Free Republic

Aimee Jorjani, chairman of the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation Why is a Trump appointee stopping progress on America’s efforts to compete with China in the vital arena of 5G technology? That’s the question being asked in the wireless industry, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the White House itself. In June of 2019, Aimee Jorjani was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as the first full-time chairman of the obscure Advisory Council on Historic Preservation (ACHP). The council is a creation of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) and its job is to “promote the preservation, enhancement, and sustainable use...

I live in a historic neighborhood in the heart of Washington, D.C. It’s not historic in the sense that anything especially important happened here — certainly not in the modest rowhouses that make up the bulk of the neighborhood. What “historic” means, here and in cities across the country, is that this is a neighborhood where buildings are not supposed to change. The law says window frames on Capitol Hill must be wooden, or something that looks very much like wood. If a front door has two parts and opens down the middle, it cannot be replaced by a single...

Little Syria is facing a big problem. Activists are rallying to save the last vestiges of America’s first Arab-American neighborhood before it’s too late — but the city doesn’t think the buildings are worth it. “Most people don’t realize that the center of Arab life was in the shadow of the World Trade Center,” said Todd Fine, an organizer with Save Washington Street, a campaign to preserve the surviving two buildings of New York’s once bustling Syrian quarter. “The fact that it’s near Ground Zero makes it trickier to talk about,” he said. “Yet this should have been protected wherever...

115-year-old building too costly to keep. DALLAS CITY, Ill. -- After spending more than a year trying to decide what to do with the 115-year-old building that once served as Dallas City's high school and elementary school, officials have decided to put it up for public sale. The deteriorating condition of the building has turned it into a liability the district can no longer afford. "The roof of the gymnasium became a serious problem when the rains showed up in August," said Dallas City School District superintendent Jo Campbell. The center portion of the three-story brick building, often referred to...

A sixteenth-century altar in one of Germany's most historically important cathedrals has been saved from woodworm not by the application of chemicals, but by a swarm of wasps. The Cranach altar in the Erfurt Cathedral was being destroyed by the wood-eating insects, but officials delayed taking action because they feared that chemical treatments might damage its 11 painted panels. Instead they adopted a pioneering technique which may now be emulated in historic buildings across Europe: releasing 3,000 parasitic wasps, which feed on woodworm larvae. The towering wooden altar, riddled with holes, and the large painting above it which also showed...

SAN DIEGO-A lawsuit filed in Washington D.C. Thursday is aimed at keeping California's 21 missions from receiving a $10 million repairs grant that President Bush approved.

Report: Vermont On Endangered List Because Of Wal-Mart Wal-Mart Blamed For Destroying State's Natural Beauty POSTED: 1:42 p.m. EDT May 24, 2004 UPDATED: 4:52 p.m. EDT May 24, 2004 WASHINGTON -- A state that had been listed as one of "The World's Greatest Destinations" by a national travel magazine has made its way onto another list: America's Eleven Most Endangered Historic Places. The National Trust for Historic Preservation said Vermont is at risk of losing its natural beauty because of Wal-Mart mega-stores. The non-profit said Wal-Mart is planning to open seven of them -- and that it's likely to...

  Iraq’s Buildings’ Legacy Provides Look into Past, Opportunity for FutureBy Ahmad Hammadi Abdulameer, Baghdad Now BAGHDAD, Iraq – As Task Force 1st Armored Division Soldiers work with their Iraqi partners to build a safe and secure Iraq, other Iraqis are working to restore and preserve Iraq’s cultural legacy. Under the auspices of the ministry of culture, a one-man photo exhibition on the history and restoration of Baghdad’s architecturally historic buildings opened in the National Museum last month. Baghdad’s historic houses and buildings is the subject of the 40-photograph show, said Ammar Saad, the exhibition organizer and photographer. “Photographic...

The National Historic Preservation Act on its face does not exclude religious historical sites: As far as Congress is concerned, they too are eligible for federal funds to help with their upkeep. But the executive branch, to satisfy radical separationist interpretations of the First Amendment, has read the religious exclusion into the statute since 1966. The Bush administration has now changed that. Historic sites that happen to be religious in nature may now apply for preservation funds on an equal basis with secular historical sites. Why did it take so long? Because radical separationism has had a stranglehold on American...