I already have enough gold coins, and derive the bulk of my self esteem from the simple fact that most other people do not. I am 100% against such a fountain and I will spend all my gold coins fighting against it if necessary.

Streetview to the rescue. It looks like they were actively putting it up in October 2019. It wasn't there at all in June 2019.

To be clear, I agree that being able to let a landmarked property fall into disrepair so you can demolish it is a loophole that should be fixed. It's a tricky problem to solve without creating unintended incentives in the process, but I would certainly like to see something done about it.

As for mandating aesthetics, landmark designated buildings aside, I just disagree with you here. Property owners should be free to build according to their own preference, even if that means we end up with ugly buildings sometimes. Do I like that midtown will soon to be home to this grotesque monstrosity? Not at all. This thing will be a blight on the city's skyline for many decades, but the freedom that allows this is the same freedom that has allowed such a wide variety of architectural styles to find a place in New York, and is one thing that makes it such a joy to walk around in this city.

We need more goddamn housing. We're all rent burdened as fuck and adding more barriers to getting more housing built is only going to exacerbate an already dire problem. Landmarks are one thing, but throwing up even more barriers to developing non-landmarked properties is not the way.

I hate that a lot of new buildings are ugly as much as the next person, but I hate how much my monthly rent is even more.

New "luxury" apartments are still tiny. They do have modern appliances though.

A 7-11 near me closed a few months ago. It was vacant until recently, when they added signage and started installing new shelves/coolers/etc for a new bodega. A great trade.

Brings tears of joy to my eyes.