Snapshot of Landmarks

We move from our neighborhoods, move onto bigger things, and look back with nostalgia.
We shamefully shake our heads, wondering what happend to our communities?
The buildings are turning to dust, and vacant lots stand naked in once dense urban blocks.
There are jokes make about bison taking back their land, and people around City Hall giggle at the prospect of becoming urban farmers.
Although, it doesnt seem so funny.
Children walk past boarded up buildings. The smell of stale air filters past their tiny noses.
They are forced to wear black and white uniforms, as they pass by burnt out shells of once great apartment buildings.
There are only faint lines of crosswalks graffii on the pavement.
Empty schools with demolision fences.
Empty schools with no prospects.
It is a wonder how we have let our communities go so far into disrepair.
I attended a landmarks design review meeting the other day... a landowner, business man, begging the board to let him demolish a house on his business' property. His business bought it twenty some years prior just for extra parking. After twenty some years of renting, and probably not much effort into maintaining it... the business wants to plow the greek revival cottage into a flat vacant lot.
Kind of amazing, right? America boasts itself on being able to own property, but noone wants to keep it up. Only make the biggest buck off of it, and then tear it down when the times are tough.
Yet, if things were developed to be sustained... would we be in this spot?
It makes me want to landmark everything, if not just for the record of it being there.
The more I research the more I see the imporance of someone in the future being able to find this little blurb about a random house on a random street. To see the random owner, and their century old history.
It does bother me that someone like that business owner who wanted to demolish their property could be so empty, but I realize that ignorance is the real battle.
We self-absorb to the point of having no reference for anything else. We dont want to take the time to fix up a property so that someone else may enjoy it, because after all that renter is the real plight of the community.
What I learned this week is that while ignorance will ultimately be the biggest hurtle to overcome, there is intelligence out there... it is just going to take a little effort to get everyone back on the same page.

Free Pumpkins

So, while my volunteer day was postponed, and I was unable to find an event 'til too late. I drove around looking for signs of external life.
Three examples of make a difference day surfaced.
One church cleaning up its landscaping.
Another church giving away free pumpkins.
And three college kids collecting money for cancer at an intersection.
Other than that... those were the only signs of external make a difference day.
No signs, no rallies, no walkers, no outside event... even though the weather was picturesque.
While I still give Cleveland a "D", I give those I witnessed an "A".
The church giving away free pumpkins really was an example. They weren't soliciting, they weren't only benefiting their congregation... they were giving something away only for the benefit of others.

Make a Difference Day

Today is a nationally recognized day of service, which means we all should be out there offering time to organizations in need of extra support.
Unfortunately, in the Cleveland area, the pickings are slim.
While there are volunteer database sites, which connect seeking individuals to organizations in need... the extend of the organizations utilizing this opportunity are few.
Those using volunteers either have too many applications or too little management to process these in a timely manner.
The dozen or so places I approached, one returned the call, and sadly that event was postponed because of a death in the host organizers family.
It is true that in order to understand how to implement a great volunteer program you have to both volunteer and assess those programs currently using volunteers.
My grade for the Cleveland area is a D.
While civic organizations certainly do exist and citizens do engage in these opportunities, the overall structure of the volunteer network in Cleveland is widely spread and under marketed.
An interested volunteer shouldn't have to search so hard, or they shouldn't have to be an active member of a  church (for example) to find these opportunities.
Overall, I definitely see the need for greater capacity building in this area.
AmeriCorps is making a difference in this economic climate, because it not only encourages volunteerism but funds it.
With a ten percent unemployment rate, the potential to engage those ,who are out of work or underemployed, to share their time is tremendous. Not only do those involved in these efforts see the immediate benefit to their cause, but also the benefit to their resume and self-worth.
Hopefully, in the near future, the Cleveland area will start building its bank of events and volunteer members. Imagine what could be accomplished if this model was more widely used?
Now saying that, does anyone know of any volunteer events today that possibly I missed?

