Council Panel Debates Greek Theatre Contract

A proposed contract extension for the operators of the Greek Theatre ran into a buzz saw Monday at City Hall, as dozens of workers urged approval while neighbors and rival firms warned a council committee against taking an action that they believe is wrong and illegal.

In the end, the committee voted to direct the questions raised to its staff and return the issue in two weeks. But the committee members did not reach that conclusion until after a long, polarizing debate.

Two entertainment companies are seeking to win the contract to operate the popular outdoor venue from Nederlander-Greek Inc., the firm that has operated the Greek in Los Feliz for 24 years.

The controversy over the proposed contract extension was so intense that the meeting room overflowed. One council member had to be turned away under rules that prevent a majority of the council from convening without prior notice.

Councilwoman Rita Walters, one of three committee members, argued against the extension, taking particular aim at Nederlander for offering to raise salaries for minimum-wage workers in return for receiving a five-year contract extension.

“If you are so concerned about the living wage, why don’t you pay it to them now?” Walters asked a company representative. “You’re holding them hostage to the city extending this contract to you.”

By contrast, Walters’ committee colleague, Councilman Hal Bernson, made it clear that he supports the extension. Bernson argued that the theater needs improvements and that the fastest way to get them is to grant Nederlander an extension and have the work begin immediately.

“It’s important that we do these things,” he said. “And it’s important that we do them now.”

The split between those two members left newly elected Councilman Alex Padilla on the hot seat, a position he weathered with evident discomfort. He won his seat earlier this year with the support of organized labor--which supports the extension--and with the help of a key lobbyist working to oppose it. Padilla sat stonily through most of the hearing, and afterward declined to say much.

“There are a lot of issues,” he said. “We still have not resolved them.”

Where Padilla was reticent, others were outspoken.

Walters especially was in combative form. When Nederlander representatives said they needed the extension to add restrooms to the park, Walters sarcastically probed about whether the lines outside its current bathrooms--there are 43 stalls for a theater that seats more than 6,100 people--had formed overnight.

When LeRoy Chase, a member of the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission, spoke to defend the extension and the Park Commission’s 3-2 vote to grant it, Walters pounced.

“I don’t know what it is about the charter that your commission, Mr. Chase, has such difficulty understanding,” she said.

That drew a retort from Bernson, who accused Walters of mistreating a citizen commissioner. Bernson also lashed out at Councilman Joel Wachs, another critic of the extension who has suggested that it was the product of a “back-room deal.”

“I resent those kind of remarks,” Bernson said, adding, by way of explanation: “This is election season.”