A few years back I noticed a trend.
What I noticed was the awareness and advocacy tactic of establishing
various months, weeks, or days set aside to celebrate and educate around a particular interest
or issue of importance.
You know, like its Bike Month in May.
It was National Poetry Month in April. June will be National Safety
Month, which seems a broad category, and leaves me with visions of a
promotional campaign that involves people dancing in hard hats and bright
orange vests to one of my favorite 80’s jams Safety Dance by Men Without Hats.
It can be easy to poke fun at some of these. At its worst, it can be like
the greeting card industry and its proliferation of ridiculous holidays for the purpose of creating
pounds of floral colored and sentimental garbage.
I feel bad for some months that are so overrun with holidays and causes
that they seem weary. Take poor February for instance. I mean, she is already
often quite a dreary month around these parts. She is also the shortest month
and yet we have crammed so much responsibility into her small arms.
Beyond the obvious celebrations in February which include Black History
Month, Valentine’s Day, and President’s Day – other monthly observances
include: International Hoof-Care Month, Marijuana Awareness Month, Pull
Your Sofa Off The Wall Month, Return Shopping Carts to Supermarket Month, and
Spunky Old Broads Month.
A few of my favorite weekly and daily observances in February include: Just
Say No to Power Point Week, Shower with a Friend Day, Blame Someone Else Day, Cow
Milked While Flying in an Airplane Day, and International Sword Swallowers Day.
However, once we put down the low
hanging fruit and stop throwing it, I have to admit that many of these
awareness observances have led to important education and advocacy around
significant issues.
Well, whatever you think of these awareness observances, they are here
to stay. Bike Month is off to a great start and you may or may not know that
this month is also National Historic
Preservation Month.
National Historic Preservation Month was established in 1973, by the
National Trust for Historic Preservation, in order to promote historic
preservation and community pride in local heritage sites.
This May, the theme for Tacoma's Historic Preservation Month is I
Heart Tacoma: Celebrate Tacoma's Unique Cultural Heritage.
The City of
Tacoma's Historic Preservation Office and many local partners, have worked
together to create a month-long calendar of events that highlight the different
aspects of Tacoma's historic resources and heritage community. You can
see the menu of activities that are happening here: http://www.cityoftacoma.org/cms/One.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=56093
The first of these events is
the Amazing Preservation Race, which takes place this Saturday May 9 at
11 am in downtown Tacoma. The race begins at Tollefson Plaza and ends at Wright
Park. Teams of up to four people will learn about Tacoma's cultural and
historic resources as they complete family-friendly challenges throughout
downtown Tacoma! For more information or to register go here: http://www.cityoftacoma.org/cms/one.aspx?portalId=169&pageId=62179&objectId.6501=76578&contextId.6501=62183&parentId.6501=62184
Sometimes historical preservation can be a controversial subject. As a
community development and neighborhood revitalization consultant, I deal with
these conversations and tensions often. What I can say is that historical preservation is an important part of
the cultural and aesthetic landscape of vibrant cities. However, preservation
needs to be balanced with other concerns as well.
Creative adaptive uses are an
important part of the equation, but sometimes the expenses of adapting for new
uses or just making a space safe, requires that we face the reality that not
every structure can be preserved.
We are always balancing progress and preservation it seems. But, I
don’t think the two have to be mutually exclusive and there are plenty of
examples of progress that include the
preservation and celebration of the art and history of old structures.
Identifiable and iconic structures are a part of how we create a sense
of place and a unique identity for a community, but they aren't the only
consideration. I’d argue the most important way we create a sense of place is
through the people that inhabit those spaces - who work, live, and play in
those spaces.
Whenever we put bricks and mortar ahead of preserving and developing
the quality of life for residents, we lose site of the initial intent behind a
structures construction in the first place and the efforts to preserve them.
For me, the debate is embedded in that tension. Well-meaning and
articulate people alike can often disagree within the debate, but I believe
that is the kind of civil discourse that is the foundation of a strong community.
If you can’t make it out to the Amazing Preservation Race this Saturday,
I encourage you as you ride your bike around Tacoma this month, to take time to
notice and appreciate some of our historic structures. I have worked with many
folks on the Landmarks Commission and within the historical preservation
efforts in Tacoma – they've done some good work and there is more good work to
do.
Oh, also, I look forward to celebrating National Hoof Month with you
all next February!
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