Post #303814 by Swanky on Thu, May 3, 2007 1:03 PM

What you are talking about is a property rights issue. Historical protection means that the owner of a property no longer has the free right to change that property. This is good if you want to see a building remain looking as it has for historical and or sentimental reasons. But it sucks if you own the property and you really feel like the way it looks is a negative and you'd like to change it. It also stinks if you simply want to replace the old windows with something modern and then find out you don't get to pick, someone else decides what windows you can replace them with.

It would also prevent the owners of the Mai Kai, the original family still, from ever remodeling the place they built. It would mean someone else decided how the building should look.

There are a lot of good reasons to do this. Maintaining the character of a neighborhood is important. But it is a tricky balancing act. And putting a place on a historic register against the wishes of the owner is obviously a conflict.

I am for it in most regards. Regrettably, most conservancies don't recognize anything under 100 years old as valuable around here.