Southern California Flunks History Test

"The Los Angeles Conservancy handed out grades of F to 44 cities -— including nearly a dozen of the county's wealthiest enclaves -— that allegedly have failed to protect historic structures. But some outraged municipalities responded by accusing the conservation group itself of failure to understand how preservation initiatives are being conducted in modern neighborhoods across the county...Residents of the 'failing' cities should be embarrassed enough to begin pressuring local officials to adopt landmark-protection ordinances, leaders of the 25-year-old conservancy said." The group examined local historic landmark ordinances and districts, property tax incentives for preservation, and whether cities "had conducted historic architectural resources surveys and had historic preservation officers or commissions." Said one city leader: "It's odd we'd get an F. We're a master planned community that wasn't even incorporated until 1981. We don't have a historic ordinance because there's nothing old here."

Thanks to David Gest