(Pictures Courtesy of the O.C. Register)
Remember that old house that developer Mike Harrah moved so he could make way for his One Broadway Plaza Tower that will never, ever be built? It was a historic home, pictured above. The agreement that the City of Santa Ana reached with Harrah was that he would take care of the house, then relocate it to Cabrillo Park, where he would restore it for use as a tennis center.
Well, he did. But then someone told him to paint it green. See the picture below. What a revolting development! Click here to read the O.C. Register’s story about this.
So what do the Santa Ana city officials who made this awful decision have to say about this?
The new green paint “is bright,” City Manager David Ream said. “But I think it’ll soften up pretty quickly over time.”
“Hopefully, people will get used to it,” parks director Gerardo Mouet said.
Nice…I guess they are saying “don’t worry we used cheap paint and it is bound to fade.”
Why should we ‘get used to it’? Hell, the city residents paid for it to be painted.
What a bunch of idiots….I wonder who approved the color. Again, the city at it’s finest work!
Once the landscaping is finished (the city is micro managing that too) It all may blend nicely, the area is very green with tress, lawns and shrubs. Now it just stands out.
Cook,
If a Santa Ana home owner did this the city would come down on him like the wrath of God…
I think that green is Mr. Harrah’s signature color; most of the buildings he owns have it somewhere on their exterior. And I have a vague recollection that the Development Agreement for One Broadway specifically excluded that color from being used.
Numerous Santa Ana residents that live in homes designated as historical like the home in question can not make repairs to their homes based on the high cost required by the historic home requierments.
One resident by Santa Ana High pointed out to me a damaged window responsible for his family suffering of cold winter drafts.
He stated he could fix the window as other residents can with homes not designated historic for under $100.
His home being historic , he has to follow historical home requirements that the city approves for permission to repair. To repair the window, as the city of Santa Ana demands, the cost is around $400-$600.
Similar high cost are for other types of repairs to these homes. These residents say they understand the objective is to price them out of the ability to repair their homes, lower their quality of life to the point of having them move out of the historic home area and out of the city.
They say they will not get pushed out and if necessary suffer through the forced squalor of their homes in degience.
They point out that the reason for the bad appearance of some homes in the city is for this reason.
Apparently the Historical registry requirements for repair of these homes do not apply across the board.
The Historical Society is concerned but the city leaders are not. Why is that?
Art, I think you may be getting only half the story. If your friend has a house with Mills Act protection (and getting it is a very simple process), there should be a significant savings on property tax; more than enough to cover a $600 window repair bill. That being said, I can’t imagine what kind of repair would cost even $400… what exactly is wrong with that window?
To my knowledge (and I spent 8 years on the City’s Historic Resources Commission), the only districts that have the hightened scrutiny that would result in redtagging a replacement window are French Park and Heninger Park… and both those districts have residents that would fall all over themselves to offer help to a fellow-resident that wanted to repair a window rather than replace it.
Paul
Paul,
Thank you for the information. I believe that the problem is more of a lack of informative resources for the residents I mention.
A percieved reason for a $400 repair qoute is selective misinformation by city officials for sinister motives.
For the benefit of all concerned a Historical Society and city effort to get information like you mentioned to residents lacking resources should be undertaken.
Why this does not happen is what drives the perception.
Now, for whatever reasons, and many have them- real or not, a division occurs within neighborhoods and anger drives unnecessary actions by city government.
Just to be clear, the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society is not involved with Mills Act programs, or neighborhood historic designations. These are all done through the City. And Paul is absolutely correct that the restrictions imposed by those programs are not overly expensive and have advantages to the homeowner. These are good programs for neighborhoods, homeowners and the preservation community, as they provide tax incentives, instill pride in the community, and improve property values. Art, I totally agree that there is a lot of mis-information and lack of communication that leads to these divisions, and know that the Historic Resources Commission has done a lot of work to try to bridge that gap. Unfortunately, it looks like the HRC will now be eliminated by the City–this is a real crime in my opinion.
As far as cost of historic materials, SAHPS actually has occasional sales of our stock of items we have salvaged from historic properties (like doors, windows, baseboards, etc)–all at extremely low cost, to keep them within the reach of the community. You can visit our website (santaanahistory.com) to contact us and ask questions about salvage or find out more about the history of the city.
