Landmarks Illinois places Illinois Main Street on its Ten Most Endangered List

Last week Landmarks Illinois (the statewide preservation organization I headed for a while when the organization was called Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois) placed the Illinois Main Street program on its Ten Most Endangered List.   See that announcement  here. http://www.landmarks.org/ten_most_2010_c.htm 

Illinois Main Street staff has been reduced to one person and the program has been suspended from the National Main Street Center as a coordinating program until the situation turns around. There are now 70 local Main Street programs in the state.

This is the second time the Illinois Main Street program has experienced staff and budget cuts. The first time this happened in 2002 I was state coordinator. I wrote about this experience in Main Street News. Here are the two articles. msnews-2005-01 Main Street Advocacy

This is deja vu, of the saddest kind.