Advocates for historic preservation in Nashville are now a part of a national coalition pushing back against the Trump administration’s efforts to weaken protections for historic sites.
David Greider
Preserve Nashville — the recent alliance formed between Preservation Society of Nashville and Historic Nashville Inc. — is one of more than 600 organizations and tribal governments that joined to send an open letter to Congress, urging lawmakers to reject efforts to rewrite and dismantle a longstanding historic preservation law.
The coalition, representing 5 million people, is fighting back against proposed changes to the law that would allow federal agencies to undertake projects or allow construction by private developers without public input. They are also opposing changes to Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. The coalition argues that current proposed changes would weaken protections for historic sites, along with weakening the authority of public and local governments when deciding the future of historic buildings, neighborhoods, monuments, sites and more.
“Before the federal government allows a project to permanently harm a place that matters to the American people, it should first listen to those who know that place best, understand what would be lost, and consider whether the harm can be avoided,” the letter reads.
In addition, the letter threatens legal action if Congress does not block the proposed changes.
Preserve Nashville President and CEO David Greider tells Scene sister publication the Nashville Post that the organization believes in the importance of local input when making historical preservation decisions.
“We have a strong belief that there needs to be federal participation and support, especially financial support for historic preservation,” Greider says. “But we need to have it at the local level. Communities need to be in charge of what is significant within their community, and [the proposed changes] would really gut that process.”
“Nashville, with our development push, we know it better than any city in the country what development can do if it's not handled with community involvement,” Greider adds.
“I think our voices at the table for this are very important.”
This article was first published by our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
