L.A. Arts Facilities Have Large Stake in City Bond Vote : Culture: Prop. 1 would allot $30 million to city-owned centers. The biggest gainers: a new San Fernando Valley regional theater, Watts Towers and Barnsdall Park.

Voters who step up to the ballot booth on June 4 will face a big-bucks question: Should the City of Los Angeles issue $298.8 million in bonds to improve and acquire senior citizen centers, parks, recreational and cultural facilities, and land for open space?

A little-known aspect of that question is a series of provisions that would provide $30 million for city-owned arts facilities. The bond measure, which requires a two-thirds vote for passage, covers a wide range of projects--from $6 million to develop the famed Watts Towers complex to six-figure sums for the improvement of relatively obscure photography centers scattered across town. Funds would be used for everything from building an auditorium at the Watts Towers Arts Center to installing an irrigation system in Barnsdall Art Park to conserving a mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros on Olvera Street.

While most of the $30-million cultural package is earmarked for antiquated or overworked facilities that appear to be in need of expansion or upgrading, one curious aspect of the bond measure is $1.75 million for the 6-year-old Los Angeles Theatre Center in downtown Los Angeles. Two days ago, the Los Angeles City Council voted to take over the financially beleaguered center with the stipulation that the only future support to be provided by the city is a one-time only $450,000 building maintenance payment, $300,000 for outstanding building expenses and whatever programming grants the center wins through the peer review process of the Los Angeles Arts Endowment.

The $1.75 million in Proposition 1 is “a nest egg” for seismic renovations--of undetermined cost--that will be required by a new state law, says Adolfo V. Nodal, general manager of the city’s Cultural Affairs Department.

He emphasizes that the money will not go to the LATC production company, which is barred from requesting more city funds by the terms of the city ownership agreement, approved by the City Council on Tuesday. Because the city will be the building’s new owner, says Nodal, the city is “responsible for its structural integrity . . . even if LATC (the production company) is closed down.”

If Proposition 1 passes, the big cultural winners will be a new regional theater in the San Fernando Valley ($7.5 million), Barnsdall Art Park in Hollywood ($7.4 million), Watts Towers Arts Park in South-Central Los Angeles ($6 million) and El Pueblo State Historic Park downtown ($5 million). Seven other arts facilities will share a total of about $4 million.

The $7.5-million theater is intended as a replacement for the Los Feliz Performing Arts Center, at Riverside Drive and Los Feliz Boulevard, which was destroyed by fire in 1986. The specific site of the proposed 20,000-square-foot theater has yet to be determined, said Jane Kolb, director of public relations for the Cultural Affairs Department.

Barnsdall Art Park will use its $7.4 million to improve four buildings and surrounding grounds. Funds designated for buildings include $2.78 million for the restoration and reconstruction of Hollyhock House, a dwelling built by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The proposal includes interior reconstruction, fencing, an alarm system, a temperature and humidity control system and restoration of the carriage house and a building known as “The Little Dipper.”

Other Barnsdall building funds include $675,000 for a new roof and office space at the Barnsdall Arts Center; $600,000 for additional classrooms and extended exhibition space at the Junior Arts Center, and $345,000 to turn an unused floor into office space at the Municipal Art Gallery and to upgrade the gallery’s elevator, lighting and handicap access, among other improvements.

Outdoor proposals at the park include $3.14 million for an automated irrigation system, landscaping, improved parking, lighting, a children’s play area, a sculpture garden, a cafe/bookstore, a gift shop and an entrance kiosk.

The $6-million allotment for Watts Towers Arts Park will be used to replace the existing arts center with a larger facility, build a 300-seat auditorium, acquire property adjacent to the towers, restore the towers and develop park grounds. Community groups are planning to develop the “Watts Towers Cultural Crescent,” linking Simon Rodia’s celebrated towers with Watts’ historic train station and the new Metro Blue Line station in a crescent-shaped piece of property.

At El Pueblo State Historic Park, $5 million in bond funds will be spent to restore the Merced Theatre and several buildings on Olvera Street, renovate the plaza area, add interpretive exhibits, complete conservation of a mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros, improve signs and provide handicap access.

Three other multipurpose arts centers will benefit from passage of Proposition 1. The Lankershim Arts Center, the newest facility in the Cultural Affairs Department, will get $475,000 to finish classrooms and a small theater on the second floor. The William Grant Still Art Center will receive $510,000 to enclose a patio and expand the former fire station that houses the center. An additional $275,000 will fund refurbishment and new classroom space at the McGroarty Art Center, which hosts exhibitions and classes in the historic Tujunga residence of John Steven McGroarty, a U.S. Congressman, poet, historian, dramatist and journalist who died in 1944.

