FACT CHECK FRIDAY: PRESERVATION AND COMMUNITY - PART 2
Myth: only professional preservationists decide what places to save and reuse.
Fact: historic preservation is a community effort. DC residents know what places embody their history, culture, and invoke a sense of neighborhood pride. The capital is home to passionate communities who actively initiate and lead preservation of places important to them.
The Bloomingdale Historic District was designated in 2018. It was the culmination of years of community effort. Residents formed the Bloomingdale Historic Designation Coalition (BHDC) in 2015. BHDC dedicated itself to community outreach activities, including walking tours, an annual Bloomingdale Community Day, and fundraisers. BHDC explained the preservation process, the historic district nomination, and sought resident support at farmer’s markets, public forums, meetings, and workshops. By 2018, BHDC had collected more than 300 petition signatures, more than 500 letters of support, and 249 “Statements of Support” signatures.
Even with significant community support, all historic district cases generate some amount of opposition. The Bloomingdale Civic Associaton (BCA) supported the designation while Bloomingdale’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission (ANC) ultimately opposed designation, as did some other residents. Both positions were presented to the Historic Preservation Review Board (HPRB) whose members voted unanimously to designate the historic district. The Review Board praised BHDC's extensive outreach efforts.
Community members may not always agree on the best way to preserve the history, culture, and character of their respective neighborhood, however, DC's historic designation process offers citizens the ability to express their support or dissent in a public forum.
Each Friday we'll explore another historic preservation fact. Comment with what topic we should cover next!
BHDC won an award for Community Involvement and Volunteerism at the 2019 District of Columbia Awards for Excellence in Historic Preservation. Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFtt-sNDaF8
Read more about the Bloomingdale HD here: https://planning.dc.gov/publ…/bloomingdale-historic-district
Learn about the history of racially restrictive deed covenants in Bloomingdale on our app, DC Historic Sites (curated by Prologue DC, authors of the historic district nomination): https://historicsites.dcpreservation.org/tours/show/11
No comments:
Post a Comment