{"id":244729,"date":"2011-12-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-12-09T08:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/kensington-residents-self-impose-tax-increase-to-preserve-its-charm\/"},"modified":"2011-12-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2011-12-09T08:00:00","slug":"kensington-residents-self-impose-tax-increase-to-preserve-its-charm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/kensington-residents-self-impose-tax-increase-to-preserve-its-charm\/","title":{"rendered":"Kensington residents self-impose tax increase to preserve its charm"},"content":{"rendered":"

Por Logan Broyles | Reportero SDUN<\/strong><\/p>\n

Kensington is known for its 1920s-style architecture, with Spanish inspired homes dotting tree-lined streets. However, construction projects planned for the next two years may disrupt a part of the neighborhood\u2019s charm; proposed projects would replace Kensington\u2019s historic streetlights and the lampposts that hold them with generic ones.<\/p>\n

For Kensington residents like Don Taylor, preserving tradition is more important than keeping extra cash in their pockets. Taylor organized a group of residents that have proposed a $75 increase to their annual property taxes to help save the historic lights.<\/p>\n

The tax revenue would be spent on installing and maintaining decorative lights and replacing the generic streetlights that have already been installed in some areas of Kensington.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe historic street lights in Kensington add to each neighborhood\u2019s character and property values,\u201d says Taylor.<\/p>\n

The historic streetlights were installed in the 1920s when the neighborhood was first developing. Over the years, many became damaged and the City replaced them with generic light fixtures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis historic charm is part of the reason many of us choose to live in these older neighborhoods,\u201d says David Moty, Chair of the Kensington-Talmadge Neighborhood Planning Group. \u201cThese eight-decade old non-cobra head street lights are part of what makes our neighborhood special to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The City has told Kensington residents they must raise their own money if they want to prevent the lampposts from being replaced. The City will pay up to $1,500 per light, the basic cost of generic lights. The decorative lights can cost $6,000 to $9,000 apiece.<\/p>\n

Taylor\u2019s proposal calls for dividing the neighborhood into five separate Maintenance Assessment Districts (MADs) covering the sub-neighborhoods of Kensington Manor, Kensington Heights, Talmadge Park, Kensington Park North of Adams Avenue and Kensington Park South of Adams Avenue.<\/p>\n

Zones like these are often used so that individual neighborhoods can pay for special services that the City won\u2019t provide for them.<\/p>\n

The designers of the proposal decided to divide the area into five parts because a previous, similar proposal had been voted down. It was voted down because certain areas were more willing to pay for the lamps than others were.<\/p>\n

Each MAD would hold its own vote to decide whether residents are willing to pay to preserve the lampposts.<\/p>\n

Members of Taylor\u2019s group acknowledge it could take years to replace all the lights and that it would have to be a gradual effort, replacing a few at a time. Even if all five MADs vote in favor of the tax increase, it could still take five to 10 years to get all the lamps replaced.<\/p>\n

Some local citizens have voiced concerns that the proposal will create divisions in the neighborhood, but Taylor disagrees.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe street-lighting needs of each Kensington neighborhood are very different,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cCombining all neighborhoods in a \u2018one size fits all\u2019 approach would not be as effective. We\u2019re focused on finding the most realistic solution possible so that we can preserve our neighborhood.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Logan Broyles | SDUN Reporter Kensington is known for its 1920s-style architecture, with Spanish inspired homes dotting tree-lined streets. However, construction projects planned for the next two years may disrupt a part of the neighborhood\u2019s charm; proposed projects would replace Kensington\u2019s historic streetlights and the lampposts that hold them with generic ones. For Kensington […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1187,"featured_media":244725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Kensington residents self-impose tax increase to preserve its charm","_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-244729","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\/244729","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\/1187"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=244729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/244729\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/244725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=244729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=244729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=244729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}