In the last few weeks, historic preservationists across the country have noted heightened threats to a key protective tool in saving places: historic districts.

In the words of our Preservation Leadership Forum team, which has compiled a number of helpful resources on the topic, "these attacks ignore the short- and long-term benefits of historic districts—economic, social and environmental—in favor of politically expedient but unnecessary curbs that would likely drive down the very development and investment that historic district opponents are trying to attract."

Stephanie Meeks, president of the National Trust, weighed in with an excellent rebuttal on CityLab, excerpted below. (Read her full article.) Here's part of what she had to say:

"All across America, from Cleveland and Buffalo to Portland and Pittsburgh, people from all walks of life—led by the young, diverse, millennial generation—are choosing to live, work, and play in historic neighborhoods. When asked why they moved to these areas, residents often talk about the desire to live somewhere distinctive, to be some place rather than no place. They want things like windows that open, exposed brick, and walkable communities, and continually use words like “charm” and “authenticity” to describe what they are looking for. In short, many Americans today want their homes and workplaces to be unique and distinctive—exactly the kind of distinctiveness, character, and sense of place that historic preservation districts provide.