DOWNTOWN : Panel Searches for El Pueblo Manager

A seven-member panel overseeing operations at El Pueblo de Los Angeles is starting a nationwide search for a new general manager to run the city’s birthplace, officials said.

Commissioners are scheduled to discuss and finalize the manager’s job description at a meeting Thursday, said chairwoman Lydia Lopez. That information will then be passed along to the city personnel department, which will advertise the opening nationwide. The search could take six to eight months.

“We want the job to be a general manager position that allows us on an annual basis to review that person’s work,” Lopez said.

The commission will also look for an interim director for the El Pueblo monument, home to merchants who run tourist shops and restaurants along Olvera Street.

Manuel Mollinedo, assistant general manager for the city’s recreation and parks department, has been assigned to supervise El Pueblo’s staff until an interim director is appointed. Mollinedo replaces Anthony Gonzales, who ran business operations at the monument for three years when the El Pueblo commission was formed. Because no one was appointed to the seven-member panel until this summer, the parks department has continued to manage El Pueblo and its merchants.

Many Olvera Street merchants who complained about Gonzales’ effectiveness saw his removal as a top priority for the new commission. But before that board could take any action, parks officials decided earlier this month to transfer Gonzales to work at a service yard as an analyst--his regular job title.

“The sense was that it would be good to have a fresh start because it’s no secret that Mr. Gonzales was controversial,” said Elliott Porter, parks personnel director. “This wasn’t disciplinary.”

Porter added that while Gonzales earned $49,235 a year, the permanent El Pueblo general manager could receive at least $75,000 annually.

Gonzales declined comment.

Linda Barth, associate director for history at El Pueblo and director of Travel Town in Griffith Park, said the need to promote and increase visitors to the monument are key concerns for the El Pueblo director.