Helen Higgens, executive director of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, got it right when she said that the Norwalk Preservation Trust needed to move in a different direction. For much of its recent history the NPT has spent more time focused on a handful of issues rather than expanding its ranks through educational resources. Having a sense of what is historic architecture in Norwalk would be a good start. That’s exactly what the NPT plans to do. Even Mayor Moccia agrees its a good thing to do. Tim Stelloh reports in the Norwlak Advocate:
On Wednesday, the organization announced it is developing a $10,000 Web site featuring historic preservation education, information on tax credits and a historic property inventory. The state is covering $3,000 of that bill.
For homeowners in state historic districts around the city - such as Camp Street and Golden Hill - the Norwalk Preservation Trust recently began offering help in applying for tax credits.
And last month, the trust held a fund-raiser to help launch it into a position of playing a role not just as an advocate, but as a resource, according to Tod Bryant, its president.
“We don’t want to be the anti-demolition society. That has a relatively narrow appeal,” Bryant said. “Right now, the organization runs entirely on passion, but that has its limits.”
Since the group’s inception in 2001 as the Norwalk Green Historic Alliance - and its subsequent 2003 rebranding as the Norwalk Preservation Trust - its primary purpose has been advocacy, Bryant said.
The majority of funds the trust has received through donations and from its 100 members has gone toward fighting court battles, he said.
To continue, the organization needs operating funds, Bryant said. It needs full-time staff, an office and a phone number.
“We need to become more professional - to pay out of a real budget, instead of out of everybody’s pocket,” he said.
While not always a model for preservation groups, Helen Higgins, executive director of the Connecticut Trust for Historic Preservation, said the trust’s trajectory is fairly common.
“The crisis event is the wake-up call,” she said, referring to 93 East Ave., which spawned the organization. “A good example of this was 24 years ago in New London, the great Union Station by H.H. Richardson was going to be demolished.
“This galvanized residents in New London, who then created New London Landmarks,” she said. “Over the years, it’s become an institution in the city.”
The Norwalk Preservation Trust needs to do the same thing if it wants to stay viable, she said.
source:Advocate, Preservation trust moves from agitating to educating by Tim Stelloh, November 23, 2007
