Supporters of Bottle Village Vow to Seek Reinstatement of FEMA Funds

Proclaiming that a local junk-art landmark should be saved for the benefit of Simi Valley, America and the world, Bottle Village supporters Wednesday said they would appeal a federal government decision to cut off earthquake repair money for the glass-and-trash monument.

Members of Preserve Bottle Village blasted the city councilwoman and local congressman who pressed the Federal Emergency Management Agency to cancel about $500,000 slated for repairs to the collection of home-made buildings, which were severely damaged in the Northridge earthquake in January 1994.

And although they held out hope for a successful appeal, the supporters insisted that they would, if necessary, find private funds to repair what they consider a significant work of art.

“Bottle Village is going to be here,” said Janice Wilson, the preservation committee’s president. “No one’s going to build a strip mall here.”

After initially approving the repair money, FEMA Director James Lee Witt withdrew the grant last week, saying the site did not qualify for funds because it had been closed to the public for 10 years before the quake.

*

Witt also asked the committee to return $18,900 already spent on an engineering study for the site. Committee member Daniel Paul, curator of the restoration project, said Wednesday that the group did not have enough cash to repay the agency.

Witt’s announcement came after Councilwoman Sandi Webb and Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) protested spending tax money to repair the buildings, pieced together over many years by former Simi resident Tressa “Grandma” Prisbrey. In early March, Webb presented FEMA officials with nearly 2,000 signatures on a petition labeled “better to BULLDOZE BOTTLE VILLAGE than waste $436,500 rebuilding it.”

Wilson said Wednesday that she understood Webb’s philosophical opposition to spending public money to repair damaged art. But she took exception to the suggestion that the unique collection of buildings, crafted from colored glass bottles cemented together, should be flattened.

“We feel it’s very irresponsible of our elected officials to say that,” she said.

Wilson and Paul also disputed Witt’s statement that the site had been closed to the public before the earthquake. Visitors were allowed to tour Bottle Village by appointment, they said. Those who stopped by without calling ahead could walk around the buildings--on Cochran Street east of Tapo Street--if committee members were present.

*

City officials claim that visitors shouldn’t have been on the grounds at all. A 1984 letter to the committee from a Simi Valley building official warned that the structures were unsafe and said tourists should not be allowed on to the site.

Bottle Village backers countered that the city knew that they were still using the site. As proof, they pointed Wednesday to fees they paid the city in 1991 to allow filming among the buildings.

“That was probably a screw-up on somebody’s part at the city,” Webb said Wednesday. “Just because you’re doing something illegally and getting away with it doesn’t make it right.”

Webb also said she hopes that the preservation group can find private donations for repairs. Although she has never toured the site, she said she has peered over the fence and was intrigued by what she saw.

“You know what? I find the place very interesting,” she said. “I just don’t think it should get emergency funds. . . . This country’s going broke and spending money on art.”

*

Bottle Village backers have just under 60 days to appeal the decision, FEMA spokeswoman Vallee Bunting said. They must make their arguments to the state’s Office of Emergency Services, which will then forward the information to Leland Wilson, the FEMA official in charge of Northridge earthquake repairs. Wilson would then have 90 days to make a decision.

Should he decide against them, backers can still appeal to FEMA officials in Washington. If still unsuccessful, they can finally take their appeal to the agency’s director.

Preservation committee members and their supporters Wednesday said the eccentric artwork, which has been declared a state and county historic landmark, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, should be restored as a kind of open-air museum that can bring new visitors to Simi Valley.

Seymour Rosen, director of Los Angeles-based Saving and Preserving Arts and Cultural Environments, said other towns have successfully turned works of folk art into tourist attractions.

“This could have been drawing people to Simi Valley,” he said. “Aside from the Reagan library, there isn’t much reason to get off the road.”