![\"kensington](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/kensington-sign.jpg\" "\\"kensington")
<\/a>When Kensington Talmadge Community Association President Harold Koenig e-mailed the city in April to discuss the status of the Kensington sign, he didn\u2019t mince his words.\nCalling the historic Kensington sign a \u201cpublic nuisance,\u201d Koenig claimed that due to the presence of lead and PCBs, the beloved neighborhood sign \u2013 which no longer spans Adams Avenue \u2013 was now \u201cunsafe, a distinct hazard \u2026 an imminent threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his April 7 e-mail to City Councilman Todd Gloria\u2019s representative Dion Akers, Koenig made another appeal to the city to approve the construction permits for a replacement sign that KTCA had applied for. Koenig claimed that not only was the original sign toxic, it was also dangerous, because the support poles and cables, and the sign\u2019s frame, had deteriorated to the point of posing a hazard.<\/p>\n
Koenig went on to stress that the 2007 California Historical Building Code allowed for a historic structure like a sign to be \u201creplicated\u201d if the original fell under these categories. He hammered in the point by referencing two structural engineering reports that claimed the sign \u201ccould not be retrofitted and made safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Koenig closed his email to Akers by informing him that \u201ctime is growing short. The one-year extension of our grant we got from the County will expire in November. That extension requires we have the project completed by then or return the money.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those who oppose Koenig\u2019s plan claim it is this county money, and not the community\u2019s safety, that he is really concerned about.
\nPreservation architect David Marshall said Koenig and the KTCA have \u201cliterally held the sign hostage as they try to ram only their design down the throats of the community\u201d in time to take advantage of the county grant and hand the business to Fluoresco Lighting and Sign Company. The Kensington sign now sits in pieces at the Fluoresco plant in Spring Valley, where it has been for the last eight months.<\/p>\n
Following a June 10 meeting of the Kensington-Talmage Planning Group, and a subsequent story that appeared in the last issue of the Uptown News, those on the side of preserving the original sign have accused Koenig of deceiving the residents of Kensington about the facts surrounding the sign\u2019s condition and ability to be repaired. They claim Koenig is simply pushing a scare campaign to get his way, and that the sign is not a danger and can in fact be restored, safely and legally, to its former glory.<\/p>\n
At the planning group meeting, it was revealed that, despite his repeated claims of lead toxicity, Koenig had never actually tested the sign for lead content. When asked about the inconsistency, Louise Guarnotta, a KTCA board member, said that at the time of the meeting the sign had not been tested for lead and conceded that some information given out was wrong. It was \u201cpresumed\u201d that lead was in the paint because \u201call paint from the 1950s contained lead,\u201d she said. Guarnotta went on to state that subsequent to the June 10 planning group meeting, Koenig did have the sign tested for lead and that \u201cthe sign contains 9 times the level of lead that the government allows.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maggie McCann, a Kensington resident who favors restoring the old sign, said the discovery of lead in the sign shouldn\u2019t prevent it from being refurbished. \u201cRegardless of any lead content,\u201d said McCann, \u201cthe EPA\u2019s standard for stabilizing lead paint is to seal it or paint over it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lead paint issue is a non-issue,\u201d said Bruce Coons of the Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO). \u201cWorse, it\u2019s a red herring issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Koenig, however, strongly disagrees. In a recent interview, he said that city ordinances and the Consumer Product Safety Commission clearly prohibit that amount of lead in public areas. \u201cWe\u2019ve spent the last 40 years trying to reduce lead in our environment,\u201d said Koenig, a pediatrician who has dealt with lead poisoning in children. The paint was flaking off the old sign, in an area near a park where children play, he said. \u201cPainting it over is not an option,\u201d Koenig said. \u201cWe\u2019re just trying to do the right thing. We\u2019re trying to protect people.\u201d<\/p>\n
The sign\u2019s symbolic toxicity, as well, seems far from resolved, as another incendiary issue has arisen which has kept the opposing sides at each other\u2019s throats.
\nThe replacement design that is favored by Koenig and the community association calls for the sign to be mounted on steel trusses that would sit atop poles on either side of Adams Avenue.
