Copy
this web address and forward it to the City Commission with a request
for an investigation into the Tallahassee Trust for Historic
Preservation: http://www.talgov.com/gov/commission.cfm
A Scandal of Irresponsibility and Incompetence
The
Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation (TTHP) demonstrates they
haven't got the ability to be a contractor for the City & County
historic services.
The TTHP put together
the 1800-page + package of historic site survey forms for the Lafayette
Park Neighborhood historic district nomination. These forms are
so far below any conceivable standard of acceptability, and so far
below any gauge of professional product, it is time to demand the
removal of this contractor from public funding. It is, in fact,
time to demand repayment of the funds they have already received over
the years for failure of performance.
The board of directors of this organization, in their irresponsibility and failure of
oversight, has put the lie to the word "trust" in their name.
This is a brief article to expose the incredible sham of these
forms--more than half were essentially blank with little more
than addresses and virtuallyall of the required historic information
left blank. The board of directors of this organization presented
this package of forms in the Lafayette Park application as
substantiation for an attempted rezoning our private properties without
our permission and in many cases, without our knowledge.
This
action by the Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation has caused
us huge expenditures of time and effort in defense of our
properties, permanent harm to our neighborhood and neighborhood
relationships, and severed our trust in the City.
The
456 forms in the
application averaged 4 pages each: a two page historic structure
form, conforming to the Florida Master Site File guidelines (FL dept of
state), and an accompanying map and photograph. The difference in
quantity from the number of properties in the neighborhood (475) is due
to a choice by TTHP to lump several condominium properties into one
undefined survey with no owners listed, as if it were one person's property.
This summer, I
decided to do something that the Architectural Review Board, the
Tallahassee-Leon County Planning Department, The Tallahassee-Leon
County Planning Commission and the Tallahassee City Commission never
bothered to do before moving forward with the attempted theft of our
property rights: I read these forms. I obtained a digitized
copy of the application through a Public Records Request, and went
through each house number on each street in the Lafayette Park
Application. Read on to see what a travesty I found....
A brief summary of the highlights of what I found:
120
of the forms were written up in the Summer of 1985 by Beth LaCivita and
Barry Klein. The review and content of the historic surveys done
by this duo were the best of the lot, with a serious effort to document
the characteristics and history of the homes they studied.
Unfortunately, a quarter century is a long time, and these out-of-date
forms generally had the wrong current owners, very poor (illegible)
photographs, and inadequate maps. They were also absent any
updating for alterations and new construction. A majority also
incorrectly used the term "vernacular", possibly out of desire to make
the architectural analysis seem more historically authentic.
However, it's a specific term with a specific usage, and does not apply
to professionally-built buildings, by definition. The use of
these very old forms from over a generation ago with no attempt at
updating content and no attempt to provide even current photos stands
as resounding testament to the irresponsibility and incompetence of the
Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation.
Approximately
240 of the forms were undated--more than half the entire package. They were produced using version
4.0 of the Florida Master Site File forms, which was issued in January
2007, so they are as current as anything in the application.
These were all produced by Justin McGurrin, a creative writing student
at Florida State University who had a part time job with the
TTHP. It's obvious from the forms that he was probably told to
get the street address on the form, locate it on the map, take a photo,
and identify the windows and roofing and siding. That's all he
did. There was an admirable consistency in the quality of his work: No date. No owner name. No historic
information. No evaluation or justification. No research
sources other than the tax appraiser page. Yet this form was
presented to, and used by the City of Tallahassee, by the TTHP and the
Architectural Review Board as justification for taking our property
rights in perpetuity, without compensation, in the guise of historic
preservation.
Mr.
McGurrin's lack of experience with architectural matters
is highlighted by his use of "shudders", "guilicee windows", and
meaningless terms such as "synthetic siding", "vinyl hung" windows, and
widespread use of "asphalt" as the roof material. Since several
types of roofing uses asphalt as an ingredient he's got it pretty well
covered, doesn't he? Misuse of the term "vernacular" is nearly
universal. His photos are frequently of the tree or bushes in
front of the house, rather than the building itself. Most are of
such poor quality, the details are non-existent--apparently there was
water on the lens in many of the photos. The digital detail
required by
the Dept of State forms is not provided. What is clear is that a
well-intentioned college intern was given no guidance, no support, no
decent camera, no supervision, no feedback on quality or direction, and
his work was clearly limited to preparing the forms for the addition or
followup by someone qualified to do historical review. It was
never done, and the blank forms he prepared were used as the finished
application data to justify the condemnation and removal of property
rights of nearly five hundred properties in Lafayette Park. His
work stands as a repetition two hundred forty times of the
irresponsibility and incompetence of the Tallahassee Trust for Historic
Preservation.
