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Edward A. Murashie <br />2139 North Flower Street <br />Santa Ana, CA 92706 <br />To whom it may concern, <br />2014 Noy Ism 8 ?9 <br />As an addendum to the Santa Ana Application for Service Boards / Conf <br />ttLTTff#/ i e gkouid <br />like to fully explain my qualifications and experience. o. <br />I moved to Santa Ana in December 2011 because I wanted to own a historic home. So after touring and <br />becoming familiar with Fullerton, Orange, Anaheim and Santa Ana, I chose Santa Ana and moved my <br />engineering consulting company, ProEngineered Solutions LLC, to the Floral Park Neighborhood. <br />I bought a 1937 home which needed considerable work. I hired a general contractor but reviewed the <br />home with an architect and geologist to scope the entire project. Since I own my own company and had <br />flexible hours, I had the time to interview, select and work with the hardwood floor and window <br />restoration companies, the stucco team and painters. In total over $150K was spent on restoring the <br />650K house. <br />When I first bought the house I contacted Hally Soboleske in the Planning Department about being listed <br />in the Historic Registry. I was told the house had been surveyed in 2002 and was found ineligible. I did <br />not let that deter me and I continued to restore the home. In September I approached Hally again and <br />showed her the work that had been done. She responded by saying "I can see that you have put a lot of <br />time and love into your house. It shows, and it is beautiful. I absolutely support the historic designation <br />of your home to the Santa Ana Register of Historical Properties and I applaud all your efforts to restore it <br />to original." I then worked with Hally by researching the home, filling out the applications and writing <br />some of the final documents. <br />I am a historic preservation advocate and even though I have no formal training in historic preservation <br />other than the three Historic Resources Commission training sessions, I have gone through the entire <br />process of buying a ineligible home, restoring it and going through the paperwork application process. <br />That hands -on experience would give tremendous insight regarding the preservation of historic homes <br />and application process itself. 1 regularly attend the Historic Resources Commission Meetings, have <br />spoken at the meetings about restoration costs and resources and know half of the committee members <br />outside of the meetings. <br />I recently represented Floral Park at a meeting called by Mary Thornton, of Wilshire Square, with the <br />Public Works Department and other neighborhood leaders. The city was planning on replacing many of <br />Wilshire Squares' historic concrete streets with asphalt. The outcome of the meeting is that city will <br />review the streets in the historic neighborhoods and, with the approval of the neighborhood majority, <br />will replace damage concrete panels with new concrete ones. This was a win for historic preservation <br />because up to that point the city was only considering asphalt replacement. I think one of the strong <br />arguments was my holding up the City of Santa Ana Historic Preservation packet and explained how the <br />city is trying to extend its preservation efforts by making such material available and lower the cost of <br />obtaining the Mills Act. <br />So in summary I think I would make a good asset to the Historical Resources Commission and would <br />promote the Historical Registry and Mills Act throughout the city. <br />Ed Murashie <br />C-36