Why preserve our heritage, when we can profit from it it?

Let the sale in New York City of the White photographs be a wake-up call to local folks who assumed, like I did, that the local historical society is being run by people who always make good decisions. It is not.

But this catastrophe at least opened new vistas for government and quasi-government fund-raisers. Now that the Historical Society has discovered this novel way in which to make money, namely selling valuable items from the community's heritage, one might expect them next to sell the Webb House. This would be really big bucks for historians to use "to collect and preserve, or encourage the preservation of, all that pertains to the social, political, educational, agricultural, industrial, and archaeological history of the ... County," as is their mission.

If that works out for the Historical Society, its deciders might find even more profits by developing condos along the rim of Sixth Street Park.

Maybe the idea will catch on and the city could find paving money by selling off the Courthouse lawn for permanent shanties as rentals to itinerant merchants.

Then the state might awaken to the potential wealth of Newark Earthworks. Sell the buggers. California might buy them and if not, China would. Ship them out of here because, after all, it's only our local heritage - and what's that, compared to money?