YES - good points - LARA KOZAK

Dan Becker wrote:
>
> George Kramer's mention of preservation roundabouts his parts being equated
> with embalming reminded me of another phenomenon I've noted as it relates
> to community preservation, or conservation, or whatever.
>
> Pickled preservation is the term I use when preservation philosophy or
> preservation's use as a planning tool in a community is restricted to very
> limited and circumscribed situations where it is used to placate those
> "preservationists."  When a preservation issue comes up, the pickled
> preservation project is used by community leaders to demonstrate that they
> are sensitive to this issue when it "makes sense," but in the case at hand,
> it doesn't make sense for these reasons [insert here all the goofy excuses
> you've ever heard].  But it's like there is a fence around the preserved
> area, and for god's sake, don't let the preservation leak out and infect
> the rest of the community.
>
> Rather than a community ethic where preservation is the first choice, and
> folks are required to justify why the community should remove a resource
> and replace it with something else, we all seem to find demolition and new
> construction being the default behavior, and we must justify why the
> community should retain the resource.
>
> Preservationists need to be working toward extracting preservation from the
> briney deep and engaging the community in a dialog as to why it makes sense
> to have preservation as the default community ethic.
>
> As we engage in the discussion, we must also recognize that the purveyors
> of pickles are not bad people out to maliciously do in historic resources,
> they are for the most part folks that believe they are doing what is best
> for the community's future, just as we believe we are doing.  Avoiding an
> us/them view of the situation, and casting it more in the vein of a common
> dialog as to what is the best model of behavior for the community I believe
> yields a more fruitful and respectful discourse.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Dan Becker,  Exec. Dir.       Much like the Lorax who speaks
> Raleigh Historic                    for the trees
> Districts Commission          I speak for the buildings and
> [log in to unmask]                 even for Mies...
>             DISCLAIMER:          ...But my views may not be
>                                                RHDC's