The Road Trip! Affordable housing in historic buildings in New Jersey

Ron Emrich, the Executive Director of Preservation New Jersey and I took two road trips this past week to see more than 40 historic or just plain "old" buildings that had been converted into affordable housing under the guidelines and regulations of the Council on Affordable Housing (COAH).

We went from one end of the state to the other. Gina Fischetti, Deputy Counsel of the agency provided a good list that we used to identify likely prospects.

Please see the Heritage Consulting Blog http://www.heritageconsultinginc.wordpress.com/ for more information on this project, as well as a Facebook post donnaannharris.facebook.com. The link for the entire story is above.

Save the Garden State Preservation Trust Fund NOW

There is an urgent need for support for the Garden State Preservation Trust fund. Please read the missive below from William Honachefsky Jr. Vice Chair of the Keep it Green Coalition. I sent my emails out this afternoon. Hope you can too. A client, Preservation New Jersey, is a key coalition member.

NJ FUNDING FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENTS IN JEOPARDY

PLEASE DO THIS TODAY
keepitgreen.org

New Jersey’s support for historic preservation has been especially strong since the 1980s. Through the New Jersey Historic Trust, more than 70million dollars have been invested and hundreds of buildings having been restored throughout the state. Funding for the valuable programs provided by the Trust and open space are expiring and are in jeopardy under the current effort to settle upon upcoming fiscal year’s budget which begins July 1. The work to complete this budget is coming to a close quickly-well before the July 1 deadline. NJHT’s funding has meant much to architects, engineers, contractors, non-profit organizations and local governments.The “Keep It Green” Campaign, http://njkeepitgreen.org/ , has been spearheading the effort to make sure that both open space and historic preservation funding remain in place by supporting the Garden State Preservation Trust (which, in turn, provides funding to the Green Acres program and the NJ Historic Trust).

The last hope for continued funding for the Garden State Preservation Trust is to have a Public Question appear on the ballot this coming November. If we cannot get the Assembly Apropos Committee and Senate Budget Committee to first hold hearings on the question, and then hold floor votes, there will be no NJ Historic Trust funding mechanism enacted this year. Period.

WHAT YOU CAN DO….Call/and or email the legislature leadership below TODAY and tell them that you support the BOND ACT that would be asked as a PUBLIC QUESTION for CONTINUED FUNDING for the GARDEN STATE PRESERVATION TRUST under consideration and that you want hearings scheduled in the Assembly and Senate ASAP.


Barbara Buono, Chair. Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee (732)205-1372 SenBuono@njleg.org

Dick Codey, President, State Senate (973) 731-6770 SenCodey@njleg.org

Nellie Pou, Chair, Appropriations Committee Chair (973) 247-1555AswPou@njleg.org
Joe Roberts, Speaker, General Assembly (856) 742-7600 asmroberts@njleg.org

TALKING POINTS AND/OR SAMPLE TEXT FOR YOUR EMAIL

New Jersey’s voters deserve a choice in November to continue supporting open space and historic preservation funding! The Garden State Preservation Trust is effectively empty, and without renewed funds, the State’s efforts to support the acquisition of open space, natural areas,parks, farmland and historic areas will grind to a halt. The many municipal and private projects that count on state matching would slow to a trickle. Before the legislature recesses in June, I urge you to approve A3901/S1858, which would let voters decide whether to give the state the ability to issue up to $600 million in bonds for three years of open space investment.

Continued funding for the acquisition of open space an capital improvements in historic sites is extremely important to our residents’health, quality of life and our economy. Our natural areas help purify our water and clean our air. They provide diverse recreation opportunities,and habitat for our rich web of wildlife. They help protect against soil erosion, storm water runoff and flooding. Urban parks are vital to the well-being of adults and children alike, and can be counted among the ways to help address the high incidence of childhood obesity and asthma.

Preserving farmland helps us secure local sources of healthy food and keeps us connected with our land, while historic preservation improves the character of our neighborhoods and our access to exciting and interesting places.Investing in open space also stimulates job creation. For instance, the Rutgers Center for Urban Policy Research found that $1 million spent in rehabilitating an older building creates nearly 30 jobs, which is more than new construction and employs a greater diversity of professionals because rehabilitation requires more specialized skills. New Jersey tourism industry, at $38 billion per year, gets a significant boost from our open space investments. And wildlife-related recreation alone generates approximately $3.9 billion in economic activity each year in NJ.

What’s more, acquiring land from willing sellers at today’s reduced prices affords opportunities for the buyers and sellers alike.Failure to renew the Garden State Preservation Trust would be a terrible missed opportunity. Once lost, these lands and historic treasures are lost forever. Allowing New Jersey voters to make their own choice to support renewal of the GSPT in November is the right thing to do.- -

William Honachefsky Jr

Why is Change so Hard? presentation at MANY conference

This past Monday March 30, 2009 I spoke at the annual conference at the Museum Association of New York, as I have for the last three years. My topic this year was "Why is change so hard?"

MANY changed the format of their presentations this year, to get away from "talking heads" on panels and instead asked presenters to propose topics that would stimulate discussion and debate.

I suggested my topic because of my continuing frustration with historic sites that cannot or will not consider a new future for their site if it is clearly on the downward trend. Here is what I proposed and what we did earlier this week at the MANY conference.

Since the publication of my book New Solutions for House Museums in 2007 I have been struck by the great interest it has attracted, but ultimately how little change there has been at house museums that are saddled with deferred maintenance that is far beyond the organization’s capacity to fix.

