Notes from the Field: New Orleans

Posted on: October 11th, 2007 by Walter Gallas

 

Rebirth Brass Band, New Orleans, La.The Convention and Visitors Bureau of New Orleans depends heavily on the marketing appeal of crowds parading through the streets of its neighborhoods in a “second line” following a brass band. The occasion can be a happy one when, for example, one of the city’s many Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs comes out on a Sunday, just for the joy of parading. Sometimes the mood is somber, when the crowds gather to remember someone who has passed away.

Last Monday, Rebirth Brass Band snare drummer Derrick Tabb and his brother, trombonist Glen David Andrews, received citations from the New Orleans Police Department for disturbing the peace and parading without a permit. Both learned later at their arraignment that they were also charged with "disturbing the peace by tumultuous manner." The procession was prompted by the death of their friend, a tuba player, the previous week. As the two men’s attorney put it after their appearance in municipal court, the charge "speaks volumes about the disconnect between some officers and the culture of New Orleans.” The two men entered innocent pleas.

Walter Gallas is director of the New Orleans Field Office.

Indiana City, County Battle Over House

Posted on: October 11th, 2007 by Preservation magazine

 

Barnard House, Martinsville, Ind.A historic house in Martinsville, Ind., 30 miles south of Indianapolis, is at the center of a preservation battle that has pitted the city, which wants to save the building, against Morgan County, which has demolished four of the city's historic houses in the past eight years.

Preservationists rallied to meet an August deadline to save the 1870s Barnard House, but the county hasn't yet decided the fate of the two-story brick house, which it bought last October.

Morgan County announced plans to demolish the Barnard House, located just next door to the county administration building, to make way for parking and "future needs that come up,” according to Norman Voyles, county commissioner.... Read More →

Tour Highlights Preservation Struggle

Posted on: October 11th, 2007 by Walter Gallas 1 Comment

 

Nicollet Island, Minneapolis, Minn.(This post was written as part of PreservationNation’s coverage of the National Preservation Conference, October 2-6, 2007.)

I joined the National Trust Advisors’ tour after the closing session of the National Preservation Conference this past Saturday to get an overview of the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Our first stop was on Nicollet Island, a charming place in the middle of the Mississippi River just upriver from St. Anthony Falls. It contains a collection of late 19th century housing, along with a few buildings that reflect its industrial past.

We learned about the struggle between the preservation community and De La Salle High School on the island as the school pushes forward with plans to build a football stadium there. It was depressing to hear about how many of the city’s decision-makers in this matter had ties to the school, and thus pushed to overrule the city’s preservation commission’s denials of the plans. The one bright note is that the National Trust has joined in a suit challenging the actions in the state appeals court.

Endangered Site Closer to Being Saved

Posted on: October 10th, 2007 by National Trust for Historic Preservation

 

Flags at the Minidoka Internment Camp, Hunt, Idaho. Credit: National Trust for Historic Preservation Western Regional OfficePreservationists, National Park supporters, local residents, and members of the Japanese American community scored a major victory yesterday in their efforts to halt a 13,000-head concentrated animal feeding operation (or factory farm) just over one mile from the Minidoka Internment National Monument in Idaho. The Jerome County Commissioners voted 2-1 to deny the application for the facility, which threatened to affect the National Monument with intense odor, dust, pests, and airborne pathogens.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation called attention to the plight of Minidoka earlier this year when we listed the Monument as one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places. The National Trust staff at the Western Regional Office and in Washington, DC, along with the National Park Service, Preservation Idaho, the National Parks Conservation Association, the Japanese American Citizens League, and local residents, advocated for months to urge the Jerome County Commissioners to deny the feedlot application and protect the Monument. The feedlot applicant will file an appeal of the decision, and the National Trust and its partners will continue to work to preserve the integrity of the Minidoka Internment National Monument.

To learn more about the effects of factory farming on our nation’s heritage, and what you can do to help, please visit the Rural Heritage section of the National Trust website.

For more coverage of the threats facing the Minidoka Internment National Monument and the Jerome County Commissioners’ decision, please visit: http://www.magicvalley.com.

-- Elaine Stiles

Rooted in Preservation

Posted on: October 10th, 2007 by National Trust for Historic Preservation 1 Comment

 

St. Paul, fading into darkness. (Warren Shaver)(This post was written as part of PreservationNation’s coverage of the National Preservation Conference, October 2-6, 2007.)

From "Root Shock" to root vegetables, the two keynote speeches of the 2007 National Preservation Conference's Closing Plenary differed in their respective topics, but at root (do you get the theme here?), Dr. Mindy Fullilove and Arlin Wasserman shared a key value that is also near and dear to the preservationists sitting in the audience: the critical importance of place.

As we filed in to the Orpheum Theater in downtown Minneapolis on Saturday morning (past many of our familiar colleagues clad in some very unfamiliar attire: straw hats and bandannas. Hmmm, could all of these people have lost a bet, or was it a collective overreaction to Garrison Keillor's admonition that preservationists need to lighten up? More on this mystery in a minute), we were looking forward to an interesting double-bill.

Dr. Fullilove is a social psychologist who focuses on the psychological harm done to individuals when their community is dispersed and their social networks are disrupted. Wasserman, whose work focuses on "terroir"—French for "the taste of place"—is a self-described "foodie" who travels the globe tasting some of the world's greatest food. Wasserman's work forces him to drink Champagne in France, sample arugula in Cuba, and seek out iced cider in Quebec.

... Read More →