MyHometownOhio features occasional views written by Preservation Ohio Staff and Board members.  In today’s post, Preservation Ohio Executive Director Thomas Palmer takes the opportunity to pen a quick response to an editorial published in the March 11 online edition of the Marietta Register.

Some weeks ago, we took a brief timeout from Ohio-based stories to share with you a news item from the town of Albion, New York.  There, the mayor had launched into an attack on the city’s historic preservation ordinance, vociferously advocating removal of the community’s entire historic downtown area.  In a follow-up to this outburst, preservation developer Donovan Rypkema had shared his take on why the mayor’s views were not only misguided, but also objectively impractical.

MyHometownOhio included the Albion story as it typified a similar attitude we have heard in various parts of our own state – one which not only discounts the value of historic resources, but decries their existence as a purported barrier to “progress.”  In this light, this morning I was not surprised, but was nevertheless very disappointed, to read a lead editorial in the online Marietta Register entitled “Prisoners to History.”

“Prisoners to History” is an editorial that, quite frankly, needs to be read to be believed (click here to do so).  Ignoring obvious statements of exaggeration such as “One, (sic) hundred year old home or business building or government center is nice.  Ten shows a connection to the past.  A hundred or more of them shows a lack of investment in renewal and development.” or the equally broad “Those who value and are interested in history and the past tend largely to be those who are older and more set in their ways.  Those of us who are younger and more vital (let’s face it) are more interested in the newest and latest,” the core message of the editorial seems to be this – that Marietta is doomed to economic decline if it fails to jettison using its history as a tool for marketing and development.

There are many ways to respond to this editorial, among which are the following:

•    While the editorial’s point that differentiation drives economic prosperity is a valid one, it does not follow that Marietta’s use of its history cannot itself be a differentiating factor.  First of all, the history of Ohio’s oldest community is a highly unique and singular one.  Marietta is not just any community along any river.  Second, just because every city has a history, it does not automatically mean that city leaders know what that history is and how to effectively communicate it.  Like other heritage tourism attractions, cities can attract visitors and investment if they project the air of authenticity so valued in today’s marketplace, and do so in a highly interactive, engaging manner.

•    Just as with the mayor of Albion’s statements, there is an inherent impracticality to what is suggested by this editorial.  The fact is that Marietta is composed of more than hundreds of older structures – there are actually thousands of them, some 2,295 of them deemed to be contributing structures in National Register Historic Districts alone!  While replacing them is obviously a ludicrous proposition, even ignoring them to concentrate on other efforts risks the need to expend millions of public dollars dealing with the after-effects of blight and decay – a horrific proposition even in the best of economic times.

•    Like it or not, Marietta Register, the only proven viable and comprehensive downtown revitalization strategy that exists for your community is one which emphasizes assets which it already has.  After visiting hundreds of downtowns, Donovan Rypkema again stated, “….I cannot identify a single example of a sustained success story in downtown revitalization where historic preservation wasn’t a key component of that strategy. Not a one. Conversely, the examples of very expensive failures in downtown revitalization have nearly all had the destruction of historic buildings as a major element.”

•    Lastly, the State of Ohio, in the middle of the most difficult economy in a generation, still sees the inherent power of the past to generate sustainable investment.  Why else would the Ohio Historic Preservation Tax Credit be one of the key elements of Governor Strickland’s job creation strategy?

The most telling observation is this.  In both Albion and Marietta, there are no alternative economic development philosophies being advanced – there is only opposition to one which already exists.  Perhaps the author of this editorial secretly wishes that Marietta looked more like a more temperate city in California or Arizona, and feels trapped in a place that falls short of his or her expectations – but the fact is that Marietta looks like it does because of more than 200 years of history.  Perhaps it’s a simple instance of someone or someplace with resources taking them for granted, based on the human tendency to overlook what we see most often.

Whatever that case, Marietta -- Ohio’s oldest community – deserves the tools it needs to generate revitalization in the toughest of times – including, finally, a historic preservation ordinance!

Thomas Palmer

Photo: Downtown Marietta - Preservation Ohio File Photo