Since 1982, the Arizona Preservation Foundation and Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (a division of Arizona State Parks) have partnered to present the Governor’s Heritage Preservation Awards. These awards recognize people, organizations, and projects that represent outstanding achievements in preserving Arizona’s prehistoric and historic resources.
The Grand Award winner is announced at the annual Arizona Statewide Historic Preservation Conference awards luncheon which took place last Friday, May 14th, in Flagstaff.
Arizona Heritage Alliance’s Vice-President, Jim McPherson, took home the grand prize award as the top Preservation Advocate. McPherson is Assistant Vice-President for Public Affairs for the Flinn Foundation, managing all of the Foundation’s day-to-day public affairs and community relations activities. Also, as a historic preservation advocate, he serves on the Board of the Arizona Preservation Foundation and the Downtown Voices Coalition.
Our Governor and the Republican Legislature have completely failed in their fiduciary responsibilities to protect the assets of our great state. Along with the cities and some of the counties they have sacrificed what made this state great in the mindless quest for growth at any cost. Paving over the beautiful desert to make out of state developers obscenely wealthy at the expense of our heritage.
Their incompetence in protecting our assets borders on the criminal, ignoring the State Constitution and sacking voter created enterprises like the Heritage Fund to avoid taking the responsibilities for which yhey were elected. They are leading our State to ruin.
I urge everyone to remember those who abrogated their sworn responsibilities and vote against them whether they are running for reelection or just switching from one branch of the Legislature to the other to get around term limits.
I would like to congratulate the Heritage Alliance leaders in receiving the recognition they so rightly deserve, and further to thank them for leading us in trying to protect our parks, heritage sites, Az Game and Fish and public lands from the ravages allowed by our elected officials. They are selling out the citizens of this state!
Thank you Heritage Alliance for all you do for us.