Silver Anniversary 1981-2006 “Celebrate what’s been accomplished. Think big about what’s to come.” The Michigan Historic Preservation Network and its co-hosts Mark S. Meadows, Mayor of the City of East Lansing, and Lou Anna K. Simon, President of Michigan State University, present the Inaugural Event of the MHPN’s Silver Anniversary Year 25th Annual Michigan Historic Preservation Conference Thursday – Saturday, April 14-16, 2005 East Lansing Hannah Community Center, 819 Abbott Road, East Lansing, Michigan Honorary Chair: Jennifer M. Granholm Governor of Michigan Special Features: •Free Thursday night Community Open House that welcomes area residents and students to join conference participants for an evening that includes the Annual Vendors’ Showcase and more… •7th Annual Construction Trades Symposium – Thursday and Friday… •Friday afternoon Keynote Address by Eugene C. Hopkins, FAIA, Immediate Past President, American Institute of Architects… •Friday evening Annual Preservation Awards Reception and Ceremony at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference Center on the campus of Michigan State University… •Saturday morning program for members of Historic District Commissions and Historic District Study Committees as well as home owners… Get your taxes done EARLY so you can attend! Welcome! Overview and who should attend: Thursday and Friday: We invite you to attend the Michigan Historic Preservation Network’s th Track A – “Preservation Creates Cool” Track – for elected and appointed 25 Annual Statewide Preservation Conference. It serves as the community officials, government staff, those in private business, and individuals Inaugural Event for the MHPN’s entire Silver Anniversary Year that who want to know more about the latest initiatives that make historic starts now and continues into 2006. preservation work for Michigan’s Cool Cities. Being in East Lansing for this special kick-off event is appropriate Track B – “The Tools for Success” Track – for those who want to know more about the methods, best practices, programs of assistance, tax incentives, because 2005 also marks the Sesquicentennial of Michigan State and economic benefits that make historic preservation important to Cool Cities. University, our Conference Co-Host with the City of East Lansing. “This is a special moment appropriate for recognizing all those who conserve Track C – “Construction Trades Council” Track – for everyone interested in the “lost” techniques of historic construction and in present-day preservation the important historic places of Michigan,” states our Honorary practices such as tradespeople, contractors, and design professionals, as well Conference Chair, Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. as those working on their own historic properties. This is indeed a moment when the Michigan Historic Preservation Track D – Tour Track – for those who wish to get acquainted with our host Network pauses to reflect on its own history. Members of the Detroit community of East Lansing, one of the Governor’s “Cool Cities,” and its Historic District Commission convened a meeting of fellow neighbors, the City of Lansing and the campus of Michigan State University. commissioners from around Michigan at historic Fort Wayne on May 30, 1981. Although those gathered didn’t know it, the meeting became Saturday: the 1st Annual Michigan Preservation Conference of the group that Track A – Historic District Committees – for residents, planners, and local would become the Michigan Historic Preservation Network. elected officials who know there are important and economically viable historic properties in their communities and want to know how to work with them. The group continued to meet and expand its membership because Track B – Historic District Commissions – for Commission members, staff problems were shared and answers could best be found together. The liaisons, and local elected officials who want good, defensible decisions made work of local Historic District Commissions was hampered by weak when projects are brought before their Commissions for review. enabling legislation. There were no state tax incentives. Communities Track C – Windows – for Commissioners, staff liaisons, and property owners faced deteriorated historic downtowns and neighborhoods. Few design who want to understand how to work with this most basic building element. professionals had experience in preservation, so they and their clients Track D – Paint – for Commissioners, staff liaisons, and property owners figured things out as they went along. Restoration was costly because who want to master this most basic building choice and improvement. specialty materials were unavailable and the building trades did not yet work with many historic buildings. Banks red-lined older