More than in any election in recent memory, the 2008 presidential election was about the stewardship of resources—natural, built and cultural. President Obama had and really still has a profound opportunity to shape the national dialogue on these important questions. We need federal policy that focuses on enhancing the livability of existing communities and encouraging their preservation and reuse rather than continuing to build on virgin land. Of course, the center of these communities are America’s historic neighborhoods, especially the inner ring neighborhoods and suburbs. President Obama’s plan for America plan for a nation of livable, well designed, and sustainable communities includes almost nothing for historic preservation, in fact, despite spending trillions of dollars on everything else, one of his budget cuts is? You guessed it, preservation.
The problem is the organized voice for preservation within the government is almost non-existent. Don Rypkema in his Place Economics Blog observed that the White Housesaid they were cutting SAT because of a lack of measurable benefits. The Administration proposes to eliminate the Save America’s Treasures (SAT) and Preserve America (PA) grant programs so the National Park Service can focus resources on managing national parks and other activities that most closely align with its core mission. This is frustrating because IS (at least I thought) a NPS core mission. NPS is supposed to be the lead preservation agency in the federal government.
The simple truth seems to be in an administration teeming with energized environmentalists, conservationists, and the like, it’s actually never been harder for historic preservation to get noticed. The preservation movement needs something to capture the public's attention like the environmental movement has been so successful in doing. Perhaps Congress needs to move preservation out of the NPS (this idea has come up before). This may be nothing but a distraction but we have to do something. To be called a "non-core" function by the lead federal agency of which it is a critical part of is demoralizing and speaks volumes about the disregard of preservation by the Obama administration. Obama’s plan for America plan for a nation of livable, well designed, and sustainable communities will never be realized without involving preservation as the core of this plan.
/RN
