Betty Chen and Nathan Leventhal approved. The City Council unanimously approved Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s appointment of two new commissioners to the Planning Commission, Betty Chen and Nathan Leventhal. The terms of the two new commissioners commenced on March 5, 2007.
Yale-trained architect Betty Chen worked several years as project architect for the New York firm Todd William Billie Tsen. Chen also taught architecture and art history. Chen currently serves as Vice President of Planning, Design and Preservation for the Governor’s Island Preservation and Education Corporation, which oversees the island’s operations. Before accepting her position with Governor’s Island, Chen headed up development of a World Trade Center master plan for the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation.
Nathan Leventhal has a long history of City government service, acting as Chief of Staff under Mayor John Lindsay and holding positions in the administrations of Mayors Edward I. Koch, David Dinkins and Michael Bloomberg. Leventhal also served as Fiscal Director for the Human Resources Administration, Commissioner of Housing Preservation and Development, and Secretary of the Charter Revision Commission. In the private sector, Leventhal serves on the Movado Group governance committee, and was formerly a partner at the law firm Poletti Freidlin Prashker and Gartner.
Chen and Leventhal will replace Christopher Kui and Jane D. Gol. Kui and Gol’s five-year terms expired at the end of 2006. The full Council approved the appointments by 47-0.
Mayor Bloomberg Announces Four Appointees to City Planning Commission, CPC Press Release, Feb. 1, 2007.