This past week I watched half of the gasholder in South Troy get pulled down, exposing its inner guts, and revealing how the structure worked. As coal gas was created in a nearby building, it was fed through underground pipes into the gasholder. Inside a "floating" lid rose or lowered on a central rod, depending on the volume of the gas that was created, or used. Go take a look before the rest falls.

I also learned that someone has begun dismantling the roof on the Riverside Club/Freihofers's complex, and rumors are both buildings will be torn down for a car lot. It was the same week we learned that RPI wants to turn historic Proctors Theater into a hotel. Does that mean the theater will be gutted?

None of these events had public input. Not a good week for Troy's history.

It should be obvious by now that we need to reconstitute the Mayor's preservation task force; a task force created a couple of years ago by the previous administration. Made up of local citizens and professionals, it looked at a variety of options for creating new zoning laws, building design guidelines, and a plan for developing an inventory of our historic resources. The recommendations went nowhere and so here we are in the same situation. After all these years, we still do NOT know what historic buildings we have, or need to be preserved, or how to protect them even if we do identify them. Ironically, the 1988 historic district proposal that resurfaced last month was tabled and has not seen any light since.

So I call on the new administration to make the commitment to rise to the occasion. First, we need to dust off the recommendations already made from the task force and see which ones can be implemented immediately. Next, new committees or the previous ones should be brought back to life and charged with continuing where they left off.

What do we need?

Design guidelines.
These are important so that we do not have a Wal-Mart's or Pizza Hut on River Street, or an Eiffel tower on Third Street. Design guidelines force the developer to fit their projects in with the existing scale and form of the surrounding block. Many cities have them.

Inventory.
During the 1970s, a building survey was conducted in most of the city. We need to update that survey (many buildings on it have already been lost), complete a new one, and enter it into a computer database that can be put online.

No demolition without public input.
Most of the time we never know a building is going to be torn down until the day it happens. No further demolitions should take place without public comment, or some review process kicks in. The fact that the city has proposed allocating $250,000 for demolition and only $50,000 for stabilization is alarming and telling. Those figures should be reversed.

CLG and historic sites commission.
Troy must become a CLG, a certified local government. It opens the city up for grants and other help from the State Historic Preservation Office. Does it help? Well Saratoga Springs is a CLG. They made $85 million in tourism dollars last year. Troy also needs to have a historic sites commission with teeth; one in which proposals can be approved or not based on a strong preservation backed ordinance (which we don't have either).

Zoning.
This seems to be the only successful result of the task force last year. A zoning group has met and developed a pretty good new set of zoning laws. While not everything is in there, it is a good start and we should encourage its approval, and then work on adding to some of the shortfalls.

Why do we need these? Because, there are people discovering our city for the first time and want to invest here. This includes a group of Boston artists who already have purchased several buildings. This includes developers like Sandy Horowitz, a Hollywood producer who fortunately believes that restoring historic buildings makes good business sense. I also know there are more developers coming to Troy, and we want to make sure they feel the same way.

Troy is on the cusp of a come back that will blow the socks off surrounding communities. It has the potential to become a heritage destination center that will bring in millions of dollars in revenue. But for this to happen, the city needs to protect the assets that are the drawing card - our history. The bottom line for you dear reader means lower taxes, new jobs, and a city that will be the heartbeat of the Capital District. Now that isn't so bad is it?