STANTON : Councilman Will Picket City Project

A picket sign or two will be among the usual pomp and circumstance at the Saturday morning groundbreaking ceremony for the $5-million Civic Center on Katella Avenue.

Councilman David John Shawver, a longtime opponent of the project, said he will attend the ceremony with picket signs protesting the city’s expenditure on the City Hall complex. Shawver argued against the Civic Center because of threats by the state to take $1.5 million in revenues from the already cash-strapped city.

“How can we be building a $5-million Civic Center for 14 employees?” Shawver said. “Why do we need a $1-million concrete parking garage?”

The Civic Center project--which includes a 13,000-square-foot City Hall and a 16,000-square-foot recreation center--has been a bitter bone of a contention, dividing the City Council and prompting an unsuccessful effort to recall Mayor Sal Sapien, the project’s key backer. As construction begins on the center, anger and resentment continue to brew over the project, which opponents say is an extravagant monolith that the city can’t afford.

But supporters insist that the new center is necessary to provide a focal point for the city and to replace deteriorating and unsafe city buildings. The proponents offer various anecdotes to illustrate the need, such as the time the lights in the old recreation building suddenly went out during the Miss Stanton pageant last year. The incident required stationing someone by the electric breaker box all night.

Proponents also argue that because the complex will be built with redevelopment funds, the money for the project couldn’t be used to pay for more police officers and other city operations, anyway.

“I have asked the same questions to a lawyer,” Sapien said. “We cannot convert redevelopment funds into general fund money, because that’s totally and absolutely illegal. We feel by creating a nice, new Civic Center next to the (planned) senior center, we’ll create an atmosphere for progress, and we’ll be pushing our economic development.”

Sapien’s support for the project was one reason that Shawver, Councilman Harry Dotson and others sought to oust the mayor from the council last year. The recall effort fell just short of the required signatures.

Shawver, who continues to feud with Sapien, contends that a more cost-effective move would be to renovate the Western Avenue school facility that the city has been using as a Civic Center. The site has room not only for expansion, but also for more parking spaces, Shawver said.

Dotson agreed. “We’ve got a bare-bones staff . . . wearing six different hats,” he said. “If the state takes money from us, how are we going to keep up the (new) building? Meanwhile, the streets in my neighborhood are in terrible shape.”