest in urban planning. She attended New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service and earned a Master’s in Urban Planning. Samol says that she felt an instant and personal connection to the Bronx, the borough where she continues to reside. Ultimately, Samol knew that she would help work towards the borough’s redevelopment.

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