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’t mince his words.
Calling the historic Kensington sign a “public nuisance,” Koenig claimed that due to the presence of lead and PCBs, the beloved neighborhood sign – which no longer spans Adams Avenue – was now “unsafe, a distinct hazard … an imminent threat.”

In his April 7 e-mail to City Councilman Todd Gloria’s 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’s frame, had deteriorated to the point of posing a hazard.

Koenig went on to stress that the 2007 California Historical Building Code allowed for a historic structure like a sign to be “replicated” if the original fell under these categories. He hammered in the point by referencing two structural engineering reports that claimed the sign “could not be retrofitted and made safe.”

Koenig closed his email to Akers by informing him that “time 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.”

Those who oppose Koenig’s plan claim it is this county money, and not the community’s safety, that he is really concerned about.
Preservation architect David Marshall said Koenig and the KTCA have “literally held the sign hostage as they try to ram only their design down the throats of the community” 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.

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’s 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.

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 “presumed” that lead was in the paint because “all paint from the 1950s contained lead,” 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 “the sign contains 9 times the level of lead that the government allows.”

Maggie McCann, a Kensington resident who favors restoring the old sign, said the discovery of lead in the sign shouldn’t prevent it from being refurbished. “Regardless of any lead content,” said McCann, “the EPA’s standard for stabilizing lead paint is to seal it or paint over it.”

“The lead paint issue is a non-issue,” said Bruce Coons of the Save Our Heritage Organisation (SOHO). “Worse, it’s a red herring issue.”

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. “We’ve spent the last 40 years trying to reduce lead in our environment,” 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. “Painting it over is not an option,” Koenig said. “We’re just trying to do the right thing. We’re trying to protect people.”

The sign’s symbolic toxicity, as well, seems far from resolved, as another incendiary issue has arisen which has kept the opposing sides at each other’s throats.
The 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.
“Koenig refused to change the design from his truss (design) to the cables because he claimed that you can’t use cables per the building code because cables would be dangerous,” said architect Marshall. “Both 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.”

“Going with the cable design makes sense and could be implemented immediately,” Marshall added.

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’s also the predominant system in use. A cable-hung system is possible, and legal, but not preferred, he said.“To our understanding there is no specific code outlawing a cable system,” Divine said. But as a sign manufacturer, we prefer to use trusses. If an engineer signs off on a cable system, we’ll build it. But we’ve found most prefer trusses.” Fluoresco retains Structural Technology Consultants, the engineering firm that recommended the truss structure.

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’s next meeting July 8. “We’re certainly looking into that,” he said, adding that any cable-hung sign will probably look different because it would have to comply with current city codes.
Koenig’s detractors have taken issue with another of his past statements, that the “cables poles, and supports” 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 “floating” cable-hung sign, and stated on the record that they would like to see that method preserved.

Similarly, at the June 10 planning group meeting Cathy Winterrowd of the city’s Historical Resources Section said the proposed truss design was not appropriate and would change the appearance and historic integrity of the sign.
The community association has filed what Koenig called a “placeholder” for an appeal of the Historical Resources Board’s 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.

Many doubt the KTCA will pursue an appeal. “It is my opinion that the appeal will not go forward for two reasons,” said Maggie McCann. “First, 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) ‘erred in its decision.’ 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.”

Coons said SOHO will vigorously defend almost any attempt to overturn a historical designation. “We don’t expect to have to file suit – we expect this to be resolved soon. But it’s been much more difficult working with the KTCA because they have been putting out so much misinformation as a smokescreen. It’s much easier when we’re dealing with facts,” said Coons.
Despite the preservationists’ cries of “tyranny of the majority” and the KTCA’s cries of “danger danger!” 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.

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.

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.