Carlsbad Named in Suit Over ‘Split Pavilion’
A Carlsbad lawyer is suing the city, a former city attorney, and artist Andrea Blum, claiming that the controversial art park known as the “Split Pavilion” is everything from a traffic hazard to personally offensive.
In a lawsuit filed July 6 in Vista Superior Court, attorney Robert J. Lofgren says the public art park, on a bluff above the ocean, is a waste of $370,000 in city funds.
Besides being a traffic hazard, he says, the park endangers adults and children who could fall into the reflecting pools or slip through a fence and fall down the bluff.
Lofgren asserts that Blum’s work does not fall under the California Art Preservation Act, which protects artistic works from being changed, and that the act itself is unconstitutional.
The suit also claims the work is offensive, that former City Atty. Vince Biondo was negligent in advising the City Council on the artwork, and that Blum, the park’s designer, defamed Carlsbad residents by calling them “fascist” and “McCarthyite.”
The Split Pavilion, known as “The Bars” among residents because of a metal fence surrounding it, has been the subject of growing controversy.
Blum and city officials could not be reached for comment.
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