I have also been taken by the many audience members who seem interested in hearing about alternatives, but yet think of them as “good for someone else, but not us.” I suspect that what is preventing change at their museums is inertia. Change is hard, and getting started is even harder.

I have been reading a great deal of the change literature from the business world lately trying to figure out how to make change easier for house museums, or at least light a path in the darkness ahead, so that house museums forced to make a change understand the first steps.

John Kotter, a Harvard Business School professor wrote a 1994 bestseller Leading Change and several subsequent books about change that I find compelling. His eight step change methodology seems straight forward and easily understood. His change method has been used by NASA, Ford, the Pentagon, hospitals and other units of government. I believe it has general applicability to nonprofit organizations with some minor reservations. I have been using Kotter’s change methodology as a touchstone for describing the change process I am recommending for house museums at the Indiana Association of Museums conference, and at Preservation North Carolina’s annual meeting with great success.

This structured conversation for the MANY conference will focus on Kotter’s first step in Leading Change: creating a sense of urgency. This session is not geared to house museums, rather the conversation explores the nature of change and how museums could use Kotter’s methodology. I will provide a brief overview of Kotter’s 8 step change methodology, and the all important first step—creating urgency among stakeholders. For museums, the prime audience for this information would be mostly board and staff.

Then we would follow with Stewart Chase, Executive Director of the Berkshire Museum in MA who would share briefly how he was able to create urgency and get his board or staff to take a substantial action to see if it fits within Kotter’s paradigm.

After Mr. Chase's remarks, we would invite others to ask questions about how they can create urgency to start a change agenda in their institution. The session would encourage sharing of approaches to change, which, ultimately, is a very human process. Participants will be introduced to Kotter’s change methods, and how other museums approach institutional change.

So our session went exactly as planned. I made remarks for about 10 minutes. Stewart made remarks for ten minutes and we opened it up for questions and comments. About half of the audience of 50 made comments or asked questions of us the presenters or each other. This session was a very good use of the new format for the MANY conferences and the resulting evaluations were extremely positive. If you would like a free copy of the PowerPoint presentation please email me at donna@heritageconsultinginc.com

New York State bill proposed on deaccessioning, historic houses

Anne Ackerson, the Executive Director of the Museum Association of New York State (MANY) reminded me about the legislation being proposed by Assemblyman Richard Brodsky (D Westchester) that would prevent collecting institutions from deacessioning their collections to pay for operating expenses. This is Assembly bill A 06959 introduced last week.

This has been a very hot issue around the country of late, witness the many stories in the press about Brandeis University Art Gallery, Fort Ticonderoga, and the National Academy of Design. This bill would prohibit New York State museums chartered by the State Regents and State Education Department. from selling their collections.

While MANY supports the bill, Anne said that it may need refinements, especially as it may relate to historic buildings. The bill has yet to be published on the Assembly web site according to the MANY web site. Check the information about this bill through this link to the MANY web site. http://www.manyonline.org/

AASLH offers advice on repurposing historic sites

The American Association for State and Local History has published a new ethics position paper on Re-purposing Historic Sites. This project grew out of its Historic Houses committee, and much of the ethic paper is a reiteration of my chapter on decision making found in New Solutions for House Museums published by the American Association for State and Local History with their publishing partner AltaMira Press in 2007.

This ethics paper, developed by a committee over several years, offers their advice in eight pages. It is a short compliment to my book. To read this paper check here.ethicspositionpaper3-repurposingahistorichouse or contact me and I will send you a PDF version.

Main Street Public Relations in the Information Age powerpoint available

Stephanie Redman and I have been speaking about Public Relations for Main Street organizations several times in the last few months. We did a day long PR presentation for the Nebraska Main Street managers, a half day PR presentation for Kansas and Wyoming Main Street Managers, and most recently a 75 minute version for attendees at the National Trust Main Street Center annual conference held in Chicago this past week. We were delighted to have an overflow crowd with people sitting in the aisles and in the hallway outside of our conference session.

We billed the conference session this way in the preliminary conference brochure:

Every Main Street organization needs to build a positive public image through good public relations (P.R.). Learn how to shift from haphazard P.R. efforts to a strategy that puts the organization in a positive public spotlight. This interactive session covers the benefits of positive public relations efforts, effective P.R. methods and tools, and public relations strategy development. We’ll review how to use media lists, social networking sites, press releases, interviews, and press conferences and other tools to steer the news your way. Learn how Main Streetgroups are using blogs, web sites, and social media to bring attention to their programs and reach younger people. Participants leave the workshop with a “quick-and-dirty” P.R. plan to use immediately.

We have already posted the top ten tips for Main Street in the Information Age on this blog and on our Advanced Organization Academy blog. We encourage you to visit it www.advancedorganizationacademy.blogspot.com to learn about the variety of sessions we can provide.

The handouts include the PowerPoint show as well as an exercise to develop a public relations plan, some thoughts about an ideal web site for Main Street organizations, and other great background materials.

If you are interested in seeing the 75 minute, illustrated PowerPoint session, please contact me at donna@heritageconsultinginc.com or stephanie.redman@gmail.com for a complimentary copy.

Funeral Museum on Death's Door according to NY Times

I have been by but never went into Museum of Funeral Customs in all the years I traveled from Chicago to Springfield for Illinois Main Street busienss. The site referred to in this article, is managed by the Illinois Funeral Director’s Association. Like many small museums it is struggling with low attendance and they are considering closing. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/us/09funeral.html