Wobbly Axis : Sculpture Becomes Focus for Library Board Power Shift

Ah, the art of politics. Or, perhaps, the politics of art.

While other libraries go without new periodicals, the Palos Verdes library district was wealthy enough to pay $150,000 for a celestially themed abstract sculpture for its library. Some people loved it, some people hated it, and some felt simply that money like that would have been better spent on books.

The sculpture became the emotional pivot point for a rancorous debate over luxurious spending in the Palos Verdes Library District.

Art may be eternal but library positions are not. This week, opponents of the sculpture ousted incumbent library board members, winning a majority on the board. On Thursday night, the library director resigned.

Voted in Tuesday were Robert Katherman, Virginia Warren and John Dixon. To varying degrees, the three had blasted not only the sculpture that runs through the four floors of the district’s newly refurbished central library in Rolling Hills Estates, but also the two $57,000 bronze cheetahs, the cost overruns on the $19-million refurbishment, the leather reading chairs and the $340 trash cans.

If not books, they said, how about spending the money on more hours at their district’s three branches, which serve about 69,000 people in Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes and Palos Verdes Estates. Dixon was especially critical of the management of the district, which he said lay at the heart of what he called misplaced budget priorities.

“The art really represents the decadence of the previous board,” said Dixon, who placed third in the balloting, narrowly edging out incumbent Steve Peden. “Their whole direction was not to buy books, have more hours or servicing the community. It was toward building a Taj Mahal.”

Along with Peden, incumbent Mary Borell was also voted out. Neither was on the board when the artwork or library renovation plans were originally approved, but they were members when the artwork purchases and cost overruns became widely known this year. The third seat on the board had been left vacant with the departure of longtime panel member William Glantz.

Then, at Thursday night’s board meeting, library Director Linda Elliott resigned after eight years in the job. Her stewardship of the district also had been debated during the campaign.

“I think it was the right time to move on,” Elliott told The Times. “It’s the best interest of everybody involved.”

Peden said Elliott had decided to step down because of lingering acrimony left by the race.

“Linda’s competence, her integrity, her work ethic, morality and virtually everything else about her has been publicly and quite insultingly questioned,” Peden said.

Although his debut as trustee is not until Dec. 14, Dixon is already feverishly planning an overhaul of the district.

He is looking to reorganize the district’s administration and cut costs. A major issue in the election was the overall cost of the central library refurbishment, which came in about $2 million more than the library’s initial estimate of $17 million.

Library board member Janet Smith acknowledged that there were cost overruns but placed the figure at $694,000, not $2 million. The difference, she said, was erased by interest the district earned from money from a $16-million bond issue passed in 1991 to finance the project.

Dixon contends that the overrun was much higher and that the district is using dubious bookkeeping methods to hide it.

Also tucked into Dixon’s proposals is a call to tear down the 13-foot leaning tower of plexiglass and steel perched on the roof of the main library as part of an abstract sculpture of a pole speared smack through the four-story facility.

Created by Marina del Rey artist Lita Albuquerque, the sculpture called “Steller Axis” used the tower, reverse gold-leaf ceiling domes and marble discs on floors to create the illusion of a giant staff skewering the library.

Supporters have called it the crown jewel of a “spectacular library for a spectacular community.”

Dixon sees it differently.

“It’s kind of ridiculous,” the retired Palos Verdes Estates businessman said. “I don’t think it adds anything to the building at all.”

Although the library district is under contract with Albuquerque to preserve “Stellar Axis,” Dixon is weighing a possible legal challenge to the agreement. He also is considering sending an engineer to the roof to check the tower for structural and seismic weaknesses that could trigger its demolition as a safety hazard.

Dixon reasoned that it might be cheaper to tear the tower down than to maintain it during the life of the new facility.

Speaking from her studio, Albuquerque said she was saddened and concerned by the reaction to her work.

“It’s classic public art debate,” said the artist of 25 years.

The sculpture, she said, is meant not only to inspire patrons in their search for the immediate knowledge that the library provides but also to pique their curiosity about their place in the universe. Albuquerque said she designed the work so that twice a year, viewers will be able to watch the pace of the Earth’s rotation at a spot on the fourth floor by seeing the sun’s image as it passes over the transparent tower.

The artist came before the board Thursday night with a proposal to provide an explanation of the piece etched in a book of glass--for free. The board left the decision for the new board.

Albuquerque has won support for the proposal from board member Smith, who has been on the board for 10 years and voted to approve the initial design for “Stellar Axis.” She also said she would fight Dixon’s plans to shear off the tower.

“I like it,” she said. “Mr. Dixon’s taste in fine art is different than mine and mine is different than other people on the peninsula.”

Or, as Rancho Palos Verdes resident Julie Botzona put it: Even though she doesn’t care for “Stellar Axis,” “Art is art.”