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Voters who step up to the ballot booth on June 4 will face a big-bucks question: Should the City of Los Angeles issue $298.8 million in bonds to improve and acquire senior citizen centers, parks, recreational and cultural facilities, and land for open space?
A little-known aspect of that question is a series of provisions that would provide $30 million for city-owned arts facilities. The bond measure, which requires a two-thirds vote for passage, covers a wide range of projects-from $6 million to develop the famed Watts Towers complex to six-figure sums for the improvement of relatively obscure photography centers scattered across town. Funds would be used for everything from building an auditorium at the Watts Towers Arts Center to installing an irrigation system in Barnsdall Art Park to conserving a mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros on Olvera Street.
While most of the $30-million cultural package is earmarked for antiquated or overworked facilities that appear to be in need of expansion or upgrading, one curious aspect of the bond measure is $1.75 million for the 6-year-old Los Angeles Theatre Center in downtown Los Angeles. Two days ago, the Los Angeles City Council voted to take over the financially beleaguered center with the stipulation that the only future support to be provided by the city is a one-time only $450,000 building maintenance payment, $300,000 for outstanding building expenses and whatever programming grants the center wins through the peer review process of the Los Angeles Arts Endowment.
The $1.75 million in Proposition 1 is "a nest egg" for seismic renovations-of undetermined cost-that will be required by a new state law, says Adolfo V. Nodal, general manager of the city's Cultural Affairs Department.
He emphasizes that the money will not go to the LATC production company, which is barred from requesting more city funds by the terms of the city ownership agreement, approved by the City Council on Tuesday. Because the city will be the building's new owner, says Nodal, the city is "responsible for its structural integrity . . . even if LATC (the production company) is closed down."
If Proposition 1 passes, the big cultural winners will be a new regional theater in the San Fernando Valley ($7.5 million), Barnsdall Art Park in Hollywood ($7.4...