National Trust for Historic Preservation Announces Major Campaign to Preserve Historic and Cultural Resources Affected by Hurricane Katrina
Washington, D.C. (September 15, 2005) * The National Trust for Historic Preservation announced today that it is launching a major campaign to help ensure the preservation of historic buildings, neighborhoods and communities in the Gulf Coast region ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.
Making the announcement, National Trust President Richard Moe said, “We all know that Katrina is one of the greatest human tragedies in the nation’s history * but it also could be the greatest cultural catastrophe America has ever experienced. Rebuilding is essential, but it must acknowledge the historic character of one of the nation’s most distinctive regions.”
Currently, the campaign includes three primary components: assessment; federal, state, and local tools for preservation; and public education.
With support from the Getty Foundation, the National Trust is now assembling survey teams with professional expertise in architecture, construction, history and preservation, and will send them to the region as soon as possible.
Also, the Trust and its partners are working with federal, state and local governments to develop and refine tools to facilitate reconstruction and help prevent future disasters of this kind. At the federal level, these include: amendments to facilitate the use of existing tax-credit incentives for the rehabilitation of hurricane-damaged historic commercial properties; development of a new tax-credit program for the rehabilitation of owner-occupied historic houses; and the creation of a two-year, $60 million fund that would offer grants to help preserve properties listed in, or eligible for listing in, the National Register of Historic Places. At the state and local levels, tools being considered include revised building codes to enable structures to withstand future hurricanes, and design guidelines to encourage new construction that respects the character of historic areas.
Finally, the Trust will launch a major effort to educate the public about the importance of the historic resources of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast * and the importance of saving them.
To support the campaign, the organization is creating the National Trust Hurricane Katrina Recovery Fund, which will support the work of survey teams, help convene discussions among experts to envision design solutions for sensitive reconstruction, and facilitate the provision of technical assistance to communities in need. The Trust hopes to raise $1 million for the Fund. The Getty Foundation has already committed $100,000.
Moe described the work of the survey teams as especially important since there have already been calls for the demolition of entire historic neighborhoods in New Orleans. “The down-home heart of the city beats in historic neighborhoods such as Holy Cross, Treme, Broadmoor and Mid-City, where modest shotgun houses, corner stores and Creole cottages are essential ingredients in the flavorful architectural gumbo that is New Orleans. It’s essential that we save as many of these buildings as possible.”
“The goal of recovery should be to allow residents to come back home to healthy, vibrant, livable places that retain the character that makes them unique,” he continued. “You can’t do that by calling in the bulldozers and creating vacant lots where neighborhoods used to be.”
Moe has written to Alabama Governor Robert Riley, Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco, Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin and FEMA Acting Director David Paulison, asking them not to make hasty decisions about the need for widespread demolition until the survey teams have had a chance to do their work. The text of Moe’s letter can be read at www.nationaltrust.org.
Citing the National Trust’s experience in dealing with other natural disasters, Moe described Hurricane Katrina as “a disaster like none we’ve experienced before, and it calls for solutions like none we’ve developed before. If we don’t get those solutions right, we could wind up compounding the damage that has already occurred.” He concluded, “We can * and must * rebuild these places without destroying the things that make them special.”
Moe will tour the Gulf Coast region Monday and Tuesday, September 19 and 20, to assess needs and identify ways to meet them.
For more information about the National Trust Hurricane Katrina Recovery Fund, visit www.nationaltrust.org or call 1-800-944-6847 (NTHP).
Ann M. Meehan
Curator of Education
Loyola University Museum of Art
820 North Michigan Avenue
Chicago IL 60611
312.915.7604 (direct)
312.915.6388 (fax)
http://www.luc.edu/luma/
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