\n\u201cKoenig refused to change the design from his truss (design) to the cables because he claimed that you can\u2019t use cables per the building code because cables would be dangerous,\u201d said architect Marshall. \u201cBoth of these arguments were completely disproven at the (planning group) meeting by the only structural engineer in the room, Jim Miller. Even a subsequent conversation with the owner of the sign company confirmed that a sign could be built to code using cables. Harold is alone on this issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGoing with the cable design makes sense and could be implemented immediately,\u201d Marshall added.<\/p>\n
Darrel Divine of Fluoresco said that the truss system is the current recommended solution for signs being hung over a roadway or right-of-way, and it\u2019s also the predominant system in use. A cable-hung system is possible, and legal, but not preferred, he said.\u201cTo our understanding there is no specific code outlawing a cable system,\u201d Divine said. But as a sign manufacturer, we prefer to use trusses. If an engineer signs off on a cable system, we\u2019ll build it. But we\u2019ve found most prefer trusses.\u201d Fluoresco retains Structural Technology Consultants, the engineering firm that recommended the truss structure.<\/p>\n
Koenig said recently that the KTCA is having a structural engineering firm study the feasibility of hanging the sign by cables, and hopes to have the report prior to the planning group\u2019s next meeting July 8. \u201cWe\u2019re certainly looking into that,\u201d he said, adding that any cable-hung sign will probably look different because it would have to comply with current city codes.
\nKoenig\u2019s detractors have taken issue with another of his past statements, that the \u201ccables poles, and supports\u201d were not designated historical by the city Historical Resource Board. Transcripts of the Historical Resources Board hearing where the sign was designated historical show that at least three board members specifically noted the historic nature of the \u201cfloating\u201d cable-hung sign, and stated on the record that they would like to see that method preserved.<\/p>\n
Similarly, at the June 10 planning group meeting Cathy Winterrowd of the city\u2019s Historical Resources Section said the proposed truss design was not appropriate and would change the appearance and historic integrity of the sign.
\nThe community association has filed what Koenig called a \u201cplaceholder\u201d for an appeal of the Historical Resources Board\u2019s decision to designate the sign as historic. The final decision on an appeal would be made by the city council. But the appeal is not being pursued at this time, Koenig said, because he hopes the issues will be resolved amicably.<\/p>\n
Many doubt the KTCA will pursue an appeal. \u201cIt is my opinion that the appeal will not go forward for two reasons,\u201d said Maggie McCann. \u201cFirst, an appeal must be based on a factual error or misrepresentation of the historicity. (Koenig) did not cite any factual errors in his appeal, but instead said that the (board) \u2018erred in its decision.\u2019 In other words, he disagreed with their findings and vote, but nothing specific within the decision. I would imagine that he has been advised of the difficulty in making his case.\u201d<\/p>\n
Coons said SOHO will vigorously defend almost any attempt to overturn a historical designation. \u201cWe don\u2019t expect to have to file suit \u2013 we expect this to be resolved soon. But it\u2019s been much more difficult working with the KTCA because they have been putting out so much misinformation as a smokescreen. It\u2019s much easier when we\u2019re dealing with facts,\u201d said Coons.
\nDespite the preservationists\u2019 cries of \u201ctyranny of the majority\u201d and the KTCA\u2019s cries of \u201cdanger danger!\u201d the truth seems to lie somewhere in between. What is known is that the Kensington sign, along with the Normal Heights sign, are the only two remaining original community signs in the city. All the rest are replications or new signs.<\/p>\n
The fact remains that while the whole process is being held up, still, the Kensington neighborhood continues to go without their most recognizable symbol of community spirit.<\/p>\n
Charles Shaw is a widely published writer and editor whose work appears in Examiner and the Huffington Post. A longtime community activist, he recently moved to San Diego and lives in the Hillcrest area.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Charles Shaw When Kensington Talmadge Community Association President Harold Koenig e-mailed the city in April to discuss the status of the Kensington sign, he didn\u2019t mince his words. Calling the historic Kensington sign a \u201cpublic nuisance,\u201d Koenig claimed that due to the presence of lead and PCBs, the beloved neighborhood sign \u2013 which no […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1282,"featured_media":242725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Kensington\u2019s \u201cToxic\u201d Sign Divides Community","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11593,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-242727","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-no-images","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242727","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1282"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=242727"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/242727\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/242725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=242727"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=242727"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=242727"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}