Three photography facilities--which offer exhibitions, classes, darkrooms and studios--will also receive funds for renovations. The Los Angeles Photography Center will get the largest amount, $685,000, for disabled access bathrooms, new studio areas, upgraded utilities, a storage garage, an alarm system and outdoor security lighting. Similar improvements will be made at the Encino Photography Center ($255,000) and the San Pedro Photography Center ($205,000).

If approved, Proposition 1 will lead to an average property tax increase of $13.20 per year for 20 years. “I don’t see $13.20 going very far at the supermarket,” says John Outterbridge, director of the Watts Towers Arts Center. He contends that taxpayers will gain a great deal for that small price, but concedes that some elderly members of his community have said that they simply can’t afford more tax.

Loaded with projects in all 15 council districts, the bond measure has strong support in the City Council and the backing of Mayor Tom Bradley. A similar measure, Proposition B, failed in a county election last November, receiving only 57% of the vote. But proponents believe Proposition 1 has a better chance because the county measure won its main support from city residents.

No negative arguments were submitted for the June 4 ballot pamphlet and taxpayer organizations that opposed the county measure have not taken a position against the city bond issue. However, a Times editorial urged rejection of the measure, stating, “Proposition 1 has the right goals, but it’s the wrong time.” While noting the need for improved recreational and cultural facilities, the editorial criticized the measure for including too many projects--some of them only sketchy proposals--and speculated that “staffing of these facilities could add $1.65 million annually (at current rates) to the city’s general fund.”

The cultural package accounts for only about 10% of the bond issue. If approved, Proposition 1 is likely to be passed by voters who are more concerned with provisions for senior citizen centers or such recreational areas as Griffith Park and the Los Angeles Zoo. But leaders of the city’s arts institutions argue that the cultural component is sorely needed.

“The situation has gone beyond need. It’s a necessity that’s long overdue,” says Outterbridge, speaking of the Watts Towers Arts Center, which stretches its modest facilities to serve an undernourished community around the clock. The center hosts community meetings that begin at 7:30 a.m., Outterbridge says. Later in the day, when school groups arrive, children work on the gallery floor because the center has no classrooms to accommodate its ambitious educational program. In the evenings, the gallery serves as an auditorium--often overflowing with people who come to hear everything from lectures on black history to poetry readings and musical performances.

“People are beating down our doors to use our facilities, but our space is maxed out in terms of hours and demands made on it. There’s incredible pressure to serve more and more people, including the kids who are doing graffiti and running with gangs in the streets,” Nodal says.

‘People come to us when no one else will take them,” he says, noting that other arts institutions tend to have inflexible agendas. In contrast, arts centers run by the city are “full-service, full-access cultural facilities without an agenda. They are open to everyone.

“I see Proposition 1 as the next step for the endowment,” Nodal says, referring to a trust fund for the arts that is financed by the City Public Works Capital Improvement Funds, hotel and motel bed taxes, and an Arts Development Fee. “We’re giving away all this money for the arts and when people apply for grants to do projects, they have to come up with a place (for the project),” he says, adding that about 60% of the city’s arts organizations don’t have homes.

The effort to upgrade facilities citywide has developed from the Cultural Affairs Department’s 1990 master plan, Nodal says. “The main thrust of the plan is to decentralize and provide services all over the city. All the energy in this town is in the neighborhoods. . . . We serve thousands of youth and senior citizens. We have to provide facilities that are halfway decent. If the roof leaks and there are no lights, people stay away.”

Proposition 1 Cultural Improvements

LOCATION IMPROVEMENTS COST Regional Theater (Replaces Los Feliz Center) Development $7,500,000 Barnsdall Art Park Cultural improvements and park development $7,440,000 Watts Towers Arts Park Acquire adjacent property, develop center, grounds $6,075,000 El Pueblo Historic Park Improvements, exhibits $5,000,000 L.A. Theatre Center Renovation $1,750,000 William Grant Still Art Center Building expansion $510,000 Encino Photography Center Renovation $255,000 L.A. Photo Center Renovation $685,000 San Pedro Photo Center Building improvements $205,000 Lankershim Arts Center Renovation $475,000 McGroarty Art Center Renovation $275,000

Times Staff Writer Don Shirley contributed to this article.