Brown Refuses to Meet Group Protesting Prison in East L.A.

Assembly Speaker Willie Brown refused to meet Thursday with East Los Angeles residents who wanted to give him a letter outlining their objections to a proposed state prison in their community.

While 200 demonstrators picketed outside the State Building in Los Angeles, four representatives from the group went to Brown’s eighth-floor office, where he was holding an open house.

When State Police officers stopped the protesters at the door, Jose Luis Garcia, a spokesman for the group, said they wanted two minutes with the Speaker, who was visible about 15 feet away.

After 20 minutes, State Police Lt. John Stone told them: “This function is not open to uninvited guests. A staff aide said he (Brown) won’t receive the letter at this time.”

Protests against the proposed 1,700-bed medium-security prison have been gathering momentum, organizers said. Their Monday night vigils near the site on East Olympic Boulevard, east of San Pedro Street, have grown from several hundred demonstrators to more than a thousand.

Rev. John Moretta, pastor of Resurrection Roman Catholic Church, said four busloads of East Side residents will go to Sacramento on Aug. 13 and 14 to lobby against the prison.