Demolition Derby Has Chick and Holden Ready to Rubble

It may be cracked and dilapidated, but that hasn’t stopped a modest building in the Mid-Wilshire area from becoming the flash point of a turf war between Los Angeles City Council members Laura Chick and Nate Holden.

Technically, it’s Holden’s turf, fair and square. The building near the Wiltern Theatre sits in the Central City council district that he has represented for years. But when the Los Angeles Conservancy latched onto the building for its historical value and appealed to Chick to halt its demolition, the west San Fernando Valley representative sallied forth to save it, pouring more ice on an already none-too-warm working relationship with her colleague.

“We need to be careful about this rule of ‘Don’t pay attention to anything in anybody else’s district,’ ” Chick said. The so-called McKinley building “is a citywide issue.”

Holden doesn’t see it that way and resents the motion Chick has made to block the demolition that the owner, who has waited at least two years to unload the property, has requested.

“That building has no historical value, in my view, and even if it did, it’s too far gone. You can’t save it,” Holden said. “If they had a legitimate argument as to why the building should be saved, it would not irk me. But because of the unfairness [to the owner], I am bothered by it.”

The Spanish-style McKinley building was constructed in 1923 by the same architects who designed the Wiltern, El Capitan, Pantages and Mayan theaters. It was damaged in the Northridge earthquake, which split cracks in the building’s delicately carved facade.

With such a “paltry number” of historic structures in Los Angeles, Chick said, priority should be given to saving the McKinley building. “If I were going to bring down a historic building in my district and my colleagues wanted to weigh in with questions and concerns, that would be totally appropriate,” Chick said.

Indeed, her motion is backed by Valley-based Councilmen Hal Bernson, who demanded a personal tour of the site by Building and Safety officials, and Joel Wachs.

Holden snorts in derision, calling Wachs a lap dog of the conservancy and labeling Chick’s efforts to salvage the building a futile attempt to earn votes outside her district if she decides to run for mayor.

“She’s going to get as close to the mayor’s office as she’s going to get to the presidency,” Holden scoffed.

3 for the Show

Was it really one of the “great moments in history,” as the caption declared? Great or not, it was certainly a rare enough event to warrant a framed photograph now in the possession of City Council President John Ferraro.

The occasion: a meeting of the council’s Transportation Committee with--gasp--all three members actually present. Through the year that Councilmen Nate Holden, Hal Bernson and Rudy Svorinich sat on the panel, a full complement was about as rare a sight as the Hope diamond.

So when the three showed up in August for their final meeting together, they flashed their pearlies for a photographer to document the phenomenon.

“The best team ever,” Holden signed on the photograph.

“Best wishes,” Bernson wrote.

More often than not, Holden was the only one at the committee’s meetings. Gossip has it that Holden, the longtime chairman of the panel, was kicked off by Ferraro in August following complaints from transit firms and others that he too often delayed or killed key transportation contracts and ordinances.

But where was Bernson, who counts transportation as one of his key issues and has sat as an alternate on the powerful Metropolitan Transportation Authority?

“It wasn’t so much that it wasn’t a high priority,” said Bernson aide Greig Smith.

He paused to choose his words. “Things wouldn’t come to committee that should’ve come to committee. When they did come . . . they were frequently many months late,” Smith said. “It was really unproductive.”

Finally he said flatly: “It was the committee chairman’s way of doing things that slowed down the process.”

Not to worry anymore. Not only did Ferraro bump Holden off the panel, but Bernson lost his committee seat in the reshuffle as well. Svorinich kept his, to be joined by Joel Wachs and the new chairman, northeast Valley representative Richard Alarcon.

Taking a Hike

Next year, when local members of Congress hit the campaign trail to seek reelection, challengers may try to make an issue of a $3,072 pay raise that they are expected to get this year.

But it will be hard to criticize Congress for the raise because technically its members did not vote to increase their pay. Instead, they can only be accused of failing to block an automatic annual pay raise that hikes their salary to $136,672.

Since 1989, members of Congress and other federal employees have been entitled to an annual cost of living adjustment, or COLA. But in the past four years, Congress has introduced legislation to block the increase, arguing that a raise was inappropriate in the face of tough budget cuts.

This year, however, no such legislation was introduced. Indeed, the appropriation bill that allows the raises to go through passed Congress by a comfortable margin.

By failing to include the language, members of Congress can technically say they never voted to increase their salary.

But that tactic didn’t fly with everyone.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), who voted against the appropriation bill that cleared the way for a raise, objected to the deceptive way the pay hike was approved.

“This was a vote against a conference report that involved a whole lot of other items,” he said. “You have to read what wasn’t there.”

Rep. James E. Rogan (R-Glendale) also voted against the bill, saying members of Congress need to continue to work to “provide tax relief and a balanced federal budget . . . before even considering giving themselves a raise.”

Reps. Howard “Buck” McKeon (R-Santa Clarita), Howard Berman (D-Mission Hills) and Henry Waxman (D-Los Angeles) voted for the bill.

Newt Testament

For the third time in his career, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) flew into Southern California this week to give a helping hand to fellow Republican Buck McKeon by speaking at a McKeon fund-raiser in Granada Hills.

Guests at the event said Gingrich’s appearance was the speaker’s way of thanking McKeon for being one of only a handful of representatives who voted against a motion to fine and reprimand Gingrich for ethical lapses.

McKeon, however, was on the losing end of that vote and Gingrich was ultimately fined $300,000.

Dubbed the “Yankee Doodle Dazzle,” the fund-raiser was held at the posh Odyssey restaurant, on a hill overlooking the Valley, and was hosted by KABC-TV Channel 7 sportscaster Todd Donoho. Among the guests were Galpin Ford owner Bert Boeckmann, Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Riverside) and Laidlaw Transit Vice President Irwin Rosenberg, whom McKeon repeatedly referred to as ‘Art.’

Rosenberg later attributed McKeon’s faux pas to being nervous at appearing with Gingrich.

At $250 a plate for approximately 350 guests, the dinner netted about $87,500. With that kind of dough coming in, it was surprising that McKeon’s staff handed out media credentials that were tied to the end of a length of frayed twine. No respect for the fourth estate.

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Quotable

“We delivered as a union for our members and we won. And we didn’t have to go on strike.”

Alejandro Stephens, president of Service Employees International Union Local 660, after all-night negotiations resulted in a labor agreement with the county.