As you have likely heard, a bill is moving through City Council that will wipe out the Historic Preservation Trust Fund, in order to build a parking lot for the Landing.
As if this were not absurd enough, JEDC has a strong prospective buyer for the Laura Street Trio, the three most significant endangered buildings in downtown. The $3.2 million in the trust fund is crucial to making that deal work.
The Trust Fund was established in 2002, the result of a 6-month Historic Preservation Task Force involving over 100 people. It was the centerpiece of Matt Carlucci's term as City Council President. Ironically, this new bill (which the Times-Union aptly called a "raid of the historic building trust fund") was introduced by the current City Council President, Richard Clark.
This is a bad bill and a bad precedent, which will put a dagger in the heart of efforts to pump new life into our historic downtown and its landmark buildings.
A press conference has been called by members of the preservation community to protest and stand against this outrageous ordinance, to be sure it is defeated by the City Council. This press conference is scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday, May 18th, at 12:00 noon in front of City Hall/The St. James Building.
Please make every effort to be there and stand with us against this misguided attack on our historic preservation efforts. A large crowd will send an important message. Please forward this to others and urge them to attend.
Also, there are two City Council Committee meetings which are taking up this bill. The Finance Committee meets today (Monday) at 2:00. The Recreation Committee meets tomorrow (Tuesday) at 2:00. Please attend these meetings also and speak out. Note: Matt Carlucci requested that these meetings be deferred, since he is out of town this week and wanted to speak against the bill. Matt told me that he called President Clark last Friday, and Clark told him that he would not defer the bill, then hung up on him.
Not nice.
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