Back in the 1980s, I had the honor to staff a Certified Local Government  
historical board for the County of San Diego. Most of the people appointed to  
the board had zero training in historic preservation law or even experience in  
what makes something historic. I believe that situations continues today with  
many decision-makers. It also exists with trained professional historians who 
do  not understand what forensic evidence can contribute toward solving  
social history issues important to the general public, geographers,  
anthropologists and sociologists in archaeological contexts. The CLG board  members at the 
County were always saying, "nothing built in my lifetime can be  historical or 
important" and laughed heartily. Ironically, 90% of the buildings  landmarked 
by the local cities in the county region were built in the past  eighty years 
and I have friends older than that. Why would we landmark a  building if 
historical records exist in newspapers, letters, and government  documents? The 
answer is simple, those records do not exist sufficiently to  adequately 
describe the buildings and we know even less about the artistic  qualities the 
individual designers and builders applied during their  construction. The same goes 
for archaeology of the 20th century.
 
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.
_www.legacy106.com_ (http://www.legacy106.com)