{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-1994-10-08-pt1-PgE28", "1994-10-08", 103, 2, null, null, "A VICTORY FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION", "HOUSE", "EXTENSIONS", "FRONTMATTER", "E", "E", "[{\"name\": \"Michael Andrews\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "140 Cong. Rec. E", "Congressional Record, Volume 140 Issue 146 (Saturday, October 8, 1994)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 146 (Saturday, October 8, 1994)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Page E]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n[Congressional Record: October 8, 1994]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]\n\n                  A VICTORY FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION\n\n                                 ______\n\n                        HON. MICHAEL A. ANDREWS\n\n                                of texas\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                        Friday, October 7, 1994\n\n  Mr. ANDREWS of Texas. Mr. Speaker, last week the Walt Disney Co.\nannounced its intention to withdraw its proposal for a $650 million\ntheme park and real estate development adjacent to the Manassas\nNational Battlefield Park. I am extremely pleased with Disney's\ndecision, for I believe it shows great responsibility and respect for\nthe historic northern Piedmont area of Virginia, and I commend the\ncompany on its courage to make the right choice.\n  Mr. Speaker, I also want to take this time to applaud the efforts of\nthe many individuals and organizations who participated in the effort\nto persuade Disney to find a more appropriate location, one that will\nnot destroy lands of such historical significance.\n  I also want to reiterate that my efforts to oppose the location of\nthe proposed theme park were never anti-Disney. It is certainly\nDisney's right to construct an American history park. The battle I\nfought was to preserve historic lands. There is more American history\nin the northern Piedmont area than any other place in the United\nStates. It is also home to two of the gems of our National Park System,\nManassas National Battlefield Park and Shenandoah National Park. It\nsimply would have been a travesty to locate such a massive development\nin this area.\n  Today, Mr. Speaker, our forefathers that settled this area and made\nhistory there--great figures like George Washington, James Madison,\nJames Monroe, Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson--would find the heart\nof Virginia much as they left it. Although the area has seen\ndevelopment, for the most part it has been thoughtfully progressive and\nmindful of the historic and aesthetic significance of the region. It is\na special place that includes 38 historic districts and 32 Civil War\nbattlefields. This is an area where our Nation was forged from the\nearly days of the American Revolution through the Civil War.\n  It is also home to two of the most precious gems of our National Park\nSystem: Manassas National Battlefield Park and Shenandoah National\nPark. The impact to these parks under Disney's proposal would have been\ndevastating.\n  The Manassas National Battlefield Park and Shenandoah National Park\nare the property of all Americans, not solely for the people of\nVirginia; no more than Mount Rushmore belongs only to the people of\nSouth Dakota or the Grand Canyon to the citizens of Arizona. They are\npublic lands that belong to all Americans. That is why I felt the\nFederal Government, and the U.S. Congress, has an important role to\nplay in this matter, and that is why I introduced a concurrent\nresolution opposing the proposed site of the development and calling\nfor an alternative site to be chosen.\n  This victory is one for all Americans. Our Nation's history is a full\nand proud one which has served to strengthen our democratic ideals. The\nsignificant struggles that mark our history remind us of what others\nhave endured to preserve and maintain those ideals, and they charge us\nwith the same task. Once National Parks and historic lands are\ndestroyed, they cannot be rebuilt. To turn a blind eye to devastation\nof such lands would have been to turn a blind eye on the history of our\ngreat country.\n  Mr. Speaker, this battle was won because of the tremendous\ngroundswell of support for the cause of preservation. During the past\nfew months, almost every major newspaper and well-known columnist has\nwritten on this issue. I believe that the following piece, from The New\nYork Times, provides an appropriate final opinion on the fight to\npreserve the historic Piedmont area, and I ask unanimous consent that\nit be placed in the Record immediately following my statement.\n\n               [From the New York Times, Sept. 30, 1994]\n\n                      Disney Retreats at Bull Run\n\n       Historians, writers and ordinary citizens won a victory for\n     the national heritage on Wednesday. The Walt Disney Company\n     abandoned the most irresponsible idea ever hatched in the\n     Magic Kingdom and decided not to build a theme park near the\n     Manassas Battlefield in Prince William County, Virginia.\n       More than the fate of the battlefields of Manassas, or Bull\n     Run, was involved, ``Disney's America'' would have flooded\n     one of America's most historic and scenic regions, including\n     the nearby Shenandoah National Park, with traffic and tacky\n     development. In response to the threat to these national\n     treasures, a large, articulate coalition defeated one of the\n     country's richest corporations and its boosters in Virginia's\n     Statehouse and Legislature.\n       The Walt Disney Company had recently won two important\n     battles. The county's planning board had agreed to the\n     necessary rezoning for the project, and the regional\n     transportation panel had approved $130 million in road\n     improvements. But the company concluded that the outrage\n     generated by the proposed project would mar Disney's image.\n     It was a wise decision, but a tardy one, given the scale and\n     stature of the opposition.\n       There may have been other factors. Power struggles at the\n     top of the company have dented its confidence. EuroDisney,\n     its Paris project, has been a huge miscalculation. The last\n     thing Disney needed was a bruising and protracted public\n     relations battle against the nation's most respected writers\n     and thinkers on the Civil War.\n       Disney did not expect such a struggle. Gov. George Allen\n     was on their side and a mindlessly generous Legislature was\n     willing to pay millions in development expenses. What they\n     did not reckon with was the passionate nationwide outcry that\n     carried a clear message. The Manassas country-side is not\n     Virginia's to sell. It belongs to the nation.\n       Congress now needs to pass legislation designating a new\n     kind of preservation area--the National Historic Region--that\n     would enable it to control development in areas that are\n     precious to the nation.\n       Along with proving the power of organized, articulate\n     opposition to a bad idea, the intellectuals,\n     environmentalists, preservationists and ordinary citizens who\n     fought the project proved something else. Michael Eisner,\n     Disney's chairman, argued that Americans were ignorant about\n     their history and needed Disney-style fun to teach them. As\n     the historian David McCullough has pointed out, this episode\n     has shown that Americans do know their history and care about\n     ground made sacred by what occurred there.\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-1994-10-08-pt1-PgE28"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.8483019191771746, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}