Lincoln Historic Preservation seeks to become more visible

[June 18, 2015]  LINCOLN - On Tuesday evening, the Lincoln Historic Preservation Commission met for its June meeting. With a light agenda, the meeting was brief with only one topic being discussed.

Karen Sager is the newly elected Commission chair. She said that she has been looking into how visible the Historic Preservation Commission is in the community and feels that it is not visible at all. She said she couldn’t find anything on the internet that related to the commission, and that she felt like because of this, there are a lot of people in Lincoln who do not know the commission exists. She also feels that those that do know of the commission, may not understand the function of the group.

Bill Vinyard agreed, saying that in respect to the awning for Simply Homespun, he had talked to a person who was going to help get that awning installed. Vinyard said in the conversation, that person did not realize that he had to do anything with the city or the Commission to move forward. Vinyard said he had informed the person that, yes, there were steps that needed to be taken including getting the Certificate of Appropriateness from the HPC.
 

Sager said that was a big concern. She noted that the HPC is currently working on a project of plaques for homes and businesses in the historic district. A fall workshop is being planned to explain the plaques and begin taking orders. She said that under the current conditions, she is concerned that there will be a very low response to this offering.

She asked commission members what they thought could be done.

She wondered if the HPC was on a website anywhere, and it was determined that it probably was not. The group discussed getting information put on the city of Lincoln website. Sager said she could talk with City Clerk Susan Gehlbach about that as well as the city website webmaster, Paul Adams, to see what could be done there.

Sager also said she wanted to do a media campaign with local newspapers, seeing if they would help get the word out with articles about the commission.

Vinyard mentioned that early in the process of putting the commission together, a mailing list had been created and letters sent out to various people within the Historic District. He said the commission still has that mailing list and could do another letter.

He added that in a lot of cases, the best way to become known in a community is to get out and meet with people face-to-face. He said a 15-minute conversation could go a long way toward making the commission more visible.

Sager said those were good thoughts. She said she wanted the commission members to email her with suggestions for information that should be shared with the community. She said she would create a list and start working on getting information to local news sources.

In addition to educating the community, Sager said she felt commission members needed education as well. She said she wanted the commissioners to know more about how to research the history of properties. She also wants to put together a list of resources for finding information so commissioners could be better prepared to assist people who might come to them for help.

The Historic Preservation Commission has produced a tri-fold handout that is available in the city of Lincoln Building and Safety Office. The tri-fold was also published in Lincoln Daily News in July of 2013. Click here to see that document.

[Nila Smith]