TO: Board of Supervisors
FROM: David Morrison, Interim County Executive Officer
REPORT BY: Leah Doyle-Stevens, Staff Aide - Board of Supervisors
SUBJECT: Presentation of a Proclamation designating May as Historic Preservation Month
RECOMMENDATION
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Presentation of a proclamation to a member of the Napa County Landmarks Board of Directors, recognizing May 2023 as Historic Preservation Month in Napa County.
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
In 1973, May was designated “Preservation Month” to raise awareness of historic preservation and the continuity it builds between past, present, and future to instill national and community pride, promote heritage tourism and show the social, economic, and environmental benefits of historic preservation.
Napa County Landmarks (NCL), founded in 1974 by John Whitridge, is a non-profit organization that fosters appreciation and preservation of historic buildings, sites, and districts through education programs, public policy, research, and technical assistance.
Throughout the year, NCL creates awareness of historic preservation through events such as the Holiday Home Tour, Annual Preservation Awards, walking tours of historic areas as well as the creation of the Ten Threatened Treasures list of historic places facing neglect and potential demolition.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION: The proposed action is not a project as defined by 14 California Code of Regulations 15378 (State CEQA Guidelines) and therefore CEQA is not applicable.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Preservation Month began as National Preservation Week in 1973. In 2005, the National Trust extended the celebration to the entire month of May and declared it Preservation Month to provide an even greater opportunity to celebrate the diverse and unique heritage of our country’s cities and states.
The first National Preservation Week was celebrated on May 6-12, 1973. At the annual meeting on October 27, 1972, in Washington, D.C., Donald T. Sheehan, a member of the Trustees Advisory Committee on Membership & Public Relations, proposed the idea of the National Preservation Week as a “means of relating local and state preservation progress to the national effort for the mutual benefits of both.” The National Trust chose the second week of May because it coincided with the organization's annual award luncheon, then in its third year.