Preservation or Possession? When Watchdogs Become Gatekeepers

Part IV of an essay sent in to FFFF.

At present, Fullerton Heritage is applying to place historic preservation layers over four neighborhoods. While we heartily dislike SB 330 and SB 9, our experience with the local players has been negative. There are enough unpleasant memories that we wish we could assign to the scrap bin. But Fullerton Heritage members have been intrusive and confrontational in Skyline Park over things they don’t like. It is hard to shake when you are attacked at your own house. Especially when the neighborhood has never had a historic preservation layer over it, and where all the neighbors have done their best.

FOR A BAR, THE DRINKS COULD BE STRONGER: BOOHOOISM AMONG THE SELF-APPOINTED TASTE ARBITERS

Homeowners without HOAʻs assume they will make their own choices and not hassle with those who think they know better. While Fullerton Heritage isn’t an HOA, some of its members mimic one even if a neighborhood doesn’t fall within their scope.

Heritage proponents have given unsolicited opinions on everything from windows, gardens, and house colors. But their opinions aren’t necessarily rooted in the rules set forth by the city. They like to make stuff up, inferring there are rules in areas where there are none. A Fullerton Heritage board member, even made up a rule about painted bricks and unsuccessfully tried to use it against her neighbor. That this was a neighborhood without a preservation layer, and that the house was built in the mid-1960’s made no difference to her. She just wanted the power to stop her elderly neighbor from painting his fake brick facade. Fortunately, she failed (the house looks great). But it was not her first grab for authority. Many years ago, she took photos of neighborhood homes without the owner’s consent and ran away when people tried to ask who she was. They found she’d had free reign of the FH website and posted rando things about many of the homes. (They were later taken down). But make no mistake: Their lack of boundaries will be your problem, too.

At their worst, a call was made to city planning to complain about new windows, already installed in a house that was in the process of remodeling. Never mind that the city approved the work a year earlier. The city issued a stop-work anyway. The Boohoo-Who didn’t want to accept that the city allows for new energy-efficient double pane windows, and no one (except for someone applying for the Mill’s Act -but that’s another tangled story) is beholden to single-pane wood windows. Replacement metal, vinyl, aluminum clad or composite double-pane windows, with or without grids are allowed. These have all been approved, installed, and scarcely noticed by neighbors already. It’s an environmentally mindful push past the battle cry for wood windows by Fullerton Heritage members with a personal preference.

But we also got the impression of a too-close relationship between the City and Fullerton Heritage. When asked why the stop order work was issued, the city couldn’t say why. But that a Boohoo-Who had the power to bring an approved project to a halt is a forewarning that with this group, there is no discussion.

Just recently, their president tried to shut down dissent at an informational meeting. It was next level assholery, but it was on par with the scolding from another FH member who admonished anyone who disagreed with her. Is this a bar or a high school? Did they really think they could have a meeting about other people’s homes without push back? This seems like a group from an era where people were expected to get along by going along. If they’ve spent any time listening or talking with the younger generations, they’d know that the world doesn’t work that way anymore.