...hair back in heritage.

In a message, the artiste-formerly-known-as-Ken writes:

> If we have to put up with mugs & doodads as the
>  cost of our sense of personal security then I think many people are willing
> to sacrifice historic authenticity.

On Jumel Terrace, a little dead-end row of (black-occupied) wooden houses in
upper Manhattan, there was a big, award-winning (white-preservation-group-
paid-for) "restoration", which replaced all the cheap asbestos shingles, the
crummy aluminum storm doors, the jalousy windows - which had accreted in great
variety over time - with a uniform "correct" paint-schemed repro-clapboard.

When I interviewed the residents some years after this well-meaning
achievement, it became clear to me that they could have cared less about the
"historic" character of their neighborhood - they were just happy with the
free spruce-up (and were mad as hornets that it had been done cheaply and was
rotting out already).

All the residents had given their permission for this work, all except one,
who was happy with her 1950's stucco job - "the salesman said it would last a
hundred years, and it will".
Although the post-restoration preservation literature mentioned the holdout in
embarrassed tones, she was, visually, the last bit of life on the street.

She died three years ago; the street is now uniform.  Huzzah!

Signed,  Walt Disney