Politics and preservation

The work I am doing for Preservation New Jersey to assist municipalities to create or upgrade their historic preservation element of municipal master plans, proves again, that what Tip O'Neill, former Speaker of the House, said is true--"all politics is local."

So far I have consulted with five communities around the state, by advising them about how to make necessary changes to meet the minimum standards of the state's municipal land use law. This is the easy part. There are plenty of templates for these plan elements from other communities around the state. We have provided them and done additional research, so now we have about 50 examples available.

But doing an historic preservation plan element is easy compared to gathering local momentum to pass a local historic preservation ordinance, the backbone of all local protections for landmarks in the state and nation.

I am always impressed by the passion of local preservation advocates, and speaking with them reminds me why this field is still exciting after twenty five years.

All local folks must plot and plan how to create a group of like-minded and influential folks who can convince local elected officials that historic landmarks must be protected--even from their owners.

So hats off to local preservation advocates. Keep up the good work!