Westside Jewish Center Gets Reprieve

The new president of the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles has unveiled plans to save and renovate the group’s Westside center, an institution beloved by generations that officials had threatened to close because of money woes.

“It’s time to really step forward and rebuild that facility into what the community there deserves,” said Marty Jannol, the organization’s new chief volunteer.

The news cheered patrons of the Fairfax-area center, who were outraged earlier this month when the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles, an umbrella group that supports 15 Jewish agencies, and the Jewish Community Centers, one of its chief beneficiaries, revealed plans to cut back cultural and social services because of a worsening financial crisis.

Officials warned at the time that they would have to close the 47-year-old Westside center and others in Santa Monica, Silver Lake, Van Nuys and Granada Hills.

Programs for teenagers and adults were to be terminated by month’s end. Nursery school and after-school programs would continue through June, thanks to a $3-million loan from the federation, to be secured by the deeds to the five centers.

The news that officials want the Westside center at 5870 W. Olympic Blvd. to survive pleased Marsha Schoen, whose daughter, Arielle, 4, attends preschool there.

“I would do anything I could to help the center stay with us,” she said. “It’s a very valuable part of our community. The fact that it’s intergenerational really appeals to me.”

Known for attracting patrons of all ages--Orthodox and secular, Conservative and Reform, nominally religious and devout--the Westside center still faces a daunting task to preserve itself.

“We simply do not have the revenues to fund ongoing operations as . . . in the past,” Jannol told the Jewish Community Centers’ board of directors Sunday, his first day as president.

The planned modernization of the center would cost about $8 million, Jannol said. So far, a multiyear fund-raising effort has drawn pledges of about $4 million, but only a little more than $1 million has been collected, he said.

Jannol said the centers’ financial woes result from several factors, including a steep membership decline, unexpected increases in insurance costs, and a long-running inability to “make the hard decisions” about which programs to eliminate. Lax accounting practices also have contributed to the problem, he said.

Plans call for the Westside facility to be renovated into a state-of-the-art center that would be one of two full-service centers in the region. The other would be the existing West Valley center at 22622 Vanowen St., West Hills.

Jannol said that unless an “angel” unexpectedly steps forward with a hefty donation, the other four centers scheduled for closure will still have to be sold to help repay the federation’s loan. Officials are waiting for appraisals on those properties.

The Jewish Community Centers would also continue to operate its profitable Conejo Valley Early Childhood Education Center, its Zimmer Children’s Museum and the Shalom Institute, a camp and conference center in Malibu.

The Jewish Community Centers group plans to develop satellite programs that could serve patrons who do not live near the remaining centers.

“This is a great glimmer of hope,” said Tony Cowan, a member of a seniors exercise group that uses the Westside center, of the decision to keep the facility operating. He said a community meeting to discuss the matter is planned at the center at 10 a.m. Sunday.