San Diego's Glut of Historic Buildings
Posted by: Barry Jantz | 03/20/2008 12:07 PM
The Grand Jury says the city's tax base is lessened by the huge number of historic buildings. Read the SDBJ article.
The impact on the tax base is not really my bone to pick. But, can a building really be historic when it was built after my parents were born? The preservationists used to be dismayed at my questioning in La Mesa about "historic" structures built during WWII.
In Europe, they would laugh at us for what we consider to be historic -- age wise. Heck, they would probably laugh at us on the East Coast.
I guess I'm simply a neanderthal.
CATEGORY:
San Diego Media, San Diego Politics
It was one of my greatest pleasures when working with Lee Atwater in Senator Thurmonds reelection campaign race...
NIMBYs use the Historic Resources tag as a means to restrict growth. It infringes on property rights and prevents infill and redevelopment. Seems to me if the government is going to restrict what you can do with your property, paying lower taxes is only fair. I have socks that are older than some of the buildings on their list.
sniff sniff.
I smell the potiential to pick off an incumbant city councilman in two years if this is played right.
Barry's on to something. Here in La Mesa, we have one of the highest percentages of homes covered under the Mills Act (perhaps more than San Diego, maybe Barry knows). I am all for preservation, and am even more for individual responsibility. Is it fair to subsidize some homeowners who live in "older, but not really that old" homes at the expense of others? Could this be adding to the city's $2+ million dollar budget shortfall?
I was refering to this U-T article
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20080320-9999-1m20mills.html