The Lisbon Historic Preservation Commission (LHPC) debuted a new video at the Monday, Feb. 14, Lisbon City Council meeting in connection with budget discussions related to preservation efforts planned for fiscal year 2023.
The video, titled “Save Our Buildings, Save Ourselves,” stressed the importance of maintaining Main Street buildings, noting that “historic downtowns are the single largest investment most cities will make.” The City of Lisbon owns two buildings in the Main Street Historic District: the History Center building and the Lisbon Public Library building. LHPC has been working with the City to repair and rehabilitate these buildings as recommended in the preservation plans prepared for each structure.
For the past 20 years, the City has encouraged rehabilitation efforts on Main Street through its Downtown Reinvestment Grant Program that subsidizes façade renovations, and interior and exterior structural rehabilitation and renovation. Owners of National Register properties are also eligible for Federal and State tax credits.
The video draws from Jeff Siegler’s May 2019 blog titled “Save Our Buildings, Save Ourselves.” Siegler is founder of Revitalize or Die, a community revitalization firm dedicated to revitalizing communities by fostering civic pride. LHPC received permission from Siegler to use portions of his blog to produce a video to be used to advocate for preserving the buildings in the community.
LHPC also called on the talents of Lisbon grad Silas Young (class of 2018), who narrated the video. Young studied fine arts with a major in theatre at Kirkwood Community College, and aspires to be a voice actor. During the creation process, he recorded several versions of the script, using different inflections and vocal tones. Once the final version was selected, the narrative was set over a montage of historical photos of Lisbon to create the video.
“I was happily surprised when the Lisbon Historic Preservation Commission asked me to collaborate with them,” Young said. “For a voice actor who is cutting his teeth on several projects, it was a cool opportunity to cooperate on a more professional level. I really enjoyed the experience and the people I’ve met from it, and am super proud of the finished product. I deeply hope it aids in the preservation of several of the places I’ve grown up around.”
The video can be accessed on the Lisbon Historic Preservation Commission’s website (http://lisbonhistoricpreservation.com) under the Video tab.