Mayor’s Nephew Ousted as City Mansion Caretaker : Government: Parts of the historic Woodworth House and grounds had become disheveled since Francisco Quintero moved in.

An antique-filled historic mansion, which has been owned for years by the city and was open regularly for guided tours and social gatherings, has lost much of its grandeur in recent months under a new caretaker.

The pool, once the scene of boisterous swim parties for city youngsters, is dotted with leaves and algae. A once-thriving rose garden has been consumed by weeds. Inside, the kitchen, outfitted with a wood-burning stove and old icebox, is cluttered with trash.

City officials and neighbors say the demise of the Woodworth House can be traced to the new city administration’s decision to oust the veteran caretaker and replace him with a relative of Mayor Frank B. Duran.

After the nephew, Francisco Quintero, moved in last December, a sign offering guided tours was thrown aside and the gate at the entrance was padlocked. The tours and parties ceased. Even the postal carrier had to leave mail at a business next door. And for months, no one from the city apparently paid much attention to the Colonial-style home on Foster Bridge Road.

But last week, concerned officials began eviction proceedings against Quintero, after a local businessman raised questions about the mansion’s demise at the meeting Monday. “Have you seen that place recently? It’s a disgrace,” said Leo McIntyre, who is leading a recall effort against Duran and Councilman Rodolfo (Rudy) Garcia.

McIntyre then pressed Duran about his relationship with the caretaker. An unnerved Duran conceded that Quintero was related to his wife. He then promised to look into the matter.

The next morning, City Manager Charles Gomez toured the mansion’s once-immaculate grounds. An area near the pool was littered with an abandoned refrigerator, old paint cans, a car battery, and a large, stained piece of old carpet. A discarded washing machine and more junk occupied what was once the home’s horse stables. A vintage Singer sewing machine sat rusting on a rickety card table near the rose gardens.

“It certainly isn’t kept up the way I would keep a house,” Gomez said later.

He served notice on Quintero to vacate the mansion in two weeks. The city manager said he was concerned about the conditions at the mansion, as well as the fact that the mayor’s nephew was living on city property, rent-free. “It just doesn’t look good,” Gomez said.

Duran said at the council meeting that he was not involved in the decision to hire Quintero. The mayor, who has drawn criticism for inquiring about other City Hall jobs for relatives and friends, issued a written statement the next day insisting that Quintero “had no assistance from me whatsoever.”

But Quintero and former City Manager William Vasquez, who hired Quintero, disputed the mayor’s statement. Quintero said he had never heard of the Woodworth House until his uncle mentioned it when Quintero was looking for a place to live.

Vasquez, who was fired by the council in February, said Duran recommended Quintero for the job, provided a phone number and encouraged the city manager to call Quintero. Vasquez said the mayor did not mention that they were related.

“I had no idea he was (Duran’s) nephew,” Vasquez said. “If I would have known, he would never have gotten the job.”

Vasquez said the mayor “told me (Quintero) was a member of his church and that he needed a place to live. I didn’t think anything of it.” He said he approved Quintero for the caretaker job after no one on the City Council objected.

Duran could not be reached for comment on Vasquez’s version.

Quintero, who lives alone, seemed puzzled by the eviction notice, and said he could do better if given another chance. He said he agreed to maintain the grounds, but said he found it to be a more difficult task than he envisioned.

“I tried, but this was a big place, and it was hard to do all the work,” said Quintero, 33, who also is a factory worker. “I had never taken care of anything like this before.”

Quintero had replaced Richard Webb, a retired Bell Gardens police lieutenant who was evicted last September, five months after he had run unsuccessfully for City Council. Earlier, Webb had been an outspoken critic of a recall effort that had brought the current city administration to power.

Webb moved into the house in 1982, five years after it had been donated to the city for use as a museum. The El Rancho San Antonio Historical Society had set up an office and brought in historical artifacts from throughout the Southeast area, but officials decided to hire Webb as caretaker after a series of break-ins, he said.

“I always kept the place in top shape,” Webb said last week from his home in Arizona. “Anytime anyone called the historical society, I would make arrangements for tours.”

He said various city functions, Fourth of July celebrations and wedding receptions were held in the mansion. Like Quintero, Webb was allowed to occupy part of the upstairs and the kitchen, leaving the remainder of the three-story mansion intact.

The historical society was ordered to leave at the same time Webb was evicted. “It made me sick to think of moving out,” said Margaret Heumann, president of the organization. “We had worked hours and hours there. It meant so much to all of us.”

Webb said officials told him that the home “was underutilized.”

The house was built in 1924, when the area was a vast orange grove, by John Joseph Woodworth, a developer who planned to build other mansions, envisioning a community that would rival Beverly Hills. He was forced to scrap his ambitious effort because of the Depression. Woodworth had furnished the house with antiques that dated from the 1860s, including marble-topped tables, a seven-piece living room set, two hand-carved buffets in the dinning room and a bedroom set in the upstairs guest room.

Many antiques were left when the house was sold in the 1950s to Bell Gardens businessman Bazil Sugden and his wife, Edith. They deeded the property to the city in 1977 when they could not sell it, leaving behind the antiques as well. Sugden, who owned an engineering firm in Bell Gardens and who had served on the City Council, died last July.

“We wanted them to make it a public building for everyone to enjoy,” Edith Sugden said. “It was just so lovely then.”

When Webb became caretaker, he initially paid $250 in rent. He later reached an agreement in which he could live in the mansion rent-free, but would do all the yard work and interior maintenance. He also agreed to keep the home open for tours twice a week, or by appointment.

Quintero, the current caretaker, signed a similar agreement. He was to keep the property in good condition, keep the inside clean, and open it to the public for tours by appointment.

In exchange, the city would pay for all costs relating to the home’s upkeep, and supply lawn mowers, fertilizers, plants and other garden tools. The city would also pay for all utilities, including the telephone.

Quintero said no one ever called him from the city to set up a public tour, and that he would have been happy to let anyone come through the house.

Early last week, a tour of the home was arranged. Most of the rooms in the historic mansion were clean and orderly, although the contents were covered with dust. The kitchen, however, was filled with dirty dishes, food and garbage, and two upstairs bedrooms were cluttered.

Gomez, the city manager, said he will seek funding from the City Council to renovate the house, clean up the grounds and reopen it as a historical museum for the community. He also said they would search for a new caretaker to keep the home in “proper condition to show at any time.”

Quintero said he is looking for another place to live.

“I feel bad because my uncle was just trying to help me out,” he said. “Now, I have caused him some political troubles.”