Manhattan, Brooklyn Earn Landmarks; Queens Craps Out

Well, any day the Landmarks Commission recognizes some new building is a good one, I guess. On March 13, the fickle, capricious body announced that it had tapped the Brooklyn Botanical Garden's Laboratory Administration Building and 23 and 25 Park Place in Tribeca with its magic wand. The first would seem a real "duh" decision; I'm suprised that building hadn't been designated a landmark previously. The latter two date from 1857 and were designed by Samuel A. Warner. The Daily News was super happy about this one, since it used to do business at the addresses. That's the way to get press support, Mr. Commissioner! Quick! Since a house Adolph Ochs used to live in!

It's hard to get happy, however, when at the same time some sonsabitches are tearing down the glorious Vetter Mansion in Richmond Hill. What? Did the paperwork get lost on this one? Any fool could see it was a beautiful old thing. I'm going to get irrational here and blame Mayor Bloomberg personally for this one. I know how much he cares about Queens. I worked in Woodside last summer when the Con Ed brown out hit.