With all the pressure for development and redevelopment and economic development and stimulus, is there a chance that we’ll agree that there needs to be some historic preservation? Where is the balance? Learn more tonight!
There’s the meeting at 4:30 at the Municipal Building (Post Office Building) or you can attend this:
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Goodman Community Center, 149 Waubesa Street, Madison, WI, 7:00 p.m.
FreeHistoric Preservation & Development …. Does it Work?
Madison neighborhood activists, concerned citizens, and development
entrepreneurs will all find something to take away from this program.
Noted Washington D.C. author, speaker and consultant, Donovan Rypkema, will
lead a conversation about “The dichotomy of historic preservation and
economic development.” Mr. Rypkema is nationally recognized for his
expertise in downtown and neighborhood development and revitalization and
historic preservation. His website is
www.placeeconomics.com/See attached flyer and press release. Contact Bert Stitt, at 608-219-0075
or bert@bertstitt.com with questions. PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY THROUGH YOUR
EMAIL GROUPS, LISTSERVS, OR WEBSITES.Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
In the contrarian world of development and historic preservation, there are
few more capable than Donovan Rypkema in bringing harmony to this dichotomy.Apex Enterprises, Inc. is pleased to announce that May 21st will mark the
return of Donovan Rypkema to Madison; He is just back from addressing the
European Union Parliament on Heritage Investment: Counter Cyclical
Opportunity in Economic Downturns. (see his blog at
http://www.placeeconomics.com/blog.html)Mr. Rypkema will be in Madison for two days of meetings and conversations
focusing on planning, smart growth and the community-building power of
historic preservation.He is a dedicated acolyte of and champion for the preservation community
who brings a rare and skilled insight of economic development to that
historic preservationist perspective. His broad and deep experience has
taken him across the country and around the world to speak, confer, educate
and motivate.Along the way, he has taught starry-eyed artisans and environmentalists
much about reality, regulation and the right and wrong place to take a
stand.He has also instilled appreciation for the multiple values of preservation
in bankers, developers, and lawmakers — and proven the real return on
investment generated by “place economics,” which also is the name of the
real estate and economic development company he heads in Washington, D.C.With a client list that runs — from the American Planning Association to
Plan Baton Rouge to the Urban Land Institute — he has encountered the full
range of challenges.Here, in Madison, a cross-section of interests, advocates and policy-makers
understands better than many others two principles that are near and dear
to Rypkema: The best form of preservation is occupancy and use. And
Buildings that sit vacant or underutilized are properties that deteriorate.They speak to the realism he will bring to Madison. Historic preservation
is not about board members who fight about shades of blues; it is about the
vitality of a community and preservation’s symbiotic relation with that.Apex Enterprises will host an all-community invitational program for the
public to hear Mr. Rypkema speak and ask him questions on Thursday evening,
May 21st, at 7:00 pm at the Goodman Community Center.For more on Donovan’s schedule and events, contact Steve Yoder at Apex
Enterprises, 608-251-7749.
