It is often a challenge to spark community interest in complicated preservation issues. Case in point, the recent public and media interest in the city hall parking lot reconfiguration is primarily the result of a long campaign initiated by the foundation almost eight months ago. The effort was kicked-off with an August 2009 PSPF letter to the mayor, city council and others bitterly complaining that the city had failed to follow its own guidelines regarding the treatment of historic sites, in this case the Albert Frey-designed city hall. The campaign was greatly aided when the local media published PSPF photographs showing a view of the city hall blocked by a line of car grills. In September 2009, a compelling “Valley Voice” opinion piece by PSPF board member Gary Johns further ignited the controversy. The efforts of PSPF and others recently culminated in a February 2010 “Our Voice” editorial piece by the Desert Sun newspaper entitled Listen to the Critics of City Hall Redesign. While the parking lot reconfiguration issue is still not fully resolved, the public opinion pendulum has swung from largely disinterested to “concerned.” See our Initiatives website page for an excellent overview of this issue.
Recognizing the growing phenomenon of social networking, PSPF’s new Facebook fan page serves as an excellent way to quickly communicate with many of our members about coming events and advocacy issues. We sincerely thank PSPF member Erik Rosenow who has taken on the daunting (and time-consuming) task of moderating our already popular fan page.
Finally, we thank the talented volunteers who have helped make PSPF’s recent Wexler Weekend and Modernism Week events smashing successes. Our Volunteer page recognizes, in small part, the important contributions these good citizens make to PSPF and our community.
President |
 |
