Many folks don't get the connection between the federal historic tax credit and creating sustainable neighborhoods. Someone who did was Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs Jones. That is why her sudden death last week came as such a blow to historic preservationists. Speaking of legislation she sponsored to improve the HTC, she one said "harnessing greater...potential in underutilized historic and older buildings and focusing more...investment in... ‘main street’ commercial structures makes so much sense. [It] has already transformed so many [Cleveland] communities." Below is a tribute to Tubbs Jones by Heather MacIntosh, President of Preservation Action. You can read the whole post here: http://www.preservationaction.org/states/8.21.2008.htm
Nice blog posts about some issues that aren't getting much play yet in the election:
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/nancyfinegood/gG59hH
Foreign affairs seems to be having its day in the sun during this election. We usually think of historic preservation as purely a domestic issue but Don Rypkema of Place Economics has an interesting series of posts about historic preservation and world affairs. He lists 10 key ideas (notably none of which seem to involve invading anyone!). You can read the entire blog here: http://www.placeeconomics.com/2008/08/historic-preservation-and-america-in.html.
Here is the text of the first installment of his preservation and world affairs posts:
A key provision of the Obama's Blueprint for Change promotes an increase in the supply of afforable housing, while a companion provision calls for establishing "Promise Neighborhoods" to bring a comprehensive strategy to fighting neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. So can America build itself out of the housing crisis? In a provocative white paper written for the National Trust for Trust, Donovan Rypkema argues not. Instead, he say that we can no longer throw away our older houses and our historic neighborhoods. They are needed today to supply affordable housing. Read the full white paper
What does the fierce urgency of electing Barack Obama now have to do with historic presevation? Isn't historic preservation a rather quaint, esoteric pursuit? Everyone who cares about our planet and climate change should read the statement of Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, on the critical role that recycling buildings (i.e. historic preservation) must play in addressing climate change. Below are some key excerpts. To my way of thinking, this vision of historic preservation dovetails so closely with Obama's Blueprint for Change that everyone who believes in preservation should be supporting Obama. Learn more at www.historicpreservationforobama.org. Read the full text of Moe's speech here.
I punched up an AP story on Yahoo to learn more about John McCain's denunciation of the Rev. Wright ad to be run by the NC Republican party. The story was by Associated Press Write Mike Baker and entitled "North Carolina GOP leadership divided over ad". In the article, Mr. Baker wrote that the ad "shows Obama with his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright, and a clip of Wright's anti-U.S. comments."
"Anti-U.S."? This does not strike me as an accurate or fair characterization of Rev Wright's comment. When viewed in context (which, of course, the ad does not do but which the AP should), Rev. Wright was making the point that god would damn the united states for engaging in sinful conduct. This comment reflects a profound concern for the righteousness of the U.S. Our country engages in reckless war making and other sinful conduct at its peril and those who point that out are true patriots. In making this point, it is hard to imagine a level of urgency that would be too extreme given the centrality of these issues to our nation's fate and security. The comment was, in fact, the antitheses of "anti-U.S.". I think this choice of words by Mr. Baker was unfair and incendiary.
Most ominously, it reflected a curious media-driven validation by Mr. Baker of one of the very messages of the North Caroline republican party that John McCain has condemned.
