Still Trying to Turn the Corner

A $14.5-million face lift, most notable for a purple carillon tower, was supposed to turn Pershing Square from bedraggled turf into a lovely and lively oasis for downtown Los Angeles. At its reopening four years ago, Mayor Richard Riordan praised the park as “a breath of fresh air, a vision of hope.”

Today, however, the mood at the park is more disappointment than hope. The five-acre square stands as a hard lesson about the limits of urban design in overcoming social problems in American cities, particularly homelessness.

Neighbors complain that the city has not kept its promises of amenities and special events to attract many more downtown workers, shoppers and tourists to the park. Some people contend that the square’s dramatic architecture is so harsh in its efforts to discourage the homeless and drug dealers that other people feel uncomfortable there too. Although the square is much safer and more pleasant than its predecessor, some of the old worries are creeping back behind its canary yellow walls and along its tidal pool fountain.

The problems have spawned an effort to turn the park over to private management. That is being led by neighboring property owners who financed more than half of the square’s redesign with an $8.5-million bond issue that requires annual payments of more than $600,000. Even if the square remains city-owned, they propose that it be administered by the Downtown Center Business Improvement District, a nongovernmental group that last month began using additional private funds to clean nearby streets.

“There is no question that Pershing Square feels better than before. But the question is whether the city and property owners are getting their money’s worth, and the answer is no,” said Carol Schatz, president of the Central City Assn., which represents downtown business interests and helped form the improvement district. City control of the park, she emphasized, “has not lived up to expectations.”

Some city officials, especially Councilwoman Rita Walters, who represents downtown, strongly oppose the proposal. “I’m not in favor of privatizing a city park,” Walters said. “Parks are too few and too precious in this city.”

In a counteroffensive against the idea, the city Recreation and Parks Department reports that it recently began an effort to enliven the square with more concerts and, possibly, a weekly farmers market.

Some critics blame the problems on Pershing Square’s design, its fifth remake since it was set aside as public space in 1866. Perimeter walls meant to conceal the fact that the park is basically a platform on top of a parking garage have, they say, further isolated a square that already was an island. To discourage camping by the homeless, the park has no bathrooms and only a small lawn amid such quirky features as a walkway that resembles an earthquake fault. Families with children also feel the lack of toilets and expansive lawns.

The underground garage creates another problem. Because it is difficult to grow many deep-rooted trees, the square lacks the cooling shade that draws so many more people to the Maguire Gardens in front of the Central Library two blocks away. (Plus, the library park gets a steady stream of businesspeople and schoolchildren en route to the book stacks, a natural foot traffic that Pershing Square lacks.)

But fans of Pershing Square’s 1994 design--a series of strong sculptural forms set off by lemon and palm trees and interesting artworks--argue that those flaws are minor and might be fixed.

Donald Loze, president of the Pershing Square Property Owners Assn., proudly points to wonderful aspects that more Angelenos should see: benches decorated with Los Angeles postcards from the 1920s and ‘30s, telescopes that show photos of the turn-of-the-century city, an open-air cafe run by the nearby Regal Biltmore Hotel, and a waterfall into the fountain.

Boosters insist that Pershing Square would be very popular today if the city maintained, patrolled and programmed it better. The square, they complain, should be bustling with snack carts, newsstands, chess tables, art shows and fashion events.

After recent visits to the square, its Philadelphia-based landscape architect, Laurie Olin, said he was upset by the unswept litter and by the relatively small number of people there. “I’ve been saddened and disappointed,” Olin said. The park, he added, “doesn’t have any sense that it is loved and well cared for.”

The square’s architect, Ricardo Legorreta of Mexico City, hasn’t been to the park lately but said worldwide experiences prove that neighbors take better care of a public space than large bureaucracies do. He defended his design and suggested that critics “will react very differently the moment you have more activity there.”

Jackie Tatum, general manager of the parks department, has pledged to seek more funds for better upkeep and security than what she said the current $253,330-a-year budget allows. She recently hired a new part-time events planner for Pershing Square to attract more entertainment than the 20 lunchtime concerts held there last summer.

“We need to do some things to enhance it, to put out the welcome mat,” Tatum said. But she stressed that the park, located between 5th, 6th, Hill and Olive streets, cannot be fully shielded from the social and economic problems of downtown.

Tatum said she is studying the idea of adding a closely monitored bathroom in the park’s small office structure as a way to discourage public urination. There are many fewer homeless people in the park now than before its redesign, but they tend to dominate the relatively secluded northeast corner, where old statues stand and the stench of urine is powerful.

Also under consideration, she said, are retractable gates at the square’s four corner entrances that could be closed at night to prevent sleeping or vandalism in the park.

Tom Gilmore, president of a corporation that owns two jewelry district buildings across the street, said that he is pleased with the square’s new look and that it is a much nicer place than during its previous incarnation. But Gilmore, whose two buildings pay $75,000 a year for the park bonds, compared the square to a woman “who is all gussied up with nowhere to go because no one ever brought her anywhere.” The parks department already had its chance for programs there and bungled the last four years, he said.

Supporters of the improvement district takeover cite successes in private management of parks around the country. New York’s Bryant Park, also designed by Olin, changed from an outdoor drug bazaar to a green and civilized spot under a semiprivate organization that stresses law enforcement. At the southern edge of downtown Los Angeles, the Community Redevelopment Agency’s Grand Hope Park appears to operate well under a nonprofit board dominated by nearby property owners.

The redevelopment agency paid $6 million for Pershing Square’s construction, sharing costs with adjacent property owners. Angry about how Tatum’s agency managed the square and hoping for an improvement district takeover, the redevelopment agency long delayed handing over its remaining $324,000 in Pershing Square funds to the parks department. Finally, under pressure from Councilwoman Walters, the money was transferred in January.

Four years ago, officials predicted that Pershing Square would become a social crossroads for auto-dominated Los Angeles. Its location, they said, would attract white-collar employees from downtown’s western side, shoppers from the Latino stores on Broadway and the multiethnic jewelry district, subway riders from the adjacent Red Line station, tourists in hotels such as the Biltmore and homeless people seeking a safe place to rest.

That mixture seems to be happening but in much smaller numbers than hoped for. On a recent sunny afternoon, about 50 people were in the park, about a third of them obviously homeless men with sleeping bags. Gardeners were trimming plants and an artist was selling pencil portraits. Some people were reading by the fountain’s edge and a young couple embraced at a cafe table.

Armando Roldan, a watch repairman who works nearby, said he has eaten lunch in Pershing Square several times a week, going back to its previous design. “It’s much better than the old park,” the West Covina resident said, sitting on a low wall near the square’s central lemon trees. “I like to come here and relax.” His one complaint is about the smell of urine on the eastern side.

Los Angeles Police Officer Dorian Jones has helped patrol the square for four years, supplemented by park rangers. “All in all, it’s a nice place to visit as long as there is a cop here,” he said.

On an average weekday, Jones estimated, as many as 500 people stop in the park between 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. “Other times, there are not a lot of people here,” he said. “A lot of hours, it’s dead.”