New York Magazine

March 30, 1987

INTELLIGENCER
Preservationists Touting Tung
By Jeanie Kasindorf

Some of the city's leading preservationists met recently with Floyd Abrams, the head of Mayor Koch's Committee on Appointments, in an effort to persuade his committee to ask Koch to reappoint Landmarks Preservation commissioner Tony Tung.

In January, after Tung angered Landmarks chairman Gene Norman by submitting an op-ed piece about the commission's work to the New York Times, Norman asked the mayor not to reappoint Tung because he believed that the panel should speak with "a single unified voice."

Says Historic Districts Council president Anthony Wood, "We wanted Abrams to know how important Tung is. We told him, 'Look, the mayor has been known to change his mind.' "

Shortly after the meeting Abrams wrote one of the preservationists to say he advised Mayor Koch that the committee thought Tung "was deserving of serious consideration for reappointment."

But Abrams insists that his committee is not trying to encourage the mayor to reconsider Tung's appointment. "I wrote that letter because I didn't want it ever said that we had passed any adverse judgment on Mr. Tung. I meant no more than that."