Know Your Madisonian: Amy Scanlon

Source: The Wisconsin State JournalOct.迷你倉 10--Preservation is Amy Scanlon's passion. The city's preservation planner moved to Madison two years ago with her husband, Dan, and two children after a 14-year run practicing preservation architecture in Philadelphia. In the wake of a lengthy fight over the Edgewater redevelopment, Scanlon has been instrumental in revising the city's landmarks ordinance and ensuring that Madison's historical buildings do not get lost in the redevelopment boom that the Isthmus has seen in recent years.Scanlon has a degree in architecture from Kansas State University and a master's degree in historic preservation from the University of Pennsylvania.Q: After such a long run in Philadelphia, what drew you and your family to Madison?A: Between Kansas State and Penn I spent a summer as an intern at Taliesen and we would come to Madison on the weekends for fun. I really enjoyed Madison as a city. It's a great place where you really felt connected to it even as a complete outsider. ... When I saw this position, having a family, and knowing that Madison schools are excellent, why wouldn't we come?Q: You worked for a long time practicing architecture in the private sector. What's drastically different about the your new role with the city?A: Coming here on one hand is exactly the same and on another hand is completely different. ... I have demanding clients. ... It's so completely different because I'm not a designer anymore. I'm not a project manager to that degree. I'm that bureaucrat and it's kind of scary now that I'm saying it out loud. ... I used to be the one going before the Landmarks Commission pleading the case for my client and now I'm on the other side of the desk. I've become that bureaucrat that isn't so bad because I think I bring that fairness of understanding the other side of the table.Q: Did you ever have bureaucrats who were really a pain to deal with back in the day?A: Of course. But I made a point that I would never be like them.Q: Did you buy an older home in Madison?A: Of course. We have a 1911 bungalow right th文件倉re in the Near West Side neighborhood. ... It has original windows, original wood floors, original unpainted woodwork. We looked at many houses that we walked away from because somebody had replaced the windows or done terrible things to the plaster. We lucked into this one.Q: That's quite a bit of extra work though, right?A: In Philadelphia we bought a house that was a tear-down and we didn't tear it down. Everything that we didn't toss in a Dumpster we restored. Having kids in that mix was very difficult and we promised each other that in this (Madison) house we would do smaller projects over a longer time frame because life was worth living here. We want to get out on the weekends to go watch my son play football and my daughter go to gymnastics -- and oh, by the way, we'll paint this weekend.Q: How would you assess Madison? Is the scale tilting toward developers or preservationists?A: Well, I don't think you pick one side or the other. I think preservation and development can go together if you choose to have them go together. In Philadelphia they went together all the time. The culture is a little bit different here but preservation and development can and should go hand in hand.Q: Is there void between preservationists and developers?A: I think preservation looks for development as a partner and I think it's those involved in development that might not see preservation as a partner. And I want to reach out to developers to show them that Longfellow (School) is a fantastic example of how preservation and new development can go together."Q: Is there a project you've overseen that you're most proud of?A: Not yet. There's some in the pipeline that if they turn out the right way, I will take full credit. ... If you were interviewing me in a year I might have a different answer. But for right now I'm just going to say I'm satisfied.--Interview by Jeff GlazeCopyright: ___ (c)2013 The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.) Visit The Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wis.) at .wisconsinstatejournal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services存倉