Lisa Phillips

Who are your favorite New Yorkers?
Lisa Phillips: My daughters. [Laughs] Olivia and Savanah. And our great mayor, Michael Bloomberg. He really understands that culture is a big part of what makes this city stand out, what makes it so special and what attracts people to New York.

What do you think is the biggest thing that has happened to this city in the last 13 years?
Lisa Phillips: The visionary clients and developers have brought good architecture back to New York. I think there is a bigger public awareness of the benefits of good design, good architecture, and there’s a pride in that—it’s part of civic pride.

Do you think development overall has had a good impact on this city, like what’s been happening to the New Museum’s neighborhood?
Lisa Phillips: The history of New York is the history of change. It’s often erasing the past, and I think that we do have a responsibility to preserve elements of the past so that there’s a connection to it. But at the same time, you don’t want to turn it into a museum city. I’m not nostalgic for skid row, but at the same time, we have to make sure that artists and cultural creators and a mix of income levels are supported by the city.

What’s your favorite place or thing in New York?
Lisa Phillips: Being out on the water and the waterfront of New York.

What was your personal favorite moment in New York? Where were you and what was happening?
Lisa Phillips: Gee, one of my favorite moments….

Not when this museum opened?
Lisa Phillips: Yes, of course! [Laughs]

Was there anything else?
Lisa Phillips: Long ago, I used to cross-country ski on the old West Side Highway, the elevated West Side Highway. That was wonderful too.

What do you think the future of New York will be? What are your hopes? What do you think needs to happen?
Lisa Phillips: I think cars should be banned from Manhattan. Make it a beautiful, visionary, pedestrian, and superfuturistic above-ground mass-transit experience. Devote a percentage of low-income housing to artists. And because New York is such a melting pot, the place should be a focus for mutual understanding and conversations about cultural schisms and divides.

If you could have a drink with anyone else on this Top 40 list, who would it be?
Lisa Phillips: I’d have to say Jay-Z, because I really admire him as an entrepreneur and as a downtowner; maybe he’d like to curate something here.

What does Time Out mean to you?
Lisa Phillips: That it’s important to take time out and stop and take advantage of the rich cultural offerings that are New York, that make this city so great, and you look to Time Out New York to find out what’s going on, what you should see, and what’s happening in this city.

Complete this sentence: New York is…
Lisa Phillips: The greatest. And in some ways, its own country.

Next: Pat Kiernan >

The New York 40: