The Historic District Action Guide

William E. Schmickle, Ph.D., is past chair of the Annapolis Historic Preservation Commission and cofounder of the Oak Ridge, North Carolina, Historic District. His services are available through his website, www.preservationpolitics.com.

Introduction: What D’ya Know?
Part I: Preservation & the Politics of Historic District Designation
1.Before You Take Another Step
2.Thinking Politically about Historic District Designation
3.How It Starts
4.A Walk through the Designation Process: A Guided Tour with Planner Kaye Graybeal
Part II: Campaign Strategy
5.On Planning and Strategy
6.Our Strategic Line: A Community in/within Conflict
7.Makers, Breakers, Takers, and Shapers: The Political Field of Play
8.Leadership and Organization
9.Working with a Local Historical Society: A Conversation with Historic Annapolis’ Greg Stiverson
10.A Practical Vision
11.Gentrification and Social Justice: An Exchange with the University of Georgia’s James Reap
12.Thinking Politically about Design Guidelines
13.It’s Personal
14.Sticks and Stones
Part III: Campaigning in the Community
15.The Campaign Kickoff
16.Twitter Campaigning
17.Community Meeting Arrangements
18.Your Community Presentation
19.FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions
20.Thinking Politically about Q&A: The Moving Pattern of Opponents’ Challenges
21.Our Reframing Q&A Strategy
22.Answering Opposition Questions I: From “Distrust of Them” to the “Pivotal Shift”
23.Answering Opposition Questions II: From the “Pivotal Shift” to “Distrust of Us”
24.Property-Rights Extremists
25.Petition Politics
26.Reaching Out to the Opposition
Part IV: Managing the Formal Designation Process
27.Moving on to City Hall: Preparing for Commission Hearings
28.Behind-the-Scenes Intelligence
29.Working with the Press: Guidance from a Reporter
30.A Civic Vision
31.The Top Tier of Local Government
Part V: Winning the City Council Vote
32.The Politics of Public Hearings
33.Lobbying City Hall: A Conversation with a Lobbyist
34.Speaking Mayor to Mayor: A Dialogue with Charleston’s Joseph P. Riley. Jr.
35.A Checklist for One-on-One Meetings
36.Our Public Hearing Presentation
37.The Politics of Compromise
38.Winning the Vote
Part VI: The Politics of Administering the Historic District
39.Our Transition to the HPC
40.On Public Service
41.Our Community Compact for Rooted Growth
42.Drawing up Our Design Guidelines: Tackling the Problem with Consultant Peter Benson
43.Fusion Preservation: Thinking like a Districtist
44.Political Maintenance: Delivering Good Government
Part VII: Political Demolition by Neglect
45.Dispositional Gatekeeping
46.The Temptation of Administrative Legalism
47.Municipal Neglect
48.The View from City Council: A Talk with a Council Member
49.Districts under Threat
50.State-Level Interventions
Part VIII: Navigating the Municipal Administration
51.The Role of Your Preservation Planner: A Discussion with Raleigh’s Dan Becker
52.Relations with Your Mayor: The Views of a Mayor’s Adviser
Part IX: The Politics of Aging Historic Districts
53.The Crisis of Second-Generation Districts
54.OIMBYism
55.Getting Helpful Local Coverage: The Perspectives of a Newspaper Executive Editor
56.Our New Strategic Line
57.A New Political Who’s Who: An Overview
58.Who’s Who, Part One: District Rooters
59.Who’s Who, Part Two: District Rotters
60.Confronting Polarizers
61.Gentrification’s Dissidents: On Displacement with Baltimore’s Eric Holcomb
Part X: District Decline and Its Reversal
62.Political Personalities: Who Leads?
63.The Stages of Declining Districts
64.The Politics of Decision Making: Defensible and Defendable
65.Enforcement: The Third Rail of Historic District Politics
66.The Politics of Appeals
67.Choosing Our Battles
Part XI: Repairing Our Community Compact
68.Transformative Education
69.Reconstructive Programs
70.Institutionalizing Community Relations
71.Renewal through Revising Design Guidelines
72.A Preservation Plan? Looking Ahead with Consultant Elizabeth Watson
73.Our Sustaining Vision
Epilogue