Emily Priddy, eastern vice president of the Oklahoma Route 66 Association and charter member of the Friends of the Mother Road preservation group, is heading to Albuquerque to address the city’s Planning Commission about the request to rezone El Vado Motel. She is carrying a letter from Michael Wallis, author of the best-selling “Route 66: The Mother Road,” expressly written for the occasion. The Planning Commission meeting starts Thursday morning.

Wish her — and Route 66 — some good luck.

Here’s a blog item from the Albuquerque Tribune about her upcoming trip. 

This event in Edwardsville is just for you.

From the National Trust for Historic Preservation:

Washington, D.C. (October 18, 2005) – The National Trust for Historic Preservation is accepting nominations for the 2006 America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places list until January 18, 2006. Each year, the National Trust issues this list to identify and raise awareness of historic sites at risk from neglect, deterioration, lack of maintenance, insufficient funds, inappropriate development or insensitive public policy. Since 1988, the list has been one of the most successful tools in the fight to save America’s irreplaceable architectural, cultural, and natural heritage. The 2006 list will be announced in early June.

Hmm … I wonder what property on Route 66 we can nominate? Hmm …

During this fight to El Vado Motel standing in the past few days, I was thinking about our nation’s rather anemic preservation laws. A listing onto the National Register of Historic Places brings prestige and eligibility for loans and grants. But it offers little actual protection for historic properties. Even if an owner places a property on the National Register, he or she can do with it what they please, including level it to the ground, such as the Coral Court Motel in St. Louis as an example.

So I’ve been thinking it’s time to put teeth into the National Register of Historic Places listings. Mainly, I want it so that once a property makes it onto the list, demolition is prohibited except in a few narrow exceptions, such as extreme safety or health concerns.

What do you think of this idea? Would it discourage people from placing their properties on the National Register? Is this a case of too much government interference? Does it hurt property rights? Would such a law hamper economic growth or development in some cities? Or do you think that such a strengthening of the law is long overdue?

Let’s hear what you have to say by clicking onto the comments section. Remember, your comments may not appear on the site right away because I have to clear them first. It’s not that I wish to discourage dissent; it’s that I don’t want spammers to hijack the discussion.

A friend of mine told me about this New Mexico appeals court decision that sets a precedent against rezoning El Vado Motel in Albuquerque:

Spot zoning (¶ 5). Spot zoning “is an attempt to wrench a single lot from its environment and give it a new rating that disturbs the tenor of the neighborhood, and which affects only the use of a particular piece of property or a small group of adjoining properties and is not related to the general plan for the community as a whole, but is primarily for the private interest of the owner of the property so zoned.â€? City of Albuquerque v Paradise Hills, 99 N.M. 630; 661 P.2d 1329 (1983) “The term ‘spot zoning’ refers to the rezoning of a small parcel of land to permit a use [that] fails to comply with a comprehensive plan or is inconsistent with the surrounding area, grants a discriminatory benefit to the parcel owner, and/or harms neighboring properties or the community welfare.” Watson v. Town Council of Bernalillo, 111 N.M. 374, 378, 805 P.2d 641, 645 (Ct. App. 1991).