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Olvera Street : Political Battle Waged Over Plan to Upgrade Tattered Tourist Spot

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Times Staff Writer

When Christine Sterling proposed the creation of Olvera Street, she envisioned a marketplace and tourist attraction that would pay homage to the city’s Mexican population and preserve a sliver of the downtown sector where Los Angeles was founded in 1781.

“The creation of such an international trade center would furnish Los Angeles with the greatest tourist attraction she may ever have,” the fourth-generation Californian told civic leaders back in 1926.

At Sterling’s death in 1963, the aging collection of restaurants, curio shops and historic buildings had become the focal point for the city’s celebrations of Mexican holidays. It also had become a tangible link to Mexico for Mexicans proud of their heritage.

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But Sterling would probably shake her head at Olvera Street’s plight these days.

A political battle over the future of the popular tourist spot is threatening to split segments of the Latino community. The fight is over a face-lift that everyone agrees the aging tourist attraction needs. It pits most of the street’s 79 merchants, who are descendants of the street’s founders, against City Councilman Richard Alatorre, a powerful political force on the Eastside.

The merchants want a major say in the pending project, while Alatorre, whose 14th District includes Olvera Street, believes that a developer independent of the merchants may be better able to upgrade the deteriorating marketplace.

Latino leaders say it is a battle that they would like to see avoided. Said one: “I see no good use in seeing Latinos fighting each other. But on the other hand, we are talking about one of the most Mexican things in Los Angeles.”

The dispute sharpened two weeks ago when the East Los Angeles Community Union, commonly called TELACU, was granted an $1,800-a-month lease to run a catering business out of Olvera Street as an extension of its posh Tamayo restaurant.

Outside Developer

Some merchants now fear that TELACU, a politically well-connected nonprofit development corporation on the Eastside, could eventually become the outside developer to take over Olvera Street.

The merchants worry that TELACU, which has developed a large industrial park and other high-tech enterprises, might turn Olvera Street into an over-commercialized Mexican “shopping mall,” spoiling its quaintness and Latino authenticity.

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TELACU officials argue that theirs is one of the few minority corporations that could pull off a project as large and sensitive as Olvera Street.

The Los Angeles Parks and Recreation Commission granted the lease to TELACU over the objections of the Olvera Street Merchants Assn., which represents most businesses on the street, and an advisory committee that helps the city run El Pueblo de Los Angeles State Historic Park where Olvera Street and the Avila Adobe, the city’s oldest structure, are located.

Vivien Bonzo, president of the merchants group, said she opposed the agreement because the catering business would be unfair competition for the eateries already in Olvera Street--including the La Golondrina restaurant that her grandmother founded in 1930 across the walkway from what is now TELACU’s catering operation.

Only a Subplot

The lease is but one subplot in the larger fight over the future of Olvera Street, which was founded in 1929, three years after Sterling proposed it. Although Olvera Street attracts nearly 2 million visitors a year, little has been done to restore its old buildings. And in recent years, merchants have found it increasingly difficult to turn a profit. Many buildings do not meet earthquake standards and fire officials have expressed concern about access in case of an emergency. Parking can be difficult. And there is virtually no money to pay for the usual tourist promotions and advertising.

In 1987, the merchants paid for a $100,000 study that detailed Olvera Street’s most pressing needs.

Among them were a new 500-car parking structure, new construction to replace some aging buildings, a multimedia visitors center, a pedestrian walkway between the street and Union Station and the closing of Main Street on weekends and for special events.

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City officials say the work cannot start until the city assumes ownership of El Pueblo park, which it has administered for the state since 1974. The state has deeded the land to the city but minor legal technicalities have held up the transfer, a tangle that may not be resolved for another year.

Guidelines Missing

A $20-million to $30-million redevelopment project has been proposed by the merchants to spruce up Olvera Street, but guidelines for the project have yet to be released by the city administrative officer.

