Councilman Pulls Plug on Holiday Light Display

It’s Christmas time in the city, the old carol says, but no one would ever know it in San Pedro. The port town’s holiday decorations haven’t been hung with care. In fact, they haven’t been hung at all.

In a local tempest that has dampened San Pedro’s holiday spirit, merchants say their Los Angeles city councilman, Rudy Svorinich Jr., has stubbornly refused to release $8,000 in business improvement district funds earmarked for holiday promotions and to put up Christmas trimmings around town.

Svorinich says the money--which is not the city’s--should be used for something less festive: cleaning sidewalks and streets. His office contends that too much was spent on decor last year.

Now, after months of wrangling, members of the business improvement district have filed suit against Svornich. Instead of holiday markings, their shop windows are adorned with protests--postings of the lawsuit and posters bearing the initials SPUD, for “Stupid Politicians Undermining Democracy.”

At issue are 100 5-foot wrought-iron frames that can be fitted with garlands, lights and holiday-related art. Since 1994, they have been hung from lampposts on 6th and 7th streets, and along Pacific Avenue from 5th to 9th streets.

“The decorations are something special,” said Janet Schaaf-Gunter, an antiques shop owner who sits on the improvement district board. “We had hoped to turn them into a tradition. It’s now too late to do anything.”

The San Pedro Business Improvement District includes about 250 merchants and property owners who pay self-assessed fees for projects that the city won’t pay for. Although the city holds the money in its accounts, it is spent according to an annual budget written by a board of locally elected business owners. The budget is approved by the City Council.

This year, the board wants to use $8,000 for holiday promotions on cable TV and the installation of decorations. The amount is part of $26,000 in district funds the councilman has refused to release. The other $18,000 has been earmarked for sidewalk maintenance, planter replacement, tree care and tree lighting.

But in its lawsuit, filed last month, the district alleges that Svorinich improperly held up the full amount and asked the city clerk’s office to rewrite the district’s budget to spend it on street maintenance--with none for decorations. It accuses Svorinich of violating state law, which provides for local control of improvement district funds.

“Rudy for some reason wants to control how the money is being spent,” said Liz Fagan, a children’s clothing store owner and business district president. “We feel that once we sign a contract with the city, he doesn’t have control. He can’t change anything we do.”

Svorinich could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Barry S. Glickman, his chief of staff, disputed charges that his boss had somehow ruined the holidays in his hometown.

“This is a bunch of bunk,” Glickman said. “They had a chance to cooperate and they chose not too. The grinch is spelled F-A-G-A--N.”

Glickman said Svorinich, like other City Council members, has the authority to change improvement district budgets. The increase in funds for sidewalk maintenance, he added, reflects the San Pedro district’s “No. 1 priority.”

Complicating matters is a dispute over whether the budget is valid any more. The district signs a contract with the city to administer the funds, and city officials say that contract expired in June. That means the businesses have no grounds to collect the money, city officials add.

Moreover, Los Angeles City Clerk J. Michael Carey said the city allowed the contract to expire because, among other things, the district spent more than it was supposed to last year on the Christmas decorations.

Fagan said the district had some leeway in its budget last year for decorations and that the board queried the city three times about renewing the district’s contract but never received a reply.

The decorations, meanwhile, are gathering dust in the basement of an office building on Pacific Avenue.

“It’s too bad,” said John Barbieri, former president of the San Pedro Chamber of Commerce. “What is more fundamental than hanging out Christmas decorations to improve our image?”