In a City Enamored with the New, Preservation is a Hard Sell

Despite the proven economic benefits of historic preservation in neighboring states such as Colorado, a business community smitten with the "new, new, new" and laws that protect property owner rights are imperiling Phoenix's extant history.

"Preserving history is a tricky business in Arizona," writes Santos, "where so many old
structures have been felled by fire, decay or development that the
state's colorful past is often celebrated in recreated settings. Voters
in 2006 approved a ballot measure giving property owners the right to
file claims against the government if its regulations, like a historic
or landmark designation, resulted in a decrease in their property's
value." 

The national debate over fate of the David Wright House overshadows the recent and impending loses of buildings of local importance such as the the Madison Hotel and the National Register listed Hotel St. James. 

"Jim McPherson, the president of the Arizona Preservation Foundation,
a nonprofit group, said that because so many people in Phoenix did not
have roots here and knew little, or nothing, about its history, 'the
hotels were just meaningless old buildings, nothing else.'"

"The question that ought to be asked, Mr. McPherson said, is, 'How do you
continue to tell a city's story if the remnants of its past have all
come down?'"