tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post6641258440103801244..comments2024-03-25T17:49:41.408-07:00Comments on Salem Breakfast on Bikes: Defense against Developer Dark Arts: Historic Districts' Unpredictable CharmSalem Breakfast on Bikeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15618055627843335993noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-40453613320200013772016-04-17T13:37:03.467-07:002016-04-17T13:37:03.467-07:00I think the point here is the inadvisability of wa...I think the point here is the inadvisability of walling off whole neighborhoods from change just because it's old. What caught my attention was the idea of designating SESNA as a historic district. I live there. Much of SESNA is full of decades old single family housing, often poorly insulated with old and inefficient heating systems, with some duplexes and small apartment buildings scattered throughout. One hopeful thing on the horizon is the plan for State Street. Because of the proximity of a large part of the neighborhood to downtown, the Capitol and state offices, and Willamette University, SESNA could do with a good deal more medium scale density so people can bike and walk for work and errands. I would love to see affordable condos in this neighborhood. Great cities (and I have lived in a couple and been to several) are layered with a variety architectural styles from a variety of eras. They adapt and respond to new opportunities and challenges. One of the biggest challenges - and opportunities - we face now is climate change and the need to reduce our energy and resource use footprint. Cities, if conscientiously developed and renewed are well suited to conserving energy, land and infrastructure. Salem doesn't look, act or think like a city to me. It seems more like one vast suburb (of what?) and, unfortunately, I think a lot of people want to keep it that way.Laurie Doughertyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11824401850721009298noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-79906464149231189722016-04-16T19:55:35.207-07:002016-04-16T19:55:35.207-07:00I’m really happy to see historic preservation gett...I’m really happy to see historic preservation getting some critical attention! As a historic preservationist who worked professionally in the field for nearly 9 years, I’d like to offer up a few comments. First, I think it’s important to understand that where cities have adopted their ideas of historic preservation and how to handle historic properties come directly from the programs and processes identified in the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966. This includes evaluation criteria used for the National Register of Historic Places determination as well as the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties and Section 106 review and compliance. This national law is further carried out locally in Oregon under Planning Goal 5 OAR 660-023-200 which compels local government to use these criteria and standards. Much of what we’ve done in Salem -- and especially work done in the 1980s -- can be attributed in large part to compliance activity with the NHPA and Goal 5. That said, it’s interesting to note that the criteria and processes used to identify, register, and regulate historic properties haven’t really changed since the 1960s.<br /><br />I also think it’s important to distinguish between the different types of historic preservationists, because they range in approach, methodology, and compliance. Some preservations don’t want to see a building changed -- period -- and it should stand as a monument to the past. Other preservations think that altering a building so that it can be effectively used in today’s world while still retaining the character-defining features is just fine (“a used building is a saved building” mindset). Still others think that the place is more important than the material, and so something can be destroyed and rebuilt over time, so long as the essence of what that place does remains the same (this approach is most common in Japan, China, etc.; our American culture emphasizes the material as most important).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17622513104207141519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-35512313879402546862016-04-14T10:42:43.471-07:002016-04-14T10:42:43.471-07:00This might not be directly relevant to your point ...This might not be directly relevant to your point about historic districts, but it is certainly relevant to your points about development. It's about big cities, but some of the same is true here.<br /><br />http://www.vox.com/2016/4/14/11424532/mark-farrel-housing<br /><br />"In an influential 1976 paper, Harvey Molotch wrote of "The City as Growth Machine," explaining that a powerful coalition of real estate interests, building trade unions, and public sector workers controlled urban politics and pushed it on a trajectory to ever more building.<br /><br />Actual experience shows this is not the case. While Molotch's growth machine coalition does tend to mobilize around a handful of high-profile projects — often stadiums, convention centers, or redevelopment schemes focused on waterfront industrial areas — the vast majority of land use decisions go the other way. Instead of a growth machine, cities see a series of decisions made on a local basis generally in response to very parochial concerns about street parking and "neighborhood character" that completely ignore citywide economic impact.<br /><br />Yale University legal scholar David Schleicher argues that urban growth machines fail because big-city politics in the United States lacks the element of partisan competition that forces elected officials to articulate a citywide vision."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5666195730630249633.post-79538204103380863952016-04-13T19:20:24.651-07:002016-04-13T19:20:24.651-07:00I agree with most of your points. The only thing ...I agree with most of your points. The only thing I want to point out is that Salem doesn't have any neighborhood scaled commercial pods and I don't really see any hope that any will be developed or intrude into Salem's historic districts in the near future. The Hospital intrusion is just the opposite. Its the intrusion of an auto-scaled suburban office park into the Central Business District. The only intrusion I see in Salem is along these lines--suburban, auto-oriented development eroding what little urban character Salem has left. Salem has taken some steps forward, but on balance it has taken more steps back. Given the climate in Salem, which is a pretty unenlightned approach to development, the NIMBYism is justified.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com