Bryan:

I suggested in a meeting with an SHPO type recently that some of us on
"my end" of the preservation biz are beginning to think its time to
rewrite the secretary's standards, again.  What the standards represent
seems to change depending on where you are on the continuum between
those with some regulatory power to keep bad things from happening to
good buildings and those of us who are trying to figure out if we should
be replacing this particulary joist in its entirety, or creating an
epocy replica of the rotted end.  I don't think standards designed to
help me and you make detailed decisions are going to be much help to a
developer who wants to do right by his community...and visa-versa.

(I gave a lecture about a year ago about that joist decision, I called
it "the joist end at the end of the world", a little millenial humor
there.)

Anyway, I sure wouldlike tofind out how the whole process of rewriting
the secretary's standards got started last time when they reduced it to
four so that maybe we can create something that recognizes where the
preservation profession is today.

-jc