5 Jewish Centers May Stay Open if Users Will Pay Up

Jewish leaders threatening to close five Los Angeles community centers offered Thursday to keep them open--provided that users help pay off a multimillion-dollar deficit and are willing to eliminate underused recreation and social programs at each site.

The pledge came after about 200 members of the Westside Jewish Community Center picketed the Jewish Federation headquarters and chanted, “Oy vey! We have to stay!”

The protest stemmed from last week’s disclosure by officials of the federation and the community centers that financial problems were forcing them to close the 46-year-old Westside center, along with those in Santa Monica, Silver Lake, Van Nuys and Granada Hills. Programs for teenagers and adults will be terminated by month’s end, although nursery school and after-school programs will continue through June.

A $3-million loan from the federation--to be secured by the deeds to all five centers--will finance the extra six months of children’s programs.

Protesters railed at the specter of the federation selling the facilities to pay off the loan, thereby putting a permanent end to the centers’ generations-old family services.

“Closing the JCCs would be a tragedy for a lot of people,” Assemblyman Paul Koretz (D-West Hollywood) yelled through a bullhorn to a crowd filling the sidewalk and spilling onto Wilshire Boulevard. “The real tragedy would be to give up without a fight.”

Parent Pini Herman said supporters of the Westside center have already raised half of the money needed to eliminate its estimated $250,000 deficit, through pledges and cash. But to entice other donations, a promise that the federation won’t sell the 1950s-style Fairfax district site is needed.

“Do we have that commitment?” shouted parent Amy Raff--glancing toward the federation office building.

Near the end of the hourlong rally, federation President John Fishel stepped outside to assure protesters that officials got their message. “I think we heard it this morning. We are committed to the center serving the Westside,” he said.

After the rally, Fishel and Nina Lieberman Giladi, executive vice president of Jewish Centers of Los Angeles, retired to their offices and outlined their potential rescue plan. They also tried to knock down rumors that have circulated this week about the shuttering of the Westside site.

Angry members of the center allege that the federation has been talking with the Los Angeles Unified School District about converting the Westside center into a public charter school. They have also said that months ago the federation formed focus groups to help pick a new location west of the San Diego Freeway for the center.

Fishel said the school district is one of several groups that have expressed an interest in the Olympic Boulevard property, but “everyone’s been told no decisions for the site have been made.”

The focus groups, he said, were organized to study ways of either adding a third Westside center or expanding the Santa Monica center. “We were looking at some other sites. But never at the expense of the Westside Jewish Community Center. Let me be emphatic about that.”

Responding to criticism that mismanagement might be to blame for the financial crisis, Fishel cited an unexpected 30% or so drop in membership at the five centers (from 3,200 families to 2,100) this fall as the culprit. Besides reducing revenues from $250 family memberships, the drop cut into activity fees collected at the sites, he said.

Giladi said a past policy of trying to make the centers “all things for everybody” was also costly. Restructuring of programs has to be part of any successful resuscitation of the community centers, she said.

“Each has to be analyzed individually,” with programs drawing few participants eliminated, she said.

Officials said members of all five centers are being told that local fund-raising will not only be permitted, it will be a necessity. In the past, there have been complaints that members were prohibited from mounting independent fund-raising campaigns that competed with such efforts by the federation.

And, independence of another sort could be in the future at some of the centers.

Leaders of the Silver Lake Jewish Community Center confirmed Thursday that they might break away from both Fishel’s and Giladi’s groups.

“We are gathering information. We can’t say which direction we’ll go; we don’t have complete financial information yet,” said Mark Feldman, a former member of the board of directors of the Silver Lake center. “But the energy and talent is there for us to become independent.”