It was nice to read the Mayor's proclamation last week that demolition of historic buildings in the city is slowing down. Of course that didn't help the Olympic Saloon in the Burg a couple of weeks ago. One of the Burgh's earliest industrial buildings was razed for a few additional off street parking spaces. Business as usual? Let's face it, this is going to continue until steps are put in place to take the decision making out of the existing planning commission and put into the hands of a group of experts who can tell the difference between a historic building and a banana.

Troy needs to become a CLG - Certified Local Government. The certified local government program is a local, state and federal partnership that provides technical assistance and small grants to local governments who are seeking to preserve their architectural and cultural heritage for future generations. Established by the National Historic Preservation Amendment Act of 1980, the program has assisted more that 1100 cities across the US. There is a catch to becoming a CLG however.There are five eligibility requirements:

1. Enforce appropriate state or local legislation for the designation and protection of historic properties. Adopt design guidelines. As a member of the Mayor's preservation committee a year or so ago one of our recommendations was to adopt design guidelines. We submitted sample guidelines from other cities around the country that have successfully done this.

2. Establish an adequate and qualified historic preservation review commission by local legislation. This is the most important part in the case of Troy. The creation of a REAL historic preservation review commission would have experts on it: historians, archaeologists, planners, ecologists, in essence, all of the necessary expertise to make the correct determination about a historic site and its environs. This would take the decision making out of the existing planning commission who has shown little respect for the city's history.

3. Maintain a system of survey and inventory of historic properties. This has already begun. We discovered hundreds of historic preservation forms that were done in a 1979-81 historic survey of the city - and then buried in the planning office storage room. Fortunately, one of the planning staff found them. I have already scanned most of those, on a volunteer basis, and in the near future hopefully can get them into database form. This would allow the city or anyone to tell whether a particular building has any importance and the database can be placed on the Internet.

4. Provide for adequate public participation in the local historic preservation program, including the process of recommending properties to the National Register. I don't think this is a problem other than the city council has a "law" saying that you have to live within the city to speak at a council meeting. I hope we have all those experts needed living in the city.

5. Satisfactorily perform the responsibilities delegated under the National Historic Preservation Amendments Act of 1980.

In NYS, 35 CLGs already exist, including the city of Schenectady and Saratoga Springs. Albany and Troy are not CLGs and if you look at the number of important archeological and historic sites that have been destroyed in the last five years between them, it says it all.

Since 1985, more than a million dollars of federal historic preservation money have gone to CLGs through our State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). The money can be used for surveys, educational publications, planning efforts, and even technical assistance to the members of the new city historic sites commission. SHPO highlighted Schenectady and Saratoga's CLG activities stating that the City of Schenectady enhanced local preservation awareness and activities through a comprehensive historic district resources inventory, a local landmark district sign program, and an information map on local historic districts. Saratoga's revitalization is a model for other New York communities. With CLG grant assistance, Saratoga completed several important preservation planning initiatives, including historic resources surveys, developing historic district design guidelines, and identifying archaeological resources.

By becoming a CLG, Troy can strengthen its ability to make decisions about local planning and activities as it relates to our historic resources - our economic future. First, you've got to have a professional historic sites commission in place. What are we waiting for?