HUNTINGTON BEACH : New Official Gives Boost to Historians

The city’s new cultural affairs director told a group of preservationists recently that he wants to establish a new staff position devoted solely to preserving the city’s past.

Michael Mudd, who was named to his new post in January, also said he plans to help unite the efforts of four community groups dedicated to historic issues.

Speaking before the Huntington Beach Historical Society, Mudd said city leaders are placing more emphasis on developing new buildings than restoring old ones.

“Cultural concerns and historic conservation haven’t evolved in Huntington Beach,” he said.

To change things will take money, he said. And to win a larger slice of the city’s budgetary pie and raise more private donations, preservation activists must become better organized and more united, he said.

Some of the city’s preservationists welcomed the transfer of historic issues from the Planning Department to a “friendlier” environment in the Cultural Affairs Department.

“I think he’s absolutely right. Each of these groups is off in its own direction,” said Beth Kennedy, chairwoman of the board of directors of the Newland House, the city’s oldest building. “There are too many chiefs and not enough communication. I’ve been saying that for six months.”

But Jerry Person, chairman of the Historic Resources Board, said that the groups have made considerable progress on their own and that a joint workshop would not be useful. Nonetheless, he said that he welcomes Mudd’s “positive attitude.”