Clarity in the Aftermath

Eventually, after getting to settle into my host site, things became obvious. I hope that my fellow Ohio History Corps members are finding their host sites equally hospitable and educational.
I am located at the Cleveland Landmarks Commission. My priority to facilitating historic inventory surveys on several areas; Tremont South and Shaker Square. I will be revisiting existing National Register nominations, and I will be providing a fresh take on mid-20th century buildings.
There is a unique stance between my organizations. For example, the Ohio Historical Society is pushing for the recent past survey, which makes sense because they are looking at the developing need for such. While Cleveland needs both proper historic properties examined and the recent past.
The urgency in Cleveland are demolitions. Yes, demolitions are typically a preservationists urgency, but in this post-housing crisis fallout there are more than a thousand properties on the list. The extreme vacancy rate paired with the stagnant housing market is leaving more and more properties in disrepair. Extreme sections of the City appear empty, and landmark property is at a crucial pivot.
Mid-20th Century properties are largely at jeopardy. This October a unique property on Carnegie Avenue, the former Brunswick Florist Building, was demolished. Ironically, this post-modern building was demolished for a historic property in renovation, the Tudor Arms, to have parking space.
It is funny that in this climate a historic property would be able to wager such a venture, but it does show that our understanding of building stock is limited. We have grown to value our "historic" assets over the last fifty- years-or-so, but somehow this has created a disparity between our value of other building stock.
The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Historic Preservation state that a historic property must be fifty years or older or be substantially unique. In terms of preservation, it does make sense to wage a time-buffer surrounding a property, but this shouldn't limit interested preservationists to only thinking about Victorian properties. It is true that not all preservationists think this way, but what is shown by the demolition of a post-modern building that our modern building stock are highly disposable (materials, design).
We need to become more weary of this condition, because our cultural tendency, to over-develop, is one huge cause of our house/economic crisis.
It has become apparently clear to me that I want to continually grow as a person, preservationist, and community member. In order to do so, I have to become further engaged, and challenge myself to stay active.
One of the bits on CSU's College Radio Station,WCSB, states that the more you know the less you like it, but this simply isn't true. Since, the more you know the more you can change how you think.

The Fusion of Confusion.

AmeriCorps training was intense and engaging, but we were all suffering from the same symption-- question compounding. We gained more questions than answers, and we were all sort of in a state of uncertainty.
While we knew our specific corps (Civil War 150, Tech and Preservation Corps) and our locations, we generally were left wondering what we were really going to do? Perhaps our assumptions or expectations were holding us hostage.
My experiences have given me the objective wonderment... meaning while like everyone else I have assumptions I don't have hang ups. I am willing to fly-by-the-seat of my pants, and luckily for me, we were all flying at warp speed.
We completed a hardcore training weekend, which in itself was full of insightful content.
After several days inside the brutalist Ohio History building with mammoth company, we emerged from the windowless interior with exciting potential and limitless possibility.
We were all set forth with one similar mission to build capacity between our site locations and community while engaging ourselves and others in volunteerism.

And the Adventure Begins...

Stars aligned and my journey begun.
I made it down to the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio for my AmeriCorps training.
It was intense but amazing.
There were more than a dozen of us, new team members, and all still a little in a state of shock.
What were we doing?
Some professionals, some students, some from in-state, others from out-of-state, and all of us willing to take the next eleven months out of our lives to make things happen... for ourselves and for others.
The beauty of this whole experience is that it is based out of the willingness to sacrifice and volunteer. To spend hours devoted to personal passions, and be able to keep your lights on in the meantime!
Personally, before becoming a team member I was working a sorta-full-time job as an event florist with noncompetitive wage and uncertain hours. My devotion to the study and field of Historic Preservation was something I thought about continually, but I was retrained to only have time to dedicate to it during school hours--eight hours per week. This is just not enough time to make anything happen other than to feel trapped in a relentless cycle of the daily grind.
Now with this position with AmeriCorps, I would be able to devote my full attention to my personal interest and career objective-- amazing!
My fellow members of the Ohio History Corps were about to begin making change.

Congratulations... You're in!

Sometime things just happened. I was browsing the Nation Trust for Historic Preservation's website when I first found the listing for a historic survey position in Cleveland, Ohio. I thought to myself in a screaming inner voice, "What? Could it really be? A funded position doing exactly what I am studying!" Indeed, there was a position open, and it was just for me.
You know, we are taught to be both optimistic but realistic, and the majority of the time as we mature the realism puts a pessimistic tone on everything. Even though in my gut, I knew that this was a kismet experience about to occur, I kept stressing that I wasn't going to be given the opportunity.
After several interviews, and an application process to join AmeriCorps... I received one of the best phone calls of my adult life.
"Congratulations... You're in!"
I had two days to finish my obligations with my current job, make arrangements for my children and family to survive without me, and travel to Columbus for a weekend of training.
My head was reeling, and I still was shaking with a feeling of amazement... I was about to begin a fast-paced adventure that will change my life.