The New York Times

January 28, 1987

Bryant Park Restaurant Plan Was Landmarks Board Business

To the Editor:

''A Landmark of Misfeasance'' was the title of your Jan. 11 editorial on the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Amid the corruption scandals rocking New York City, you can find no greater villain than this commission? How, in effect, you asked, dare the commission give unsolicited advice to the city about obstructing the view in Bryant Park?

Contrary to your assertion, the commission is not a court, but an agency that administers and sets policy within the limits of the Landmarks Law.

Inasmuch as an outline of a restaurant was presented to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, it is arguable that the issue of the effect of such a restaurant upon the Public Library's west facade was squarely before the commission and that it therefore made good sense for the commission to give guidance to the city before the plans had jelled.

But even assuming the commission erred, should we abolish every agency that makes a procedural error? We would quickly have no government left.

JOHN LOW-BEER, Menapace Fellow in Urban Land Use Law, Municipal Art Society New York, Jan. 19, 1987.