We have been busy at Laura Ratcliffe's home.

Open House in early October brought new friends and old to experience the warm ambience of Merrybrook and to hear Delegate Tom Rust (86th District) speak about his determination to help save the building and its history from destruction!

He particularly emphasized his endorsement of a plan called the Resident Curatorship Program, used in many states to keep historic sites from being lost. Maryland, Massachusetts, Delaware are three examples of the success of the Resident Curatorship Program which helps public and private forces work together to preserve these non-replaceable treasures at low or NO cost to the public treasury!

The following outline will give you the basic points:

• The structure must be historically significant
• It must have no current preservation plan
• The applicant must provide information about finances, experience with historic structures, and other pertinent information.
• The selected applicant is then eligible for a long-term lease on the property (lifetime in MD, 25 years in MA) provided he/she agrees to spend a minimum of $150,000 (or more) and finishes the agreed on repairs within 7 years.
• Twice yearly inspections are conducted by the State.
• The property must be open to the public several times a year.

Each state has different details for the program, but the final result is one historic preservation at little or no cost to the public.

This program has successfully saved 43 homes and other buildings in Maryland so far, 26 in Massachusetts, and comparable numbers across the U.S.

We feel that it's now time for Virginia also to benefit from such a system and we are currently working toward that goal. We hope you will join us in this effort by learning more about it (links are listed below), and by gathering support for it from other preservation oriented friends or groups that are concerned about the ongoing loss of Virginia's past.

For more information, contact us at lratcliffehouse@aol.com Or, go to these websites for information on the Maryland and Massachusetts Museum Resident Curatorship:

Mr. Rust is sponsoring Enabling Legislation to make this program available in Virginia with HB 1963.

The wonderful news is that H.B. 1963 has passed both the sub-committee and the committee unanimously and had its first reading on the House floor on January 19, 2011. To view the second presentation, January 20, 2011:

You can also follow the bill's progress through to passage and on to the Senate (keep all fingers crossed!!!)

As soon as our bill passes the House it goes to the Senate where it will be assigned to a committee (no sub-committee) where Tom Rust will present it again. Once it is reported out of committee, it goes to the full Senate where it will be presented by a friendly senator. Senator Mark Herring offered to do so at the Town Hall meetin in Herndon on January 15th, and we have other supporters, so this is not a problem.

Then, after Senate passage, the bill goes to the Governor for signing into law!

Now is the time to be writing, e-mailing and calling your Delegates and Senators in support of H.B. 1963, The Resident Curator Bill. Also of particular value will be for friends and relatives who live in other districts to contact their representatives to increase support throughout the state. And for those of us active in other groups, please keep them aware of our progress and encourage their lobbying on behave of this legislative effort.

Thank you to Del Tom Rust and his wonderful staff, to all of you who have been working to put together this project and for all the good faith that we can do this.

YOU can personally support this effort. by sending a supporting e-mail or note to Delegate Tom Rust to demonstrate wide public support for the bill.

His address is:

730 Elden St.
Herndon VA 20170