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| West Park Church |
The issue of West Park Presbyterian Church, a church I led for 22 years.. and landmarking is once again before the city. It's been an ongoing twisting, turning struggle. And this time, like Yogi said, deja vu all over again. I find the acrimony and accusations pointless and unhelpful. Sooner or later we've got to find a way to work together. After holding back from public comment, I finally submitted a statement to the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Here is that statement...
To the Landmarks Commission
I am writing to you as the former Pastor of West Park Presbyterian Church and the current Moderator of New York City Presbytery. I have not until this point spoken publicly about the hardship petition of West Park to remove the landmarks designation of its building because I have relationships with and profound respect for persons on both sides of this issue. This issue is not new. It has been going on for over 30 years. However, through the public hearings and other presentations over the last several weeks the amount of misinformation has grown to the point where I must respond. The Commission needs to make its decision based on accurate information.
In our faith tradition, erecting a building is never an end to itself but a means to living out its mission. Throughout the life of a congregation, that must always be its purpose. When a government imposes a landmarks status on a building without also providing means of funding the maintenance of that building, it forces a congregation to devote its resources to the preservation of a building not its primary mission. This in essence violates the First Amendment allowing the government to, in effect, determine the mission of a church. To state it most graphically, government does not have the right to require a church to give up its life to preserve a building. If a community has determined that a building is an essential part of its cultural heritage, that community has an ethical obligation to support that preservation.
These are the most egregious misunderstandings:
- That West Park has done nothing to preserve the building.
West Park returned to a badly damaged building due to a broken pipe water flow that had gone on for 8 days from the top floor down to the bottom. The congregation bravely worshipped in a building with no heat and no restrooms. West Park has spent over a half million dollars to maintain and restore the building. This required selling of the Pastor’s home and ultimately, necessitating the retirement of the Pastor. The church has spent down to its last penny to preserve this building.
2. Following landmarking and the promise of financial help from local politician and knowing that government could not fund churches, the church, with interested community members founded the Center as its own 501c3. It was to be not just an “arts center” but a community center dedicated to the transformation of the individual and society through arts and culture, intergenerational education, social action and spiritual exploration, in collaborative partnership with the church. The Center was an outreach creation of the Church.
3. The most well noted productions at West Park were church productions, not Center productions.
4. Over the last ten years, the church has repeatedly sought to find a significant partner for the building. The church secured a real estate person expressly for that purpose. There were several potential partnerships reaching serious levels of negotiation and development. These included a synagogue, a significant Muslim civic association, two major dance companies and a theater company. All backed out over the costs of renovation that would have been required. West Park never stopped seeking a partner.
5. Our time at St. Paul and St.Andrews was not because the building was no longer safe. We left on a Friday in May 2008 because a redevelopment project was set to begin the following Friday. Late in the day, a council member put in a stop work order. Even though we had the necessary paper work done in 48 hours, it took 18 months to clear DOB. At that point, the landmarking process had begun and the development partner abandoned the project.
6. As to the diminuation of the congregation, on the one hand, it’s certainly part of national trends. On the other hand, this building issue has undeniably had a great impact. As it began, we were actually growing dramatically in membership. Seeking solutions led to internal struggles and over the years, the never ending dominance of building issues over everything else had a very negative effect on members. The struggle to keep the building going exhausted many people emotionally and spiritually. People left.
Nevertheless, a determined dozen or so has continued in weekly worship, Bible Study and hosting a most popular weekly open mic at the Church.
7. New York City Presbytery is not wealthy. It has had to drastically reduce its staff and office space. Its 88 churches have 12000 members in 88 churches, over half of whom belong to only 5 churches. Over 40, especially in black and brown neighborhoods, cannot afford a pastor. The pandemic years have eliminated rental and offering income pushing many churches to the brink of extinction. The vision is to give West Park an opportunity to be reborn and further to seed selfdevelpment projects throughout the 5 boroughs as a true extension of the legacy of this congregation over the years.
In conclusion, it is your duty to determine if West Park has met the legal requirements for hardship relief. If you determine that it has, so be it. Then rule as such). But if not, you have the moral and ethical responsibility to do everything in your power to encourage and facilitate the necessary collaboration for a realistic and sustainable solution.
The you for your consideration
Sincerely
Rev. Dr. Robert Brashear
Moderator, New York City Presbytery
Pastor Emeritus West Park Presbyterian Church
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