Man Fights for 5 Years to Get Restrooms at Brand Park Fixed

Most people wouldn’t make a fuss about closed public restrooms at a city park. But for five years, Joe Lozano has pestered Los Angeles officials to renovate a damaged historic building that houses restrooms at Brand Park.

Getting the restrooms fixed is a matter of community pride for Lozano, who has lived near the park for 40 years. Located across from the San Fernando Mission, Brand Park is a popular spot for brides to be photographed.

Two years ago, after a request from Lozano for working toilets, officials installed portable toilets at the park. The 66-year-old activist was appeased, but not satisfied.

“Can you picture somebody’s daughter going into a portable in a wedding dress? That happens,” said Lozano.

The restrooms were closed in the early 1990s for repairs, officials said, and then suffered structural damage during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. They remain boarded up today.

“I don’t understand what the deal is here,” Lozano said. “They had money. They had gotten a contractor.”

Kevin Regan of the city Recreation and Parks Department acknowledged that getting money to pay a contractor to repair the restrooms should have resolved the problem. But it didn’t.

“Sometimes these things happen. No one person or agency is trying to drag this thing,” said Regan, superintendent of operations for the San Fernando Valley. “Does it take six years to fix a bathroom in the city of Los Angeles? No, it doesn’t. But certain projects become complicated.”

According to Regan, this project was complicated from the start because the city had a difficult time finding funds.

The building, which was built between 1910 and 1920, was closed in 1992 because of bad pipes and other infrastructure problems. Two years later, it sustained earthquake damage, enabling the city to apply for Federal Emergency Management Agency money.

After securing federal and city funds, Los Angeles city officials said, they were hit with another string of bad luck: A general contractor was removed from the job last September for not paying his workers sufficient wages and a bonding company has balked at paying an estimated $130,000 to finish the project.

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Keeping the park well maintained has been a vocation for Lozano, who retired four years ago from a job building film set props. Last year, he convinced the city to pave the park’s dirt parking lot.

“He’s been the nudge, the advocate to keep this fresh in our minds,” said Maureen Tamuri, an assistant general manager at Recreation and Parks. “Joe has helped us to remember that it’s not just the big projects that count.”

Officials concede that repairing the restrooms has not always been a prime concern.

“In the overall scope of things, broken restrooms were not the No. 1 priority in the department. There are only so many projects the department can handle at one time,” Regan said, adding it is responsible for 1,200 park buildings.

There are restrooms at the other end of the park, but during a recent Wednesday afternoon, visitor Laura Esquivel said she avoids them because they are dirty and often inhabited by homeless men drinking alcohol.

“They come out when you go in and then they go in again,” said Esquivel, 28, of Mission Hills. “Sometimes it’s very dirty.”

Such inconveniences are expected to end soon because city officials say they have found money to finish the repairs, which will be done by city workers.

Construction could begin next month and be completed by August, Tamuri said.

Lozano will play a prominent role during the grand opening, said David Gershwin, press deputy for City Councilman Alex Padilla, who represents the area.

“He will be getting something along the lines of a proverbial first flush,” Gershwin said.