Detroit's Architectural Patrimony

[Lorax]

I found this interesting article today in the NY Times, which lays out the French model for economic stimulus, and how their social democratic system of government allows for rapid deployment of funding for job creation, which the French use to constantly maintain their architectural patrimony.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/07/bu..._r=1&th&emc=th

Detroit, and indeed, America could learn from this, and is in fact, something I have been advocating for quite a while now, having spent much time in France over the years.

And France is not alone. Others such as the Belgians, Danish, Swedes, British, Spanish, Germans, etc. have been committed to their architectural patrimony in recent decades, as is evident in the massive renovation projects completed thus far.

Nations need to recongize the assets in front of them. And in Detroit, it is no different. The mentality amongst many unfortunately is that old buildings have a finite life, and are not valued beyond their original intent.

Naturally this is a completely discredited position, since adaptive reuse has been a standard practice in historic preservation for years now.

Our problem in America is entrenched bureaucracy, at state, local, and federal levels. Tax laws that at once favor, then take away incentives to adaptively reuse buildings, when the private sector in many cases does have an interest in doing so.

But principally, in my view, it's the general disregard for the built environment as it relates to our everyday lives that gets in the way of a true reform of the American mindset.

The MCS, Lafayette Building, Cass Tech, Book Tower, and other glaring examples of neglect of our built environment is more a product of how we think, rather than any economic considerations.

The costs of stabilizing, or guarding a building is far less than letting them fall into disrepair and ultimately being ransacked, which in turn ends up costing taxpayers an enormous demolition bill. Lafayette Building as case in point.

Stimulus monies need to be made available for infrastructure, and has been sorely lacking as far as I'm concerned. Bridges, roads, sewers, port improvements, etc. This is one of my chief criticisms of the Obama Administration's stimulus package, as it does not address enough infrastructure needs.

And it needs to go further to include renovation of our public structures.

In the case of listed, municipally owned historic structures in cities across the country, we need to move them to the head of the line when it comes to the receiving end of these funds. Especially the most threatened structures that through their listing are deemed the most historic, most threatened, and best examples of architecture we have.

Examples of this in Detroit would be the cost of the restoration of the Spirit of Detroit, a complete overhaul of Belle Isle and renovation of it's historic structures, a complete renovation/restoration of the Detroit Public Library's branches, restoration of Palmer Park, and development of a master plan based on the shrinking cities initiative, where great swaths of Detroit could be returned to nature, and bordered by new residential development facing these dense wooded settings.

Privately owned structures should have favorable term loan funding available, in addition to tax credits that would render ownership of such structures an asset rather than a liability.

This is a workable situation, when such a model as the French one exists.

I was savaged in a previous thread on spending stimulus monies on a lighting campaign for such historic structures, which I still feel would provide jobs to create such a system, maintain it, and it would create enormous positive press for a city in great need of some.