Council to Review Designation of Plaza as Site for Protests

Under growing political pressure, Los Angeles City Council members Tuesday said they intend to reconsider their controversial decision to designate Pershing Square an official protest site during this summer’s Democratic National Convention.

Councilman Nate Holden said he was preparing a motion that would reverse last Friday’s vote to make the plaza, in the heart of the downtown business district, the gathering point for thousands of demonstrators.

“The council made a very bad decision under duress,” Holden said. “The Police Department has to have ample time to sit down and discuss the issue. That didn’t happen.”

The council voted last Friday to designate Pershing Square as a gathering area in exchange for Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg’s support of a motion to spend $4 million in city money to shore up the convention’s fund-raising.

Without Goldberg’s backing, the motion to allocate the funds would have fallen one vote short of passing. Since the action, some council members say they have been inundated with phone calls, mostly from citizens complaining about the decision to allocate public funds to the convention.

Although lawmakers expressed continued support for the $4-million public subsidy, several of them have since questioned the wisdom of making the square--which is across the street from the historic Biltmore Hotel and next to the jewelry district--the central place for demonstrators to confer and assemble during the Aug. 14-17 event.

“At the end of the day, you don’t want to do anything that is irresponsible,” said Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas, who voted in favor of the public subsidy and the Pershing Square amendment.

The other votes for the proposal came from Goldberg, Ruth Galanter, Holden, Mike Hernandez, Hal Bernson, Alex Padilla and Nick Pacheco. Voting against the subsidy and the demonstration area were Joel Wachs, Cindy Miscikowski, Mike Feuer, Laura Chick and Rudy Svorinich. Council President John Ferraro and Councilwoman Rita Walters were absent.

Police Department officials and representatives of the downtown business community have sharply criticized last week’s decision.

“This is not a decision we can live with,” said Hilary Norton Orozco of the Central City Assn. “It’s just too easy for things to get out of hand.”

The council is set today to receive a briefing from Police Chief Bernard C. Parks on security measures that the department will use to control demonstrations during the convention. If council members have not done so already, Parks is expected to urge them to abandon the Pershing Square plan. Police want to limit demonstrations to a parking lot near Staples Center, where the convention will be held.

Although Goldberg’s proposal did not envision turning Pershing Square into a protest site--the councilwoman described it as a gathering place for demonstrators that would supplement but not replace the Staples site--some authorities worry that it would become a protest site once demonstrators were gathered there.

“Our overall goal would be to dissuade them from making Pershing Square the demonstration site,” said LAPD spokesman Lt. Horace Frank. “Pershing Square tactically would be a fiasco for us.”

Using the square as a demonstration site poses significant security concerns because of its location opposite the Biltmore, where VIPs and convention delegates will be staying, Frank said.

If demonstrations are held in the square, police officials are concerned that there might be difficulty moving delegates between that area and Staples Center. The proximity to the jewelry district poses additional security concerns should any trouble occur, officials say.

Orozco also expressed concern that use of the square by demonstrators could block entrances and exits of the large parking garage under the square.

“The council voted and did not guarantee the safety of surrounding businesses and people who are parking there,” she said.

If the council does not overturn its action on Pershing Square, Orozco said, the business group will appeal to the city’s Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners, which still must sign off on the plan.

Goldberg, meanwhile, said she was dismayed that Holden was calling for another vote on the issue.

“It’s chicken to ask me to vote for something and then come back and undo it,” she said. “It was just a bait-and-switch.”

Goldberg said she believes the site would be a perfect gathering place for protesters because there is plenty of parking and it is easy to get to via public transportation.

“It’s an ideal place away from the hubbub but near where the delegates will be able to see them,” Goldberg said. “Free speech means nothing if you don’t have a place that is centrally located to express it.”

Councilman Joel Wachs said he would like to see the council reverse itself on the use of the park, as well as the $4-million subsidy. On Tuesday, he sent a letter to the Board of Recreation and Park Commissioners, asking it to oppose the Pershing Square plan.

In a letter to commission president and rival mayoral candidate Steve Soboroff, Wachs asked the board to “hold a special meeting as soon as possible, and unanimously deny that request.”

Since the council’s action, Wachs wrote, “there have been widespread rumors that the DNC itself is threatening to move its headquarters hotel from downtown to the Westside, thereby obviating any promised benefits to the downtown community.”

In an interview, Wachs called the council decision “a total slap in the face of the taxpayers.”

“It’s never too late to admit you made a mistake,” he said.