Progress Report: Preservation Forum 2005

I have been in the middle of an organizing frenzy (New Year's resolutions and such) and I ran across some notes that I took at the Preservation Forum last May.

The forum was titled Preserve New Albany's Older and Historic Neighborhoods and Historic Landmark's Greg Sekula was the moderator. Around 40 people attended and participated in the discussion.

Greg started the discussion that night by identifying 3 barriers to living in older neighborhoods:

Schools (lack of or lack of quality)
Rental property
Run down property

There was quite a bit of discussion of how to market older houses and older neighborhoods. How do you identify and reach people who would like to live in an older house and/or an urban setting?

One suggestion that was made was starting a website designed to market older homes. I am pleased to remind you that this suggestion was acted on promptly and a wonderful website is up and running.

www.historicnewalbany.com
Another marketing oppotunity that was identified was to market the neighborhoods to people in Louisville. I beleive that the East Spring Street Neighborhood Association has included this as one of their goals for 2006.

A representative from National City Bank told us that the bank is open to lending for homes in older neighborhoods. A marketing plan is needed in order for this to be effective. I don't remember enough details to know if the neighborhood plans that are currently being worked on could be used for this purpose.

One other suggestion was to start an informal group of old house lovers in order to keep people who are living in older homes in touch with each other. Sounds like an opportunity.

Just a reminder of the progress that has been made in less than a year.

Plans are underway now for numerous activities during Preservation Month ( May) 2006.