California Heights

California Heights Neighborhood Association Awards

CULTURAL HERITAGE AWARD, MAY 11, 1999

This Award recognizes the effort of the neighborhood leaders in the California Heights Historic District for a tremendous job in educating and promoting local residents about the benefits of the historic district. From the time that they were first designated as a district in 1992, they have promoted the qualities of their historic homes, their street trees and historic street lights as prime assets of their neighborhood. Their excellent newsletter does a fine job in educating local residents, who are very vigilant about maintaining the qualities of the historic district. Their annual house tour, held twice with the third scheduled for October, has become a very successful program, promoting pride in their homes and building cohesion in the community.

Most innovative is the program for house plaques which they devised. A community leader, Karen Highberger, researched this issue and came up with an inexpensive but attractive type of plaque for owners to purchase for their homes. This program has been highly successful, showing the commitment of new and old owners to their historic district. In sum, this group is a model of community leadership committed to their historic district.