Here is the web site to vote: http://www.partnersinpreservation.com/ From today's San Francisco Chronicle (09-19-06) BAY AREA Historic sites up for funding -- if they get votes Web election pits contestants like Pigeon Point, old streetcar - Carl Nolte, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, September 19, 2006 The future is coming to help the past in a new program that will supply financial assistance to 25 Bay Area historical treasures in a unique approach announced Monday in San Francisco. The program -- jointly sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and American Express -- comes with a wrinkle. Bay Area residents can vote for worthy projects in an online election right out of the popular "American Idol" television show. The winning projects get to divide $1 million in cash grants. The candidates range from neon signs and streetlights to help brighten San Francisco's Tenderloin area to repairs at the town hall in the rural village of Tomales in western Marin County. The idea of online voting for historic funding has never been used before, said David Brown, executive vice president of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The idea is straight out of "American Idol," the television show where viewers get to pick artists they like. Online voting can be done at any computer or at kiosks at Peet's coffee outlets around the Bay Area. Anyone can vote once a day. "This is not Chicago,'' Brown said, "but vote early and vote often.'' Polling started Monday at www.partnersinpreservation .com and runs through Oct. 31. Brown said the online voting gives organizations a chance to put their messages before the public and also gauges popular support for various causes. The top vote-getter is guaranteed funding, but exactly how the $1 million pie will be cut up hasn't been determined. The final decision will be made by a panel of experts -- prominent people in the fundraising business. The panel will be chaired by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. The panel will weigh both the votes a project gets and the need, Brown said. The 25 candidates -- winnowed from a list of 100 selected by the National Trust and American Express -- include such familiar names as the Pigeon Point Light Station on the San Mateo Coast and the Angel Island Immigration Station as well as such lesser-known landmarks as the Moon Viewing House at Hakone Gardens in Saratoga and the Cleveland Cascade Park, an elaborate cascading fountain in Oakland. One rolling landmark is on the ballot: old No. 798, a streetcar built in San Francisco for the Market Street Railway. "Some of these treasures have been forgotten for years and decades,'' said Alfred Kelly, group president of American Express. He said the Bay Area was "a natural choice'" for the company's first foray into a trust partnership program in part because of its history and in part because it is a hotbed of technology, which makes voting simpler. --------------------------------- On the list San Francisco -- Bayview Opera House -- Fallon Building -- Haas-Lilienthal House -- Japanese YWCA building Market Street Railway car 798 -- Murphy Windmill -- Roxie Film Center -- Spreckels Temple of Music Tenderloin neon sign and facade project Alameda County -- Berkeley City Club -- Cleveland Cascade Park First Christian Science Church (Berkeley) -- Fox Oakland Theater -- Tilden Park carousel Contra Costa County -- Richmond Natatorium -- Maritime Child Care Center Marin County Angel Island Immigration Station -- Lyford House (Tiburon) -- Outdoor Art Club (Mill Valley) -- Tomales Town Hall San Mateo County -- Old county courthouse -- Pigeon Point Light Station Santa Clara County -- Casa Grande (San Jose) Hakone Gardens (Saratoga) Solano County St. Peter's Chapel (Mare Island) E-mail Carl Nolte at [email protected] Page B - 1 URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/19/BAGQ1L89AF1.DTL George --------------------------------- Get your email and more, right on the new Yahoo.com