[MassHistPres] Cemetery Commission Rumble

[Harry LaCortiglia]

Hi Jonathan,

I don't know what the actual politics of this are, but it sure sounds 
somewhat like there's a bit more going on here (or perhaps a bit of a 
history?) that has been left unsaid. As Chair of my local CPC, I know 
that these kinds of situations sometimes arise as a manifestation of 
previous personality disagreements more than from the substance of the 
issue itself.

There also might be a bit of pride and discomfort involved here, as 
well, since board members, (such as the Cemetery Comm's) that are 
usually the ones "behind" the decision making table, sometimes are very 
uncomfortable when they find themselves in "front" of another board's 
table.

Lastly, there is the issue of the ultimate recipient and controller of 
the funding itself. If the Cemetery Comm feels that the authority to 
award the contract is being taken away from them and being put into the 
hands of the Historical Comm, then this itself might be the major source 
of the discontent.

I suspect that some of all three of these factors are coming into play 
here...

Your Board of Selectmen need to call all of you into a room and 
encourage you all to play nicely. (At least the BOS will be on notice if 
damage does occur.)

If your Cem Comm is primarily dealing on a day to day basis with 
cemeteries that are not historical in nature, then the Historic 
Commission should be requesting CPC funding to have a Historic 
Preservation Management Plan prepared for this cemetery, in order to 
provide the Cemetery Comm with detailed, specific information as to the 
proper care for its more historically sensitive charges.
See:

http://www.georgetowncpc.com/Union_Cemetery_mgmt_plan.htm

This might not help you right now with your immediate problem at hand, 
but it might help someone in the future (on the Cem Comm) to avoid 
taking a well intentioned, but misguided or misinformed action that 
could possibly damage this cemetery. 

Good Luck  (you're going to need it...)
H. LaCortiglia
Georgetown CPC

     

Jonathan Feist wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> The Harvard Shaker Cemetery issue has taken an unsuspected turn. To
> summarize the history, the Harvard Cemetery Commission proposed sandblasting
> and powdercoating the cast iron markers in the Harvard Shaker Cemetery, to
> be funded by the CPA. I¹m a member of the CPC as well as chair of the
> Historical Commission.
>
> The applicants met with the CPC to discuss their project. I summarized the
> concerns articulated here regarding silica sandblasting, and others, and
> suggested that as a first step, they get the advice of a conservator who
> specializes in antique cast iron. We offered to accept an increase in the
> requested amount in their application to fund this.
>
> The applicants then flipped out, shouted at us that we were petty
> bureaucrats, withdrew their application, swore an oath to fund their project
> another way, and stormed out of the meeting, while members of the CPC sat
> gaping. 
>
> So, here¹s my question. The Shaker cemetery is within the borders of the
> Harvard Shaker Village Historical District. Our town administrator doesn¹t
> think that the HC¹s jurisdiction trumps that of the Cemetery Commission. Is
> this how you understand it as well?
>
> I am trying to arrange a meeting of the two boards, facilitated by the Town
> Administrator, hoping to create some sort of dialog and joint approach to
> issues such as this. Honestly, though, I¹m not hopeful that this meeting
> will bear fruit, as the Cemetery Commission seems to have some real turf
> issues and not much sense about historical preservation. Plus, they are
> bozos.
>
> Opinions? Strategies?
>
> --Jonathan
>
>
>
> ===============================================
>
> Jonathan Feist, Chair
> Harvard Historical Commission
> 978-772-4864 (home)
> 617-747-2148 (Berklee office)
>
> Preserve Historical Harvard, MA:
> http://www.jonathanfeist.com/Pages/HarvardPreservation.html
>
> Blog: Writing about Music
> http://jonathanfeist.berkleemusicblogs.com
>
> ******************************
> For administrative questions regarding this list, please contact Christopher.Skelly at state.ma.us directly.  PLEASE DO NOT "REPLY" TO THE WHOLE LIST.  
> MassHistPres mailing list
> MassHistPres at cs.umb.edu
> http://mailman.cs.umb.edu/mailman/listinfo/masshistpres
> ********************************
>
>