Website to be feted by preservationists

The Rauch Foundation’s Build a Better Burb website is to receive an award for “excellence in historic preservation” from the Preservation League of New York State at a gala next week.

The Build a Better Burb website — buildabetterburb.org — was cited by the league for its efforts at getting “ordinary people to imagine more vibrant and sustainable communities on Long Island,” Jay DiLorenzo, president of the Preservation League, said in a statement. “We hope that the site can serve as a model for other communities around the state and nation, and are pleased to honor the exemplary work of the Rauch Foundation and the Long Island Index,” he said. The Rauch Foundation publishes the Long Island Index annually. The website was a recent project of the Index.

The website offers advice on how to preserve streetscapes and reuse historic buildings to provide new types of housing, showing examples all across the country. Key areas explored include housing, transit and regional planning.

“Long Island will only be a region that creates a home for future generations and a reinvigorated economy if we are willing to be bold — to try what we haven’t tried before and most importantly, to learn from our past,” said Nancy Rauch Douzinas, Rauch Foundation president.

The award is be presented at the Preservation League’s annual meeting and awards ceremony at 6 p.m. on May 16, at the New York Yacht Club in Manhattan.