Back to the situation with the Twist-Basler House, although it is amusing to focus on the bad choice of color for the structure, SAHPS has more concern that the developer was allowed to use cheap plastic windows and other shortcuts, and that concern was the focus of our letter to the City. We just mentioned the color in passing. After all of the grassroots work we did with the community to try and stop Mr Harrah’s 37-story monstrosity, we are disgusted that he is not even being held to agreements to do an historically accurate job on the building that was moved.
Regardless of feelings about historic preservation, this building belongs to the residents of the city, and should be restored to the highest standards. That was part of the agreement, in exchange for allowing the developer to move ahead with his project.
Santa Ana government imposing improvement requirements through neighborhood historic designations then selectively giving out good information, selectively giving out misinformation and selectively enforcing their code laws to politically manipulate it’s residents in my opinion is criminal.
Santa Ana government imposing improvement requirements through neighborhood historic designations then selectively giving out good information, selectively giving out misinformation and selectively enforcing their code laws to politically manipulate it’s residents in my opinion is criminal.
Art, I’m having a little trouble understanding where this information is coming from.
>A percieved reason for a $400 repair qoute is
>selective misinformation by city officials for
>sinister motives.
Did some City employee tell this resident that it would cost $400 to repair his window? If so, please put this citizen in touch with me; giving contracting quotes is not in the job description for City staff.
If that’s not what you’re addressing, exactly what ‘selective misinformation’ are you aware of?
Alison Young, SAHPS President,
Welcome to our community posting group at OJ. We appreciate your input and your observations on an important issue. If you want us to post your letter to the city, please feel free to do so or send it to Art Pedroza or myself @ rvixen@gmail.com. I admire your courage and your dedication to our city of Santa Ana. You are a leader.
–Rv
Paul,
I am addressing that some residents know about financial resources and accessing tax credits but others do not.
When some residents ask for permits for repairs they are told about the improvement requirements,given repair referrals where they can obtain the materials required, but nothing about financial resources and tax credits to make up the cost.
At the permit phase with the city they are told it will be expensive to do . More expensive than if their home was not a neighborhood historic designated home.
This is what I mean about selective. The Hispanic home owners with historic designated homes are not aware of resources and tax credits.
I mean selective when due to financial issues they can not make repairs to code but others like those responsible for this relocated home mentioned on this thread make repairs not as the city ordinance requires.
This qualifies as misinformation. That is, you need to do code repairs but then find out that others do not have to do code repairs and those that enforce the laws and other residents are OK with it. Not that YOU are OK with it.
How do you and others know of repair resources and tax credits?
Also private contractors when asked for a estimate using the code requirements give costly estimates.
The $400-$600 estimate was based on the need to replace a small bedroom size old vintage type slide up window and frame to the same material standards as the original and the need to contract with a company with expertise with these types of repairs. These were city requirements stated to him.
The residents I mention then associate this with the city neighborhood historic designation placed on their property to make home improvements difficult and perceive this a method for displacement.
Paul,
Why was Heninger Park declared a historic neighborhood while Floral Park is not designated as such?
The residents of Heninger Park should sue the city for doing this to them. There is nothing historical about Heninger Park – they got that label as part of Dave Ream’s gentrification program.
Historical resources are of value, but in Santa Ana these laws are used to screw the working poor more often than not.
Heninger Park, like French Park, was designated because residents documented the percentage of architecturally significant structures, prepared the application, and asked the City for the designation. Floral Park –while there has been a lot of discussion– hasn’t asked for the designation.
Paul,
That is what I thought. Not cool. I have no problem with a home owner designating his own him as historic, but doing this to all your neighbors?
How many folks in the neighborhoods you mentioned even want this designation? It forces working families to spend a fortune to make repairs to their homes.
No wonder the Floral Park crowd doesn’t want this designation…
That is a breathtakingly gawdawful color.
The developer cheating the city out of his obligations should be addressed by the city managers, if they had any stones.
Maybe the cheap windows and the color were Mike Harrah’s way of saying F-U for all the opposition generated against his developments? It’s got that appearance.
Art,
I thoght we have a democracy in this country.
How can a few place ordinances on many. Did all residents affected by the historic designation have a vote on this matter?
Is this the same action taken by a few residents and approved by city government as the French Park street barrier.
In the French Park barrier case some resident votes were excluded for consideration of the street barriers and later the courts rejected the ordinance based on improper voter manipulation.
can anybody tell me where i can purchase WIMBLEDON GREEN paint? I have the perfect job for it.