The challenge of your unapproved windows

　　“The old windows were falling apart and had been a hazard for the community,” mentioned Hector Cruz, who has co-owned the three-story developing on 5577 N. Figueroa St. together with his mother given that the previous 5 years.
　　“They had been quite highly-priced to replace,” Cruz said, adding that he got a $12,000 estimate for the repairs and replacement of eight on the original windows that he ended up changing. “And that’s not even giving us a cushion of what’s to come,” he stated.
　　In installing significantly cheaper windows, Cruz mentioned he took a leaf in the historic windows that have been replaced with fixed-glass ones about a quarter-century ago at the former workplace of ex-Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg. Also located in the Mason Creating, which has 19,000 square feet of floor space, Goldberg’s one-time office now houses the Very good Girl Dinette Vietnamese fusion food restaurant.
　　But for all that, said Cruz, he didn’t comprehend he had committed a blunder by getting rid of the old windows. Precisely a week following he put inside the eight new panes on June 26, an inspector in the Los Angeles Division of Creating and Safety served him a “stop work” order, Cruz stated, adding that by then all of the function around the windows had already been done.
　　The inspector told Cruz that because the Highland Park Masonic Building is on the National Registry of Historic Locations, he's expected to get permission in the Los Angeles Historical Preservation Overlay Zone just before undertaking any work that modifications the building’s architectural integrity.
　　“The final factor I anticipated is for the neighborhood to send an inspector as opposed to coming and telling me what are the initial methods I ought to have taken to replace the windows,” Cruz stated, adding: “I’ve had Autry Museum meetings, Neighborhood Council meetings in the building-I’ve supported everybody.”
　　Based on Cruz, it was Highland Park historian and Highland Park Heritage Trust member Charlie Fisher who allegedly reported him towards the Department of Building and Safety. A call by Patch to Highland Park Heritage Trust requesting an interview with Fisher went unreturned.
　　Cruz mentioned it’s not that he isn’t concerned about conservation challenges surrounding his building, which was declared a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1984. “We endeavor to balance security and responsibility with our budget,” he said.
　　His response to critics who accuse him of negligence is the fact that “if you’re so concerned about the windows, why don’t you get a grant or funding to replace them?” Cruz stated, adding that home owners which include him can “hardly make it by in these really hard [economic] occasions.”
　　The significant query for Cruz, he mentioned, was “do you keep the windows mainly because they appear good or do you change them mainly because they’re falling apart and are a safety hazard?”
　　The challenge of your unapproved windows was taken up this previous Tuesday by the Highland Park-Garvanza Historical Preservation Overlay Zone at its bimonthly board meeting in Ramona Hall, Cruz said, adding that he was notified concerning the meeting but didn’t attend.
　　The Mason Constructing might have lost its original windows, but there’s still a window of opportunity to obtain them back.
　　“We’ve saved all the tiny pieces of glass,” said Cruz. “So if anything serious would take place, I’d be most pleased to replace them.”