Agency Is Created to Oversee Olvera Street : Downtown: Action may end bickering over the future of the birthplace of Los Angeles and the preservation of Mexican culture. Mayor Bradley will appoint the members.

The Los Angeles City Council created a new agency Friday to oversee the development and restoration of a historic piece of downtown that includes Olvera Street, a move merchants hope will end the long-running controversy over the site.

Creation of the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument Authority comes after more than a year of political bickering over how to improve the two-block area where 11 families founded Los Angeles in 1781.

The agency will be run by a seven-member board of trustees to be appointed by Mayor Tom Bradley. Members of the Latino community, including prominent Mexican-American historians, could be appointed to the panel, city officials said.

Decisions by the board will be subject to approval by the City Council under the measure passed on a 12-0 vote. Council members Joy Picus and Marvin Braude were absent when the vote was taken.

The city’s Department of Recreation and Parks will give up jurisdiction over the area. The newly created agency will be responsible for approving all development and preservation projects in the historic district.

Merchants along Olvera Street--a block-long series of Mexican restaurants and gift shops--say they hope that the new agency will refurbish buildings, add more parking and cultural exhibits, spend more on advertising and increase the number of visitors.

About 2 million people a year visit Olvera Street, downtown’s best-known tourist attraction.

“I’ve been bringing kids here for 20 years,” said Sue Brown, a fourth-grade teacher who brought her class from Arnold Elementary School in Torrance. “It’s become the only field trip of the year.”

For many Latinos in Los Angeles, Olvera Street is both a personal memory and a public reminder of the city’s Mexican heritage.

“I brought my children here as little girls and now they come as adults,” said Nadine Trujillo, a longtime Olvera Street restaurant manager. “When they have children they will also bring them here. What is essential is that we keep a heritage for our children.”

Christina Mariscal, 9, who helps out at the gift shop her family has owned since the creation of Olvera Street as a tourist attraction in 1929, said preserving the strip of crowded stalls and lively music is important.

“I don’t want anyone to take away my Mexican culture,” Christina said. “We want to keep it. That’s why we have Olvera Street.”

Despite the optimism heard along the street, the newly created governing board is likely to face the same thorny issues that have hampered attempts to improve the area, west of Union Station.

Some are critical of plans to put a Chinese-American history museum in the vacant buildings south of Olvera Street, known as the Pico-Garnier district. There is widespread disagreement over how to balance commercial and cultural improvements in the district, which includes the Pico House, the city’s first hotel.

Council members Gloria Molina and Richard Alatorre sponsored the measure creating the new governing authority in a rare show of unity after a year of fighting over the issue.