Daily News from New York, New York • 95

Daily News, Wednesday, March 10. 1982 fV By JOYCE WHITE I jyftlft 1: A- i Trn HEN THE charge was made, it sounded as though it was JJ a predictable one on the part of disgruntled private developers. By declaring their buildings landmarks, they said, the city was burdening scores of property owners unfairly with the burden of maintaining structures of questionable architectural merit which could make way for lucrative new developments. But the charge didn't come from building owners or land speculators. It came from a cross-section of Protestant, Catholic and Jewish religious leaders who thereby added to what may be a growing backlash against one of the city's most highly regarded agencies, the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

i i i The Municipal Asphalt Plant: landmark or eyesore? another story to tell. "I can think of at least four Episcopal churches that in the last few years have been named landmarks," said the Right Rev. J. Stuart Wet-more, Suffragan Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of New York, "and in every case the congregation objected to the designation." If churches and synagogues are being burdened by landmark status, then they have kept rather quiet about their condition, according to Kent L. Barwick, Landmarks Preservation Commission chairman.

Barwick said the commission's records don't show a single incident of a church asking to have its landmark status lifted on grounds of hardship in the agency's 16-year operation. "This document (a 40-page report issued by the clergymen) appears to consist more of opinions than facts," said Barwick. "It doesn't state dollars and cents, or talk about permits denied, or in any way analyze the impact that landmark status has had on these properties the clergymen keep talking about how landmark status increases maintenance cost, but they don't specify how." trsrs ARWICK SAID that he doesn't I st i believe that the clergy attack UzLJ will lend credence to other criticisms of the agency, but is hopeful that it will lead to a full-scale study of the Landmarks Preservation Commission and its impact. "If the Landmarks Commission has been acting irresponsibly or violating the FirstAmendment," Barwick said, "then a full analysis will lead to positive programs and changes in its law. But so far that hasn't been shown.

I question whether the document released by the clergy is not more of an essay than a study." The 11 members of the Landmarks Preservation Commissioners form a privileged group, consisting, under city law, of at least three registered architects, a historian, one interior designer, a realtor and a city planner or landscape architect. But that hasn't stopped the recent criticism. It started when the Bilt- (Continued on page 3) Alt; uuiiuuin churches and synagogues and their landmarking, in addition to being "arbitrary, was helping to drive congregations into bankruptcy, the religious leaders said. "The question," contended the Rev. N.J.

L'Heureux, the executive director of the Queens Federation of Churches, "is how much of the past do we preserve without strangling the future?" This lashing of the commission caught many by surprise, for despite the fact that the landmarks agency is often under fire from property own-Are onH rtorolnners. its work has been heralded by civic organizations and preservation groups. Tr. tha nnt half vmt however, the Preservationists are getting a lot of heat and not just from real estate interests ill lHV agency absorbed a large number of over its failure to consider landmark status for parts of the Bilt-more Hotel until wreckers started taking it apart. Now it is embroiled in an uncharacteristic dispute with the City Planning Commission over 1 whether a subway viaduct that slices through a crucial part of Harlem should be landmarked something that would make it very difficult to demolish.

And criticism has mounted in print, where critics of the agency have lambasted a number of deci city dwellers, including Jackie Onas-sis, rallied to support the commission. The designation was eventually upheld something that virtually assures the preservation of the terminal in its classic state. Once a building is designated a landmark, under city law it cannot be demolished, replaced or altered without approval of the Landmarks Commission. Over the years, scores of other buildings, often to great local applause, also have been protected. But the clergymen who spoke out against the commission last week had The commission has rarely borne attacks from such parties or in such number.

In fact, it became a virtual sacred cow in late 1975 when the Penn Central Railroad moved to rescind a -landmark designation on Grand Central Terminal to allow the construction of a 50-story building above it. The construction would have altered the terminal's famous south facade. A court battle ensued, a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice, the late Irving Saypol, struck down the designation, and thereafter a galaxy of sions, includmg one several years ago to designate the old Municipal Asphalt Plant on the upper East Side. Fugazy says first 50 limos are on the streets cause he would not charge the extra By MARTIN KING Sixth ave. yesterday only irate drivers of medallion cabs who refused to pick up or discharge passengers any closer than the curbside.

The Hilton directive, to the hotel's assistant managers and front service staff, reminded employes not to lean on walls, chew gum, eat or drink on the job, and said: "Dealing with or referring guests to any transportation service other than Fugazy is grounds for immediate dismissal." $3 to $5 that medallion drivers do for radio-call pickups. Adding spice to the controversy yesterday were 200 angry taxi drivers massed in front of the New York Hilton protesting an in-house memo ordering employes of the hotel to refer guests only to the Fugazy service when they needed transportation. A hotel spokesman said that the order was not aimed at legitimate cabs, but at hustlers from other limo services and at gypsy cab drivers who try to solicit fares in the lobby. There were no Fugazy cars in sight Maintaining that many of Manhattan's street cabs are tied on radio calls during prime traveling hours, Fugazy is out to get a piece of the action. "He had all the paperwork and we got everything we needed to satisfy us Friday afternoon," Turoff said.

But where were those Fugazy cars yesterday? "They're busy on radio calls," Fugazy said, adding that he expects to Jiave 100 additional limousines on the street by the end of the month. A Fugazy franchise will cost a driver $20,000. The price for a taxi medallion is presently between $50,000 and $60,000. Fugazy claims he could beat the Yellow Cab price be OT SEEMS that maybe, just maybe, help is finally on the way for Manhattan's taxi-starved rush-hour riders, although you wouldn't know it if you were looking for a radio-dispatched limo yesterday. Taxi and Limousine Commissioner Jay Turoff said that transportation -mogul Willianf Fugazy has complied, with last Friday's deadline and supplied the agency with registrations for 50 of his planned fleet of 6,000 radio-dispatched limousines the vanguard of a service that will, compete with medallion taxis.

i i HILTON spokesman insisted that it was all a giant misunderstanding and that a new directive has been issued to clear thingsup) r- at the hotels driveway Stnd..