Funding Questions About Bowne House Restoration Persist

As a Bowne descendant and Trustee of the Bowne House Historical Society, I was deeply disappointed to see (in the news article, Bowne House money not cut, dated June 4, 2009) that the Executive Director of the city's Historic House Trust, Franklin Vagnone, is persisting in his efforts to deny the fact that the city notified Bowne House Board President Rosemary Vietor in writing on March 24 that Bowne House would not be receiving the $604,000 promised to its restoration project this year (according to Vagnone, the figure is actually $628,000).

It remains a mystery as to why the administrator of the city's Historic House Trust, an individual new to our community, would continue in his obvious efforts to obfuscate the facts and mislead the public. This is not what New Yorkers expect or deserve from a man charged with the duty to oversee budgets underwritten with public funds.

Vagnone's failure to adhere to the standards of transparency inherent in matters of public funding casts serious doubt on the management of the complex restoration process needed to sustain the ancient and historic Bowne House, a true American treasure. Sadly, Vagnone's posture and strategy here also undermines the faith that the public should be able to have in the city's Historic House Trust.

And in light of the fact that Rosemary Vietor, President of the Bowne House Board, received an unequivocal statement from the city (the March 24 communication) notifying her that not only is the $604,000 being pulled from this year's city budget, but that all future budgets are subject to cuts (thereby eliminating any guarantee that Bowne House will ever receive the promised money), it is also difficult to discern why Ms. Vietor has failed in this, and many other news articles, to be forthright about this public funding issue (Vietor: “As far as we know, the funding is intact”).

If $1.7 million dollars were, in fact, allocated to the Bowne House restoration, as Vagnone claims in this news article, certainly the most efficient way to resolve and diffuse the funding questions would have been for Vagnone and Vietor to simply share this good news with the Board. This would seem especially wise given the fact that in order to legally transfer the house to the city, unanimous approval from the Bowne House Board Members is required. Notification of the $1.7 million might have allowed Board Members to breathe a sigh of relief.

Oh and, just for the record, my open letter to Mayor Bloomberg asking him to restore the $604,000 to the FY '09 city budget was copied to the entire Bowne House Board along with the collective of elected officials (Queens Borough President Helen Marshall; Senator Frank Padavan; Council Member John Liu and Congressman Gary Ackerman) all of whom represent the public interests of historic Bowne House.

Sadly, the fact is that I even wrote to this new fellow, Vagnone, who instead of responding directly to a member of the public whom he was brought here (from Philadelphia) to serve, chose instead to attempt to discredit me, and my efforts to have the money that was promised to Bowne House restored to this year's city budget, in the Press.

Historic Bowne House and the public deserve better from the city.

Sincerely,

Susan Kathryn Hefti
Bowne Descendant & Trustee, Bowne House Historical Society