Turning a Corner on Olvera St. : Molina, Alatorre propose sagacious ‘historic monument authority’

Los Angeles City Council members Richard Alatorre and Gloria Molina are reportedly on theverge of striking what sounds like a very good compromise on the future of Olvera Street, the popular but run-down Mexican marketplace adjacent to the Old Plaza that marks the city’s birthplace.

The question of how to revitalize and better manage Olvera Street has been the subject of prolonged and complicated discussions not just locally but as far away as Sacramento. Lately that debate has been getting far more emotional than it really needs to be. The unhappy result is that it not only raised tempers in this region’s large Chicano community, but was threatening to drag other ethnic groups into the fray to protect their stake in the city’s historic district.

Details are still somewhat sketchy, but according to Times writer George Ramos, the two Latino political leaders will ask Mayor Bradley and their fellow council members to help them set up a “historic monument authority” to run Olvera Street. It would function like other city commissions, with a seven-member board whose meetings would be open to the public. That’s very important, because a public process can help allay the fears of Latino activists who worry that efforts to upgrade and modernize Olvera Street could end up “de-Mexicanizing” it, either inadvertently or by design.

The two council members are also consulting each other on the names of candidates for the board they could jointly recommend to Bradley. Mexican-Americans understandably see Olvera Street as a special place symbolizing their many contributions to Los Angeles, so it is likely that most, if not all, their nominees will be Chicanos. But other ethnic groups, most notably Chinese- and Italian-Americans, also point to sites in the plaza area that are of historic significance to them. So any board set up to govern Olvera Street should include them, too. In a way, everybody who lives in this region has a stake in what happens to Olvera Street.