Fifty
of the forms were
produced by Ashley Porter. These are dated 2006 and 2007, and are
a distinct improvement, but remain below any acceptable standard which
would justify removal of a property owner's right to control their own
property. Universally, the Opinion of Evaluation to condemn the
property as an historic resource in her forms is the following:
"The building was evaluated as part of the process of formally
identifying Lafayette Park as a historic district". That's not a
reason to take someone's property rights. It's a meaningless
phrase to put in an otherwise blank line. Overall, with
regard to the form's requirements, fewer blank lines remain, compared
to Mr. McGurrin's forms, yet the substance is not much improved. Each
survey form remains outstanding in its absence of useful or required
information. Each survey form remains striking in the complete lack of
any described historic context or qualities. Prevalent characteristics
include single word responses and short, useless phrases of
description. Again, her work remains as a similar testament to the
inability of the Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation to provide
any kind of competent, responsible, historical review of the properties
in Lafayette Park.
The fourth property surveyor is a duo from a
company called Archaelogy Consultants. 41 of the forms were by
this company. They were done 13 years ago in 1996, and are
subject to the errors endemic to the passage of time:
un-documented alterations and wrong owners identified. The forms
list more sources of research, but lost all their credibility with me
by describing one survey information resource as "windshield/pedestrian".
Driving by, looking out the window, is not research. They also
are guilty of inventing terms that are not found in the literature or
architectural dictionaries: "eyebrow gable", "gable hood".
Misuse of the term "vernacular" is frequent. Photos are generally very
poor. Again, the Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation used
out of date material in place of the serious work of providing up to
date, competent, responsible effort to get something right.
These
are a few of the many reasons to disqualify every
form in the application. Not one single form meets the current
standard as set by the Department of State. Their current
historic structure survey form,
(version 4.0, as used in more than half the surveys) demands specific,
required information and highlights the form to make sure this
information is provided. It's blank in all 240+ of Mr. McGurrin's
surveys. The balance are as described above and are severely out
of date. Detailed criticisms folllow, below. Every form was
provided as part of the application package by the Tallahassee Trust
for Historic Preservation. They failed in their contractual duty
to the citizens of Tallahassee. They failed the neighborhood of
Lafayette Park. They do not deserve any continued funding by the
City of Tallahassee, and they need to be removed from their contract.
Take a careful look at the following surveys provided as
examples. Judge for yourself. The lack of consideration and
harm they have done to the Lafayette Park neighborhood is inexcusable.
There are a few other surveys by others, but they are
not notable for any quality. Two of the surveys were done by an individual whose
resume came up in an Internet search wherein she claimed to have done
400 of them. However only two have her name. At least one
lucky property owner managed to have their property completely left out
of the surveys and summary list in the application. I think I
know about 300 people who would have liked to have been left out.
If
anyone would like an emailed copy of their particular property survey,
send in a request and I'll try to copy it from the disk I received from
the city and email it back. If anyone wants to get a copy of the entire
neighborhood disk from the City Treasurer's office, I can provide the
public records request file information....
Following are some examples of the forms by each of the primary authors of the forms:
In order of appearance: 4-pages--536 East Georgia Street historic survey, by Ashley Porter 2 pages--634 Ingleside Avenue historic survey, by Beth LaCivita 2
pages--815 Edgewood Street historic survey, by unnamed surveyor
(provided as an example of how poorly the project was monitored
by TTHP) 4 pages--916 Harbert Street historic survey, by Justin McGurrin 4 pages--1131 Terrace Street historic survey, by Archaeology Consultants (Sharyn Thompson & Gwendolyn Waldorf)
536 East Georgia Street: example of Historic Structure Form, prepared by Ashley Porter: (Ashley Porter prepared 50 of the forms in the Lafayette Park nomination application) Typical Criticisms of the Ashley Porter forms: 1. Failure to use current version 4.0 of form, which was available January 2007. 2.
Failure to fill out basic required information in every section of the
form, even though such information is readily available, and should be
treated as valuable and necessary for an historic survey. 3.
Chronic misuse of "vernacular" as a term. "Vernacular", by
definition, cannot be a plan-built home by a builder. Vernacular
refers to native, non-professionally-built homes. In the Tallahassee region, only the
round Indian "Chickee" hut and the original, pioneer-built "cracker"
homes qualify as vernacular buildings. 4. Failure to identify basic materials of construction. 5.
Failure to identify any ancillary features or special features to qualify the property as a unique resource. 6. Failure to identify or describe alterations, when a box is checked which indicates they exist. 7.
Failure to provide history of owners, past or present, and their
relationship to Tallahassee or Lafayette Park 8.
Failure to use any readily available sources of historical data and/or
failure to identify any that may have been used. 9. Failure to provide any kind of evaluation or justification for identified historic qualities. 10.
Repeated requests throughout the form for the use of supplemental pages
indicates that deep, thorough research is expected. The use of
one-word replies is inadequate. 11. Inadequate
photo does not reveal any fine detail about the structure, and location
of camera provides least valuable view possible.
