Different strokes. There are historic districts here and from what I've heard they aren't too imposing I'm sure it varies hugely depending on the area and personnel. If you owned one of the historic houses you'd definitely want protections in place because it'd be so easy for 1 awry property to fuck the whole neighborhood in feel, resale, and then property taxes.. which isn't good for anyone. Then maybe the whole neighborhood gets bought up and rebuilt per demand, which is good, but not necessary better, and it's a lot harder to justify it the smaller the preservation area is imo. I'm thinking on a city competitiveness scale that these neighborhoods can be amenities, like a park, good for trick or treat, dog walking, bike routes, history buffs, fags, tourism brochures..at no cost to the city.