About Us > Executive Director's Column

Ron Emrich

This year Preservation New Jersey marks our 15th annual announcement of the 10 Most Endangered Historic Sites in New Jersey list (go to www.pnj10most.org). Congratulations to Debbie Kelly, former PNJ president and Executive Director, for her award from the NJ Historic Preservation Office for establishing this important program!

In a year marked by especially dire economic news, we are once again struck by the realization that every endangered historic place serves as a challenge to all of us who cherish our history and our quality of life. Just as the entire environmental community rallies when the quality of a waterway is diminished or a bird habitat threatened, preservationists must stop seeing our battles as merely local problems. We must draw attention to all our threatened historic places, the causes of those threats, and most importantly, the solutions that we know can help save them.

Preservation New Jersey's annual 10 Most Endangered Historic Sites list rallies support for these important character-defining landmarks and historic places that teeter on the brink of extinction. But the work does not end when the list is announced; it is barely begun. Historic preservation voices across New Jersey must come together to support the advocates for these sites. We must help to find solutions, and to herald them as models for threatened places in other communities; and we must demand improvements in public policies that help, and an end to those that hurt our cause.

Saving places is an endless task! We also salute another HPO award winner in 2009: former PNJ President Michael Calafati, AIA, who was acknowledged for his leadership of the Coalition, including PNJ, NJ-AIA and DOCOMOMO, working to save Eero Saarinen's Bell Labs and the design charrette and resulting publication sponsored by the Coalition. Thanks to Michael for his dedication.

Join Michael, Debbie Kelly and all of PNJ's supporters in renewing your membership now, as we end our current fiscal year and meet the challenges of a struggling economy. We appreciate your involvement and partnership!