The slow death of the California dream, an article in the Spectator, showed up in my morning LinkedIn feed. A former colleague in the preservation field had posted it with this short, and to-the-point rejoinder:

“‘The Romans built aqueducts stretching hundreds of miles in less time than it takes to permit an outbuilding in California—and their aqueducts actually held water.’ I can’t believe someone actually wrote this line. Sure we have bureaucracy, but you know what the Romans had that we didn’t? Slaves. That’s right! Slavery. Don’t have to pay your workers . . . no unions . . . etc. Yes, the Romans were brilliant engineers and brought us amazing civil works . . . but up to 30% of the population were slaves. Yep, things sure move quicker when there aren’t 8 billion people on the planet using all the same resources and your government is based on an Emperor. Honestly people . . . read a history book.”

My comment to Allyson’s* post was succinct. I simply said, “Read history, indeed! Preach it, Allyson!!”

For something more thoughtful than “why can’t we build aqueducts like the Romans use to do?” I recommend my friend Charles R. Wolfe’s Place Shock in Los Angeles. In his essay anticipating the rebuilding of Los Angeles, Chuck “evokes a range of regulatory approaches, the writing of the late Mike Davis, and the realities of political expediency to explore what place restoration will mean,” ending with these two paragraphs:

“Los Angeles’s challenge is efficiently rebuilding homes and infrastructure while acknowledging how actual rebuilding transcends the physical. It’s about encouraging the intangible, honoring memories, and cultivating a sense of belonging.

Paradise is fragile, says climate change and its progeny of storms, melts, heat, and drought. In this case, it’s a matter of purposely reflecting on how resilience and beauty coexist amid political compromises and Davis’s ecology of fear.”

More to come . . .

DJB

*Dr. Allyson Brooks is the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) for the State of Washington. For those not in the field, the SHPO—appointed by the governor—is the public servant responsible for managing the government’s response to cultural heritage in each state. Allyson—who is one of the most effective SHPOs in the country—has served in this position for 26 years. She was appointed by Governor Jay Inslee and two previous governors, serving as the chief executive’s primary adviser and policy expert on all issues related to the state’s cultural resources. As SHPO she “represents the Governor and the agency to state legislators, the Congressional delegation, government agencies, developers, community stakeholders, the general public, and tribal representatives.”

---

Photo by chris robert on Unsplash