On February 7, Gov. Rick Perry eliminated all funding in the Texas budget for the Texas Historical Commission. In doing so, this new budget cut will eliminate up to 80% of funding that backs historical sites making it extremely difficult to keep up with preservation strategies.
While its true that the government is facing tough budgeting decisions, it would be a mistake to cut the budgeting backing the historical commission.
The mission of the Heritage Society of Austin is to preserve historical sites and keep Austin from turning into a city full of skyscrapers and high rises. If there was no one working to preserve all of these sites, where would we be today? We would be living in a city with many fewer signs of what Austin used to be and to many people still is - a city rich with history.
Have you ever heard of the Driskill Hotel?? I bet you didn't know that the Heritage Society of Austin raised money to save the Driskill way back when they were trying to tear it down....pretty cool, huh?
The history of our city really is an exciting thing if you take the time to appreciate it.
For more information on the Heritage Society, please visit http://www.heritagesocietyaustin.org/.
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