[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 131 (Monday, September 19, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: September 19, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                AMERICAN HERITAGE AREAS PARTNERSHIP ACT

                                 ______


                        HON. MAURICE D. HINCHEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 19, 1994

  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, on September 11, the Poughkeepsie Journal 
printed an editorial discussing the American Heritage Areas Partnership 
Act. It is an excellent description of what has been done in existing 
heritage areas and of what the bill hopes to achieve. I wanted to take 
this opportunity to share the article with you and with our colleagues.

                      Save This Nation's Heritage

       Oh, beautiful for spacious skies. . .'' The song known by 
     every school child reflects the beauty and abundance this 
     country has always cherished.
       But its ideal images are being sundered by a monotonous 
     landscape of fast-food restaurants, shopping malls and 
     suburban developments that give no clue to the character of 
     the place where they're located. Is it in New England? 
     Southern California? The Hudson Valley?
       We need to save our special places; they are as definitive 
     to America's individualism as regional accents. They are the 
     texture of our character, the birthplace of our traditions.
       And they will only stay special if they are not roped off 
     but remain places people can live and work. This country can 
     no longer depend on the National Park Service or state 
     governments to keep our treasures behind fences. That doesn't 
     really protect them anyway. Look at some of the schlock 
     outside of the Grand Canyon in Arizona or the lineup of strip 
     malls near Samuel Morse's home along Route 9 in Poughkeepsie. 
     Like a match set to paper, the visual pollution outside will 
     ultimately burn its way in.
       New legislation, co-sponsored by U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey 
     of Saugerties, could keep vibrant America's unique culture, 
     its hillsides, riversides and roadsides.
       The bill, with the long-winded name, the American Heritage 
     Areas Partnership Act, would create a framework for 
     establishing national heritage areas. Designated areas would 
     have to be living tableaus of history and custom, places 
     where visitors can learn and play. And the Hudson River 
     Valley Greenway should be one of the first sites to be 
     annointed.
       These areas would form compacts to work with the National 
     Park Service to plan growth that would complement precious 
     sites, to set up exhibits and devise other attractions for 
     visitors. The areas would be eligible for some of the $10 
     million already available in federal money for projects.
       The Hudson Valley greenway should be one of the 10 sites 
     included in the charter legislation. Its history runs from 
     the revolution for democracy to the revolution in technology. 
     It has spawned artists, farmers and inventors for nearly four 
     centuries. And many of its river towns and mountain hamlets 
     still charm the traveler.
       The valley already has a greenway council working with 
     communities to plan for tourism and preserve their character. 
     And it has a committed stream of state money.
       David Sampson, executive director of the greenway's 
     community council, said of the federal bill, ``I think it's 
     clear that it supplies the last and missing link that allows 
     the Hudson Valley to adopt an indentity that will become 
     known to the world.''
       There are national heritage areas now--places that got 
     special designation from Congress through individual bills: 
     one in New England, two in Pennsylvania and one in Illinois. 
     But there are no federal standards for them, no review 
     process, no oversight--except by their own boards.
       And guess what? There are 110 other sites waiting to sign 
     up. There should be one governing act, one set of standards--
     a designation that should be earned, not handed out as a 
     political favor.
       The proposed partnership would encourage all levels of 
     government--local, state and federal--to work together and be 
     joined by private businesses or nonprofit environmental or 
     historical groups. And it will encourage regional planning 
     that will benefit everyone.
       This should set off firecrackers for tourism and other 
     economic development.
       Robert Billington knows.
       ``We were always the black hole, a poorhouse in a poor 
     state,'' he said of the Rhode Island towns that bank the 
     Backstone River--a strand for pollution from the textile 
     mills and jewelry manufacturers that filled it with 
     chemicals.
       Not anymore. Following efforts to clean up the river in the 
     1970s, 20 historic mill towns along the Blackstone valley 
     from Wooster, Mass., to Woonsocket, R.I. were named a 
     National Heritage Corridor by Congress in 1986. But its 
     preservation and development plan was approved just four 
     years ago.
       Billington, a former industrialist who is now president of 
     the nonprofit Blackstone Valley Tourism Council, hands out 
     these statistics:
       Spending by tourists has gone up 11 percent a year.
       In 1983 tourism brought in $76 million to Blackstone towns. 
     In 1992, it brought in $198 million.
       In 1983 the tourism industry employed 510 people earning 
     $16 million. In 1992 it employed 847 earning $40 million.
       Blackstone tourism earned Rhode Island $3 million in sales 
     tax revenues in 1983; in 1992, that increased to $8.2 
     million.
       The national status ``causes people to appreciate the area 
     and to inspire them,'' Billington said. His group leveraged 
     federal funds to buy a 49-passenger tour boat which has 
     carried 22,000 people in seven months of operation. The money 
     it makes will eventually be used to buy more boats and 
     finance other projects.
       And this is on a river that hadn't been navigated in 165 
     years. The great blue heron has returned. The bass and the 
     pickerel, too. And other business attracted by an area coming 
     alive again.
       For the valley along the Hudson and America's other 
     treasures, the new act before Congress will save places where 
     our heritage was forged. It will ensure that our children 
     have something special to see in their mind when they sing 
     ``from sea to shining sea.''
                                  ____


                 Keep Standards Strict for Heritage Act

       In a country that prizes land ownership over land 
     stewardship, it can be tough to sell legislation that 
     encourages regional planning.
       But the American Heritage Areas act, expected to be 
     introduced to Congress next week, is much stronger than 
     earlier proposals.
       Congress should support these elements of the bill:
       Regular review of areas designated so they will lose their 
     status if they do not conform to the plans agreed upon with 
     the National Park Service overseeing the program.
       Limits on how much federal money can be spent in one place 
     and a requirement that no federal money can be used to buy 
     land.
       Public hearings on plans from areas seeking American 
     Heritage designation, plus an annual report to Congress by 
     the secretary of the Interior on the status or the heritage 
     program.
       Requirements that federal agencies planning any projects in 
     heritage areas first notify heritage councils so that the new 
     development doesn't harm the region.
       Automatically considering American Heritage areas as 
     candidates to become world heritage Sites. These are 
     nominated by the Interior secretary and designated by the 
     UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and 
     Cultural Organization.
       World Heritage Sites, properly touted, draw business. The 
     prospering medieval town of Cesky Krumlov in the Czech 
     Republic plasters its World Heritage status over its business 
     development brochure. Similar status for the Hudson Valley 
     could help draw foreign visitors and investors.
       This bill clearly protects individual property rights while 
     giving communities a chance to attract business and save the 
     places they value.

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