Thank you for highlighting Chalreston’s on going battle for simple requests of regulations for the cruise industry in our small harbor which is not only beautiful but a highly significant battleground of both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1861. The photographs illustrate the problem very well. The Carnival Cruise Line owns a huge fleet of ships in various sizes. They select large ones to dock here. They are sailing out of every port on the SE and Gulf coasts except Savannah under their current busines plan. The City and The SC State Ports Authority will not listen to the Coastal Conservation League (to my knowledge, the first group to sound the alarm on this issue), The Preservation Society, The Committee to Save the City, the Historic Ansonborough Neighbohood Association (the neighborhood of restored 18th and 19th century brick homes closest to the problem,) or scores of individual citizens who have voiced concerns. They will not even discuss, in real terms, the concerns raised.

These monster ships are the carnival come to town every couple of days. They tip the scale of living among thousands of visitors. They disrupt traffic, hurt many businesses and destroy the skyline. The city, identifiable by its church steeples, is gone much of the week. There is an outcry for regulation and tourism management. These floating cities are the only form of tourism without any city regulation.

My question to our friends in New York is what changed in the last 10 years to make our job even more difficult and how do we regain the momentum we have lost? This is not to say that the vigilance you refer to, which echoes Jefferson’s writings on freedom, was not always needed but the cruise ships, the destruction of 170 year old houses in Manhattan, and a number of other projects in Chaleston raise the question of what preservationists across the country need to do to get historic commisions, city officials and those charged with protecting the history and beauty of our nation back into the hands of historians and preservationists or, at least, poiticians, who are willing to listen.

Thank You Again,

Rick Corrigan, President of the Board of the Preservation Society of Charleston, celebrating our 90th year in 2010.

The proposed project that you mention of cataloging past LPC Commissioners is a great idea and a necessary pursuit. Perhaps a wiki would be a low-cost way to achieve this? If not, maybe NYPAP will be able to work on this project at some point, or an independent preservationist will write a grant and pursue this.

However this list is hopefully and eventually compiled, and as Tony Wood said, it would be a valuable record of the past, not to mention an instructive guide in anticipating the future.