Historic Preservation and Sustainability - Local Journalist getting it right

Yeah, this is a bit self-serving, and I apologize in advance for that. But a couple of weeks ago I was in Ann Arbor, Michigan. I wrote about it in this blog on June 13th.

Well, on that trip I met a journalist by the name of Jon Zemke and subsequently traded emails with him. Jon writes for and is news editor of the online magazine Concentrate which covers the Ann Arbor area.

So Jon, who himself lives in a historic property, wrote a great story that you might want to check out entitled The Economic Upside of Preservation. He generously quotes me in the article, hence the self-serving part. But he did something else that good journalists do -- he made the local connection. Yeah, he cited some of the factoids that I often talk about in relation to the economic impact of historic preservation. But more importantly he put those abstract numbers into a local context using local historic preservation projects and local property owners. His photography colleague Dave Lewinski added great photos, including the one I've stolen and inserted above.

Furthermore, he got it right -- at least in relation to what I had to say. And that is often not the case with local journalists -- even when what they write is largely sympathetic.

Historic preservation has a great story to tell -- about its positive economic impact and its being at the heart of real sustainable development. But someone has to tell that story -- and tell it well. And Jon Zemke has done exactly that.

Clients Getting their Money's Worth

I'm not cheap.

And I only have a daily rate (you can't buy an hour or a half day or a speech...you can only buy a day). But none of my clients -- nearly all public sector or non-profit sector entities -- have an excess of money to toss around. So I try to resolve that conflict in two ways: 1) Unlike most consultants I don't charge for preparation time or travel time. I figure the client is paying for having me on-site, prepared for the assignment, not for me sitting on an airplane or in an airport or writing the presentation I'm going to be giving. 2) Since they've been stuck paying for the whole day, I always tell potential clients they are welcome to use as much of my time during that day (or days) as they think is productive.

Some of them do; some don't.

But Norm Tyler in Ann Arbor is doing it right. Norm is the Director of the Eastern Michigan University Urban and Regional Planning Program. But for us in preservation he's probably even better known as the author of Historic Preservation: An Introduction to Its Historic, Principles, and Practice probably the best, practioner oriented introduction to American preservation in print.

Norm is using this one day visit to Ann Arbor, Michigan on June 11th to hold a number of sessions at a number of venues to a number of different audiences. He has arranged newspaper and radio interviews. He has contacted regional preservation groups, university departments, local governments and individuals. He has raised money. And, in a first as far as I know, he's created a web site specifically for this event. AND he's using my day in Ann Arbor as a fund raising opportunity for historic preservation.

So potential clients, take note. You can't get me cheap, but you can fully use the time you're paying for. And I love every minute of it.