Opinion: Heritage Row project would help preserve the past, not destroy it

I don’t understand the logic of these decisions. Everything I’ve read about the re-vitalizing of older towns tells me that vibrant towns that attract young professionals, rather than losing them as we now are in Ann Arbor, require a possibility of affordable housing in or near downtown. I understand local special interest groups and neighborhoods resist change, but our city government must look beyond the short-term demands of these groups and think about the future. Historical preservation that calcifies the city in the past is not the answer.

De Parry’s Heritage Row presents the compromise of renovating and preserving the century old houses that many of us remember visiting when they were private homes while providing additional housing so needed if Ann Arbor is to have the appeal that a young, dynamic work force seeks. I used to live in an historic house and was a member of the Ann Arbor Historical Society. I’ve been involved with the Downtown Historical Street Markers and am very supportive of the value of the Historical Society in preserving important local landmarks, but having never heard of German Town until the neighborhood mobilized to prevent change, I think that de Parry’s project is one that will vitalize the neighborhood and therefore assure its preservation in a way that merely preventing change will not. My hope is that the City Council will review its position and realize that its obligation is to the viable future of Ann Arbor not just its historic past. Jan Barney Newman Ann Arbor