SOHO / March-April 2024 Newsletter
San Diego is at serious risk of losing the irreplaceable authenticity, architectural evolution, and unique character embodied in our historic homes, neighborhoods, heritage sites, and cultural landscapes. Not only is the City of San Diego starting to overhaul its Heritage Preservation Program, with some officials fallaciously assuming that preservation curtails affordable housing creation, City officials are also acting on these important issues without a clear economic picture to guide them. SOHO, together with preservation groups from around the city, are proposing a solution to this lack of data and far-reaching insights.
Recently hailed in the eNews article Neighborhood Historic Preservation Coalition Rebanded (see below), the coalition stands ready to combat the most serious threats in decades to San Diego’s preservation ordinance, heritage policies, even the Mills Act. The coalition is urging the Historical Resources Board to recommend and the City Council to then commission a citywide economic study and analysis of historic preservation, as other major cities have done to their ongoing benefit.
The coalition, which includes a dozen neighborhood preservation groups, has identified possible funding for a study of this scope and rigor in the city’s Historic Preservation Fund.
We invite you to read their strong, fact-filled letter, which formally requests the Historical Resources Board (HRB) to commission a study by PlaceEconomics to comprehensively analyze the impact of historic preservation on San Diego’s affordable housing, equity, and climate goals, utilizing the Historic Preservation Fund.
Neighborhood Historic Preservation Coalition Rebanded
The Neighborhood Historic Preservation Coalition (NHCP) is a network of community groups focused on the preservation of historic resources and community character in San Diego’s many older neighborhoods. After staying in the background for a while we are rebanding in response to the massive attacks against San Diego’s historic neighborhoods and the ongoing onslaught from anti-environmental, anti-preservation, pro-development interests under a pretense of increasing affordable housing.
The NHCP began as a collective effort spearheaded by Uptown organizations in response to the City of San Diego’s General Plan as they noted a risk to more than half of Uptown’s properties. Consequently, they swiftly adapted to include all historically significant communities under our protective umbrella.
Affordable housing and historic preservation, especially when adaptive reuse is employed, go hand in hand. We fully support adding local housing options for the growing thousands of homeless and near-homeless individuals and families, meanwhile injecting new life into old and historic buildings and neighborhoods.
How can you get involved? If your organization is not yet a part of NHPC and would like to be included please reach out by email at SOHOsandiego@aol.com. And don’t forget to support your neighborhood group and SOHO.
- Golden Hill & South Park Historical Society
- Heart of Kensington
- Historic Kensington
- La Jolla Historical Society
- Mission Hills Heritage
- North Park Historical Society
- Ocean Beach Historical Society
- San Diego LGBTQ Historic Sites Project
- Save Our Heritage Organisation
- Talmadge Historical Society
- University Heights Historical Society
We look forward to hearing from you. Thank you!
Then vote mayor Todd and incumbents out.
The reason the City of San Diego is overhauling its heritage preservation program is because its historic preservation regulations started functioning as exclusionary zoning; zoning that has roots in racial and class exclusion and remains among the largest obstacles to realizing San Diego’s goals for equity and affordability.
The Ocean Beach Historical Society (and all the other groups) serve as a bulwark against San Diego turning into a city without a soul. Look at the world class cities around the world – each has several unique and precious neighborhoods – fiercely defended by its citizens. Examples – New Orleans, Charleston, SC, Philadelphia.
It seems the city leaders would like to rip out what helps keep San Diego unique – with lots of charm and appeal. Tourists don’t come here to see a bland and boring town.
Tessa, those cities you listed are ALSO overhauling their heritage preservation programs because their programs had started functioning as exclusionary zoning. The City of San Diego, by overhauling its heritage preservation program, is showing that it DOES have a soul.
Historical preservation has the word ‘preserve’ right there in it’s title Marc. San Diego has a tremendous soul.
By contrast, “the City” does nothing but make every attempt to sell that soul.
I would say Old Town is an exclusionary zone by design right? That’s how we “preserve” our history Marc. San Diegans stans in the way of the profit motive for relocated opportunists that care nothing about our rich history, traditions, and our character.
Mateo, residents of historic neighborhoods across the City of San Diego tend to be wealthier, more educated, and more likely to be white, as are those who support designation of historic neighborhoods. Historically, their voice has been more privileged in the preservation ?process. That’s why an overhaul (not an elimination) of San Diego’s heritage preservation program is needed. And such an overhaul would be consistent with current best practices implemented by other major US cities.
It is disingenuous to refer to this systematic attack on the preservation of San Diego’s history an “overhaul”. The status quo drumming up a bull s#@*t narative that somehow the Mayor and the City Council are nobley righting the redlining housing policies of 80 years ago, when in fact the overpriced high density rentals are pepetuating them while emptying our ghettos. Luxury apartments are the Reliningist Redlining there is. Dumping overpriced rentals on the market by the thosands is the direct CAUSE OF HOMELESSNESS!
The reality is that once again City leaders seek to gut and eliminate protections that were put in place by wiser San Diegan’s them. Vilifying locals and legislatively attacking and eroding the character and history leaders is a tactic to detach San Diegans from our roots and identity to carve out more failed Build-to-Rent policies rusultng in massive high desnsity development to continue to hyper gentrify and raise rents exponentially each month.
And truth be told if you grew up here you’d realize that the populous in this City made monumental strides against Jim Crowe that desrve praise.SDPD, began hiring black officers in 1917, Johnny Ritchey became “the Jackie Robinson of the West Coast” by breaking the Pacific Coast League’s color barrier in 1948 while playing for the Padres. His debut came just one year after Jackie Robinson broke the major league color barrier with the Brooklyn Dodgers. While racism existed and continues to exist everywhere; those that grew up in this city know that the vast majority of San Diegans, made some nole efforts to foster tolerance and inclusion. Buid-to-Rent is a failure and High Density Luxury apartments are “exclusive” not inclusive.
Check out “The National Trust for Historic Preservation”.
I’ve been a member for a long time.
You may view it as “exclusionary”. I view it as in pitched battles
to save old treasures – in essence, the character of our country.
Tall, ugly boxes that cram people in a small space, with no parking – taking the place of lovely neighborhoods, seems like a bad trade-off to me.
And why would you trust the city’s word, given its track record?
Thank you Tessa, you’re right. This is just another veiled hyper-gentrification land grab. And the status quo must vilify, denegrate and discredit San Diegans so they are deploying the 80 year old racism card now, as the “housing crisis” narrative has all but lost steam. Wouldn’t it be nice if City Council and the Mayor’s office diverted attention to fixing the overwhelming multiplicity of infrastructure problems we currently endure everyday instead of brokering profitable hyper-gentrifying real estate deals on the public’s dole?
Californians know that there are hundreds of thousands of vacant overpriced apartment units throughout every city in this state and there is no such thing as a “rental housing shortage” in this state. Especially considering our population contracting for 3 years straight, following 2 years of 0 net growth prior to that.