634 Ingleside Avenue: Historic Structure Form example, prepared by Beth LaCivita,
in 1985. Her forms were pulled from inherited files of the old
Historic Tallahassee Preservation Board by the Tallahassee Trust for
Historic Preservation: 120 such forms were included in the
application to rezone Lafayette Park.
Typical Criticisms of these forms: 1. Quarter century out of date, resulting in wrong owners named, failure to identify alterations taken place in intervening years. 2. Forms no longer in use, and do not comply with current documentation requirements. 3. Photos are terrible and barely identify house--no details are discernible at any scale. 4. Intent of these surveys was not for a district rezoning. 5.
"Updates" are hand-written across many of the forms by unknown parties:
example "porch enclosed", with no documentation. 6. Maps do not meet requirements. 7.
Chronic misuse of the term "vernacular", thereby failing to properly
identify correct style of construction. (There is NO vernacular architecture in Lafayette Park, by definition.) 8.
Surveyor listed as working for the Historic Tallahassee Preservation
board, a discontinued agency. (Form is technically void) 9.
Altered buildings are marked as "contributing", with little or no
explanation of the alterations and impact.
Keep in mind, as you review this next two-page form, that this is from the formal application to our government to change our zoning in such a way as to remove our property rights of design and physical control of the buildings. This form is one of the more extreme in lack of detail. It's plain to see why it has no name for the perpetrator. Just review it--a virtually blank form with no information other than the address. Yet, the Tallahassee Trust for Historic Preservation included it in the application, and the Architectural Review Board voted for the rezoning....
Following is a sample of the 240 forms prepared by Justin McGurrin for the application: 916 Harbert Street These are typically the worst forms in the application, and it's a shame that more than half the applications properties were of this quality. typical criticisms of forms by this surveyor:
1. Undated forms. 2.
The "Shaded Fields represent the minimum acceptable level of
documentation." instruction was ignored on every form. 3.
Window types are described erroneously in nearly every form:
invented terms such as "vinyl hung" abound.
Aluminum windows are described as vinyl and vice
versa. Taken as a whole, the window descriptions are gibberish. 4.
Further invented terms highlight the incompetence of oversight on this
surveyor's work: Examples of terms: "synthetic frame" , "synthetic siding", 5.
Gross misuse of the term "vernacular" to describe everything in the
neighborhood. Brick vernacular, Masonry vernacular
frame vernacular, and often with "Revival
influences". The impression is of an apprentice cook adding
spices to a recipe, rather
than a serious documentation of the architectural style and details of
the buildings. 6. All sections related to historic use of the property are blank, including ownership of the property. 7. Failure to provide any record or description of distinguishing architectural details. 8.
Failure to identify the required map. Failure to identify
property on the maps provided in many cases. 9. Misuse of construction materials descriptions: "Asphalt" for any of a wide variety of roofing types.
"cinder blocks" are confused with concrete block.
Most replacement windows not of mill finish aluminum were declared to be vinyl with no regard for what is actually installed. 10.
Photos are universally poor and lacking in detail--even such details as
brick joints or shingle lines are invisible. 11.
Gross mis-spelling of architectural terms confirms the complete lack of
knowledge or familiarity of the subject matter
by the surveyor: window
"shudders"...."Guilicee windows" (Did you guess what he meant here?).
When you consider more than half the forms used in the application are by this surveyor and warrant most or all of these criticisms,
it's pretty hard to ignore the fact that the Tallahassee Trust for
Historic Preservation has some serious questions of competency and responsibility.
Can you see the bricks and wood shingles on the side of the house in this photo? That's what the surveyor said was here. It's actually bricks and asbestos siding, but the photo provides none of that information---just a blurry, indistinct sidewall with no definition. This is typical of very many of the photos in this surveyor's work.
Map is not marked to identify which property is 916 Harbert Street.
The following forms were filled out by Archaeology Consultants, Inc. They performed 41 of the surveys in the application for Lafayette Park
Typical Criticisms: 1.
Date of surveys is 10+ years ago:
recent alterations are not included. Owners are often
incorrect due to sales. 2. Misuse of the term "vernacular", thereby failure to properly identify correct building style. 3. Photos are often very poor or extremely outdated or both. 4.
Invented architectural terms which do not occur in
the literature or dictionaries. Ex: "gable hood" for a
porch roof over a doorway, "Eyebrow
gable" for indeterminate roof or wall structure. 5. "Windshield/pedestrian" method of research: Driving by a building is NOT research. 6. Invented abbreviations: ex: "DHS" for windows. Take your guess. 7.
Forms are old, poorly copied, and somewhat
illegible. A formal application deserves a professional
application. 8. Insufficient historical data on structure or occupants. 9. Inadequate maps. 10.
Pejorative, slang usage. Example: "cross &
bible" door instead of the correct "six-panel" door.
