Three-minute preservation action item

Happy new year! Kristen Harbeson of the National Council of State Historic Preservation Officers has alerted us to another opportunity to let the incoming Obama administration know that historic preservation is the greenest tool for stimulating the economy while building stronger communities. I quote from Kristen's email:

As we have mentioned before in this forum, the Obama administration has provided a remarkable tool to communicate with the President-Elect’s policy team through the website www.change.gov. The e-mail this morning from John Podesta asks people to vote on the importance of questions that people have submitted to the incoming administration.

I encourage you to make the Preservation voice heard by taking just a few minutes to do the following:
1) Go to http://change.gov/page/content/openforquestions20081229/
2) You may need to sign in or create a username.
3) There is a box that allows you to “Search Questions.” Type in “Historic Preservation.”
4) Click the check on each of the questions to indicate that you think they are important questions.
5) WATCH OUT, though, for the sneaky question that talks about Historic Preservation as a “Land-Grab” to benefit the rich [and potentially other questions that are not actually preservation-friendly].

It takes just a few minutes, and may make a difference in the reception of your preservation advocates when they approach the new administration. If you submit preservation questions, you may want to let us know so that we can continue to spread the word to make sure your issues are addressed on Capitol Hill and in the White House.

I wish you all a very good New Year,
Kristen Harbeson
National Conference of State Historic Preservation Officers

Please take a couple of minutes to do this, and if you have other questions for the administration regarding historic preservation, please do so, so that the rest of us may vote on them! New questions are submitted every day, so check back in a few days to see if there are more opportunities to vote for preservation.

Posted by Katie Eggers Comeau, Director of Preservation Services