At this point, it is not clear which city agency will oversee the park’s operation and the proposed Olvera Street redevelopment. The City Council, where Alatorre wields influence on matters involving the Eastside, will have the final say on choosing a developer.

Sparked by the dispute over the TELACU lease, Bonzo and her group are trading sharp words with Alatorre over how best to accomplish the long-awaited refurbishing.

Bonzo, for example, fears that guidelines and requirements for the developer may be written, under Alatorre’s influence, to favor the selection of TELACU.

“The city will be short-changing all of its citizens and the birthplace of Los Angeles by allowing political decisions to override competence and qualifications,” Bonzo said. “We can’t accept that.”

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Insurance agent Mike Hernandez, vice president of the El Pueblo advisory committee that opposes any East Los Angeles Community Union involvement at Olvera Street, added: “TELACU is no different from McDonald’s. It’s not in Olvera Street’s best interest to head in that direction.”

Wary Merchants

Bonzo and her allies believe TELACU may force them out of Olvera Street in favor of new business interests that have no ties to Los Angeles’ large Latino community.

For now, the merchants group has been quiet about which developer it might favor for the work. Bonzo said it would support one that would allow the merchants to stay at Olvera Street.

The merchants say they are leery of TELACU because of its past.

Under the longtime leadership of President David Lizarraga, TELACU has grown from a social service agency into a diversified corporation with about $125 million in assets and revenues.

It has developed, among other things, a dial-a-ride transit system for the Eastside’s elderly and disabled, a 48-acre industrial park that includes the corporate headquarters of such firms as Aaron Brothers Art Marts and Federated Group, a thrift-and-loan company, and the new restaurant named for famed Mexican painter Rufino Tamayo.

TELACU came under scrutiny in the early 1980s over its use of funds. At one point, it was forced to pay back $1 million to the federal government because some of the money was used to support extravagant perks for Lizarraga and other officials.

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Since then, TELACU has been a favorite target for some Chicano activists who complain that it does not do enough to help the impoverished Eastside.

Still, the union has its allies, including Alatorre and U.S. Rep. Esteban Torres (D-La Puente), who helped form the group in the late 1960s.

Jobs, Good Will

TELACU officials have responded to the criticism by pointing out that its many endeavors provide up to 3,000 jobs on the Eastside. It also gained some public good will recently by opening Tamayo, the first trendy, Westside-type restaurant in East Los Angeles, and by expanding its scholarship fund to $1 million for students from five predominantly Latino high schools in the area.

“We have a right to bid for Olvera Street because we have the expertise, the credibility,” Lizarraga said. “We want to preserve Olvera Street and its integrity. They say if we get it, we’ll turn Olvera Street into a Disneyland. . . . I’ve never built a Disneyland.”

Alatorre insists that he is not trying to steer the project to the East Los Angeles Community Union.

“I’m not only interested in a good project, but also one that shows sensitivity about Olvera Street’s viability to Latinos,” Alatorre said. “I don’t know who ultimately will be the developer. The (bidding) process for Olvera Street will be an open process and everybody has an opportunity to bid on it.”

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And the councilman aimed a barb of his own at Bonzo and her allies.

“People are getting paranoid about everything under the sun,” Alatorre said. “I’m willing to support up to 50% participation of the merchants in the project. If they have the money . . . sure, (but) I have no idea if they will stay (at Olvera Street).”

Another Complication

In a final complication, 18 of the 79 Olvera Street merchants have banded together to accuse Bonzo and the other merchants of allowing the street to fall into disrepair.

“I’m not a politician,” said Peter A. Martinez, president of Business Leadership of Olvera Street, who supports Alatorre’s position on the project. “I’m a businessman. I think energies ought to be used . . . to improve Olvera Street.”

At this point, some veteran insiders are hoping the dispute can be resolved without splitting political activists and others into rival camps.

“Infighting,” said Joe Sanchez, a grocer and former city fire commissioner, “will be forgotten quickly if the end result is good for the entire Latino community.”

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