Feb 09, 2010
Save America’s Treasures, Stimulus Spending and State Data
I’m not smart enough to figure out how to post the data on my website. But I’ve broken down state-by-state the numbers of jobs that Save America’s Treasures has created and compared that with the most recent White House data, state-by-state, on stimulus spending and ...
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Feb 09, 2010
Save America’s Treasures Update
Yesterday I wrote about the White House announcement that the Preserve America and Save America’s Treasures programs were to be eliminated. The reason given was that: Both programs lack rigorous performance metrics and evaluation efforts so the benefits are unclear. Benefits are unclear? If anyone ...
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Feb 09, 2010
Time For Reflection
On January 31st the White House announced that the 2011 budget would eliminate all funding for the Save America’s Treasures and the Preserve America programs. The White House blog explained the decision this way: Cutting Save America’s Treasures and Preserve America grant programs at the ...
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Oct 09, 2009
That translating software isn’t quite there yet
Vince Michael is a friend of mine and also the director of the graduate program in historic preservation at the Art Institute of Chicago. Vince attended the speech I gave at the Forum Luncheon on the last day of the National Trust conference in Nashville. He ...
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Oct 09, 2009
Australian vs American Stimulus Plan
Last week an Australian newspaper had this headline: Jobs Fund to Support $60 Million Heritage Investment and Create Thousands of Australian Jobs. Then the body of the story said this: By working together we are improving protection for our important heritage places and in turn ...
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Oct 09, 2009
Mea Culpa, Mea Culpa
At the beginning of this year I promised that I would be more diligent about regular postings. And it’s not that there haven’t been great “stories from the field” to write about, both domestic and foreign. But I haven’t done it. And I’ve found that ...
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Oct 09, 2009
Making Preservation Relevant for the Next 50 Years
The National Trust’s yearly conference concluded yesterday in Nashville. The last formal event was the annual Forum Luncheon, Forum being the subset of Trust members who are primarily practicing professionals in historic preservation. It was my privilege to give the presentation at that event. In ...
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May 09, 2009
The Truck Farm – Update
Back in August I posted an entry on a great business in Las Cruses, New Mexico named The Truck Farm. They are producers/purveyors of GREAT New Mexican, Mexican, Southwestern condiments. It is a great small business. I told them at the time that they needed their ...
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May 09, 2009
Unabashed self-promotion
This morning I read a wonderful, funny and (believe it or not) scholarly paper entitled The Dakota Effect. It first appeared in PSOnline, an electronic journal of the American Political Science Association. The article (maybe the wittiest academic article I’ve ever read) was written by two ...
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Mar 09, 2009
The Cost of No Principles and Learning What Works
This morning’s New York Times had a story about plans in Texas to spend $181 million in stimulus funds to build a sprawl inducing highway outside of Houston. The Times headline is “Stimulus Ideals in Conflict on the Texas Prairie.” And as evidence they quote ...
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