Agreement on Watts Towers May Be Near

After seven years of convoluted legal maneuvering, a settlement may be near in creating a nonprofit corporation to preserve Los Angeles’ Watts Towers, but it apparently faces an uphill battle in the City Council.

“We’re fairly near a settlement,” according to Carlyle Hall, an attorney with the Center for Law in the Public Interest. “There’s been an agreement in principle.”

However, Councilwoman Joan Milke Flores, whose 15th District includes the Watts Towers, said Wednesday that “there’s a strong possibility (the settlement) will be rejected” by the City Council. She said the terms would require the city to “give up too much power” over the landmark.

Meanwhile, a state project to restore the towers appears to be moving along on schedule, and officials believe that the site along 107th Street, east of the Harbor Freeway, could be reopened to the public by July. With the exception of the Olympic period last summer, tourists have not had access since 1978.

The Watts Towers, a complex of minarets, spires, steeples and turrets encrusted with seashells, crockery and glass, were created over a 33-year period by Simon Rodia, an Italian tile setter and construction worker. Rodia left Watts in 1954 at the age of 75 and died 11 years later in Northern California.

The Committee for Simon Rodia’s Towers in Watts, a blue-ribbon citizens panel, was formed in the 1950s to act as a watchdog organization over restoration of the towers, which had been rotting because of poor maintenance and weather erosion.

In 1975, the committee and the city entered into an agreement to own and operate the towers, and the site was deeded to the city. Then in 1978, the state took over the property and leased it back to the city for 50 years. Shortly afterward, the Legislature approved $1.2 million for the towers’ restoration.

Litigation was triggered in 1978 when the citizens committee moved to get rid of a city-selected architect, whom the committee accused of bungling the restoration work. After a court injunction, the state took over the remodeling job in 1979 and has been at it ever since.

Under the terms of the settlement between the city, the state and the citizens committee, a nonprofit corporation consisting of members from all three parties to the agreement, as well as the philanthropic and black communities, would be established, said Hall and his associate, Joel Reynolds. They have represented the committee for the last seven years.

Improve Surrounding Area

The corporation’s major goal would be to raise enough cash to maintain the towers site and improve the surrounding area, the attorneys said. Until the money is raised, it would be up to the city to pick up the maintenance tab.

However, Flores said the corporate board’s makeup was a problem. “We (the city) would have a minority membership,” she said, although the city would have the responsibility for maintaining the site.

Earl Carlson, supervising architect in the office of the state architect, which is coordinating the project along with the state Department of Parks and Recreation, said the refurbishing project is expected to be completed by the end of June.