neighborhoods and insurance was hard to get. Much has happened in 25 years. The MHPN is best known for spearheading passage in 1999 of the Michigan Historic Preservation Tax Incentives. We are responsible for keeping PA 169 (1970), the “Local Historic Districts Act,” strong. We produced the first analysis of preservation’s economic benefit to Michigan. We train hundreds of people each year through our conferences and workshops. Today, we are witness to an unprecedented shift in attitude toward preservation. For the first time, a wide array of people and organizations are embracing the same issues as we. Common interests extend from revitalizing neighborhoods and downtowns, to developing much-needed housing in some of Michigan’s oldest urban centers, adapting all types of historic buildings for current uses, and highlighting Michigan’s rich rural, agricultural, and shoreline heritage. The time is right to THINK BIG! Come to East Lansing to learn about how communities are tackling the issues with methods that include preservation: Main Street …“Cool Cities” …Neighborhood Revitalization … Adaptive Reuse of Schools …Heritage Tourism …Countering Sprawl …Repopulating Cities …Sustainable Growth …and more. The conference also includes our popular Construction Trades Council Symposium, speakers who will address the tools needed for success, and sessions for Historic District Commissions and Committees. Join us! 2 Silver Anniversary Honorary Chair Jennifer M. Granholm Governor of Michigan Jennifer M. Granholm was elected and appointed the state’s first Surgeon General to address pressing health Michigan’s 47th governor in care issues like smoking, obesity, and teen pregnancy. The Governor has November 2002 after serving as focused efforts on Michigan’s manufacturing sector which, during her first State Attorney General. Since year in office, resulted in 43,000 manufacturing jobs being created or taking office in January 2003, retained, and maintained the state’s ranking as the nation’s second most Governor Granholm has eliminated business-friendly state. a nearly $3 billion budget deficit and cut over $1 billion from the budget, The Governor’s interest in Smart Growth, her lively promotion of “Cool the largest amount ever trimmed Cities,” and her basic belief that historic urban cores and traditional from state spending, while still neighborhoods are worth revitalizing, have spurred her administration to making education, children, jobs, make historic preservation a central plank in its economic development and health care top priorities. strategy. For the 2004 Governor’s Awards for Historic Preservation, Governor Granholm noted, “I believe preserving Michigan’s historic Governor Granholm’s commitment to early childhood education resulted in resources is critical to creating vibrant, attractive spaces in which we all the creation of Project Great Start. She saved Michigan nearly $40 million want to live and work.” when she introduced the nation’s first bulk-buying pool for prescription drugs, Conference Co-Host Conference Co-Host Lou Anna K. Simon Mark S. Meadows President of Mayor of the City of East Lansing Michigan State University East Lansing’s Mayor, Mark S. Dr. Lou Anna K. Simon became the Meadows, is a graduate of 20th president of MSU on January Western Michigan University and 1, 2005, continuing a 30-year the Michigan State University history of serving her Alma Mater College of Law. In 1975 he was as Assistant to the President, appointed Assistant Attorney Associate Provost, and from 1993 General and served the State of until the close of 2004, Provost and Michigan in that capacity until 2002 Vice President for Academic when he became a shareholder in Affairs. In preparation for MSU’s the East Lansing law firm of Sesquicentennial Year, Dr. Simon Willingham and Cote’. An East worked with the Board of Trustees Lansing resident since 1980, and the campus community to define a vision for the University that would Mayor Meadows has been very give 21st century currency to its tradition as the nation’s first Land Grant involved in city governance since 1989 when he was appointed to the College. She saw preservation as one way to make that vision tangible, Commission on the Environment. He also served on the Planning supporting restoration of Laboratory Row’s historic buildings as part of the Commission and, after his election to City Council in 1995, was the liaison $1.2 billion Sesquicentennial Campaign. to the East Lansing Historic District Commission until his election as Mayor in 1997. While the liaison to the Historic District Commission, Mayor “I am supportive of our Campus Heritage Initiative because I support the Meadows authored extensive amendments to the East Lansing Historic preservation of these special reminders of our past,” states