Save America’s Treasures
February 16, 2010
The Word is Getting Around
Two excellent columns have been written on the Obama administration's decision to trash the Save America's Treasures and Preserve America programs. One late last week appeared in Treehugger written by Lloyd Atler. The other appeared today in the Seattle based publication Crosscut written by Knute Berger. Both merit reading, linking, and distributing.
February 15, 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 jobs created. If you'd like a copy of the data tables just email me at DRypkema@PlaceEconomics.com and I'll send it to you as an attachment.
February 14, 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 had bothered to make the most basic of calculations they could not have said that with a straight face.
February 13, 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 National Park Service. Save America’s Treasures program was started to mark the millennium and was supposed to last for two years. Both programs lack rigorous performance metrics and evaluation efforts so the benefits are unclear. This announcement certainly riled the historic preservation movement including a series of postings on the National Trust’s Forum listserv under the subject line, “It’s Time to Declare War.”
