The new Visitor Center at the FDR Library and Museum was the setting for an all-day conference on Saturday, October 28th sponsored by the Preservation League of New York State. The keynote speaker for the day was Ed McMahon from the Urban Land Institute in Washington, DC. He is an inspiring, humorous, and thought provoking speaker whose primary ideas about development were directly pertinent to Clinton United's concerns.

"What will the Hudson River Valley look like 20 years from now?" he asked. With many images to support his thesis, again and again he hammered at the idea that wherever you go in America everything looks the same. He stressed that visual blight and the loss of a sense of community can result in a population that has lost its sense of care for their environment. Retaining a "sense of place" tells you where you come from and that awareness equals the soul of a community.

When a community faces development issues it needs to consider a) the location of the development, b) the "arrangement" of the development, and c) its visual appearance. The location concerns both environmental and historical factors. McMahon gave several examples of communities that managed to save historic buildings, but at the same time lost their sense of place -- they were surrounded by massive parking lots, or discount stores, or a suburban subdivision. He emphasized the importance of saving "hallowed ground."

In considering a development's arrangement, planners need to pay attention to the width of the roads. Not only is the amount of asphalt (and therefore impervious surfaces) a concern, but visual appearance and safety are also issues. Research has shown that narrower roads are safer for pedestrians than wider ones. In planning for landscaping and trees, the focus has to be on their value.

The title of McMahon's talk was "Dollars & Sense of Preserving Community Character." In discussing the visual appearance of any new development he emphasized that the image of a community is fundamental to its economic vitality and its quality of life. This was the essential point of his entire presentation.

McMahon's concluding remarks focused on the following five points for communities to pursue as they prepare to deal with development issues:

-- Develop a vision for the community's future.

-- Inventory local assets and resources: natural, cultural, historical, and economic.

-- Develop plans to enhance these assets.

-- Use education, incentives, partnerships, and voluntary initiatives--not just regulations--to achieve these plans.

-- Consider aesthetics as well as ecology and economics in planning for development.

The PRESERVATION UNDER PRESSURE conference was well-attended, with approximately 80 participants from throughout the Hudson River Valley--New York City to Albany. Both Hyde Park and Rhinebeck were well represented, by interested residents as well as members of government. There were notably very few attendees from Clinton. It would have been beneficial if more members of Clinton United could have used this opportunity for personal education, networking, and increasing our horizons.

by Blanche Rubin