Spare that landmark!

It's little more than a symbolic gesture, but at least we have it.

The committee that advises Houston City Council on historic preservation unanimously approved a letter to Weingarten Realty on Thursday, urging the company not to raze the Landmark River Oaks Theatre, the former Alabama Theatre and segments of the River Oaks Shopping Center.

"Please do not deny future generations the experience of connecting to their past by erasing such vital elements of our heritage," wrote the 11-member Archaeological and Historical Commission.

The letter, addressed to Weingarten CEO Drew Alexander, carried no threat of city action. Houston's preservation laws are among the weakest in the country and like almost all buildings in the city, the three Art Deco structures lie outside the commission's feeble regulatory power.

Far less than 1 percent of Houston land falls within a city historic district; and to date, only one owner of a commercial building has applied to have it designated a city landmark.

But preservationists still regard the letter as significant in a city known for a lax attitude toward protecting its heritage.

Houstonist has more on the the preservation designation process. You can see how little weight this carries. Weingarten is under no obligation to do anything different, and it has basically no example to follow.

Kevin has suggested that the way to affect Weingarten's behavior is to contact them directly.

While petitions are an easy, feel-good form of activism, nothing gets the attention of businesses and/or politicians like swarms of calls and letters.

Unfortunately, I think this is equally useless. What really gets the attention of a business is a swarm of calls and letters from its customers (or in the case of politicians, from their constituents). The reason for that is simple: Such calls and letters carry an implied threat of taking one's business elsewhere unless the request/demand is met. You and I aren't Weingarten's customers; at least, those of us who aren't in the business of purchasing and developing real estate aren't Weingarten's customers. We have no more leverage over them than we do over Senators and Congressfolk from other states. Maybe calling and writing Barnes & Noble and threatening to never set foot in the bookstore that they plan to build on the ashes of the River Oaks Theater might be effective, if it gets them to have second thoughts about buying the land. Beyond that, I can't see how Weingarten would care what any of us think about their plans. They've got a bottom line to worry about, and our feelings about this project don't affect that.

No, the more I read about this plan, the more I am convinced that the only course of action that has a chance of success is CIty Council action. Unless there's a way to force, or at least strongly encourage, developers to not tear down historically significant buildings, they will continue to do so. And we'd better get cracking on this:

Demolition of the first building - the River Oaks Shopping Center structure at the corner of Shepherd and West Gray - is expected to begin soon after Christmas.

So write those letters and make those phone calls to Mayor White and your City Council person. I say they're the only ones who can do anything about this.

UPDATE: More from Houstonist.

Posted by Charles Kuffner on August 25, 2006 to Elsewhere in Houston | TrackBack