May 5th through May 12th

If you wandered into City hall this week you would find a large banner inside which read, Oakland Celebrates National Historic Preservation Week. On the 3rd floor lobby upstairs you would see a preservation display featuring OHA activities, a poster from the National Trust for Historic Preservation urging citizens to celebrate Preservation Week, the City of Oakland Landmark Plaquing Program, and the City of Oakland's Facade Improvement Program.

On May 6th at the City Council meeting Chair of the Landmarks Board, Una Gilmartin, OHA Board member, Pat Dedekian, and Vice Mayor Nancy Nadel, made remarks in support of Preservation Week. In addition, Nancy Nadel, read Mayor Jerry Brown Proclamation announcing Preservation Week in Oakland, as well as unveiling the new City Hall Landmark Plaque.

The following is OHA Board Member, Pat Dedekian's remarks to the Oakland City Council on May 6, 2003.

Historic Preservation Week has been celebrated nationally since 1971, and Oakland Heritage Alliance is very pleased to have our city participating this year. OHA remains committed to working with the City of Oakland and the development community to do all we can to recognize, save and enhance the irreplaceable features that make Oakland special.

This past year we co-sponsored, with the City of Oakland, the City’s 150^th birthday celebration, and organized neighborhood walking tours and home tours to help educate Oaklanders about the history of our City. We presented our President’s Award for Preservation Achievement to the African American Museum and Library at Oakland restoration project, and gave a Partners in Preservation award to the City’s Downtown Façade Improvement Program. Perhaps most significantly, we worked with the Landmarks Board to design the new Oakland City Landmarks Plaque, and have kept the Mayor and Nancy Nadel busy unveiling the plaques as we have begun to place them on Oakland’s 134 designated City Landmarks.

Coincidentally, the Council will vote tonight on City Landmark status for New St. Paul’s Church, and later this month on the Oak Center Historic District. Oakland Heritage Alliance supports both of these landmark designations.

Every city has a sense of place that makes it special and unique, and despite how important this is to the life of the community, this sense of place can be easily destroyed. In the words of Richard Moe, President of the National Trust for Historic Preservation, without protection for our historic resources, "uniqueness fades to anonymity, Everyplace starts looking like Anyplace, and eventually they all look like Noplace."

Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, including the restoration of our beautiful City Hall building, is a prime example of what can happen when a city is committed to retaining its sense of place. The Plaza has become a central gathering place for community events, and visitors never fail to respond to the historic quality of the space, especially the magnificence of City Hall.

Tonight Vice Mayor Nancy Nadel will unveil the new Oakland City Landmark plaque for City Hall, which will be proudly placed on the building to forever commemorate its respected place within our community.