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Let's be friends!
May 4, 2006 should be remembered as a significant day in Rochester's recent history. The day when the town folks attending the Public Hearing on the Revised Code for Historic Preservation Commission stood up and strongly expressed their opinions against a law which supposedly would promote the "general welfare of the public."
The Accord Fire House was packed, but I found it disturbing that not all members of the Historic Preservation Commission chose to be present. They want a huge vote of confidence, and they don't even show up to introduce themselves and listen to what people have to say? Compared to the old code — Chapter 22 — which indicated that "The Commission... shall have no power to prohibit such plans if they are otherwise acceptable under law," the new law gives immense power to the Commission, and this was an issue raised by many speakers.
It seemed inappropriate and quite unfair to let only the Commission Chairperson answer the tough questions and take the blunt of people's outrage.
One of the Commission's members present at the Public Hearing, Mr. Paul Reish, was the only pro-new-law heard voice. Is Mr. Reish a full-time Town of Rochester resident? If yes, for how long? These are legitimate questions about people who would designate landmarks and control our properties.
According to the Commission, our town has about 250 historical structures, over 70 stone houses, more than any other town in Ulster County. How can then be explained that the Town of Rochester simply does not exist in any of the Ulster County tourist guides?
Let's check the Hudson Valley Guide, "Historic Sites"... Nothing!
Let's check the "D&H Heritage Corridor" — a promo piece listing museums and historic sites in NY and Pennsylvania... Not a word about our town, our museum, our heritage...
Let's check Ulster County Tourism's "Legacy in Stone" brochure about stone houses... The only stone house listed is Diest Haus in Accord, under Town of Marbletown!
How can we increase tourism — a goal stressed in the new Comprehensive Plan — if we don't let people know that we do exist?
The new Historic Preservation law is intended to "ensure orderly, and efficient growth and development in harmony with the Town of Rochester's Comprehensive Plan."
Meanwhile, the first goal under the Comprehensive Plan's "Government Services" is to "apply more resources toward code enforcement and enforcing all the codes." The priorities of the Comprehensive Plan are clearly stated: codes, more codes, code enforcement and enforcing all the codes!
Let's not forget that we have in our town the "Friends of Historic Rochester." We should keep the "friendliness" in our approach to historic preservation. We need to remain friends and not become "Dictators of Historic Rochester."
Manuela Mihailescu — Kerhonkson
manuela@oldbrickhouse.com
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