Despite the early hour and 50 degree weather, residents were determined to show their passion for saving the building to the ten potential contractors who assembled there for a walk-through of Great Hall / Long Hall that the city required before they could submit bids for the demolition job
“This is a very good turnout,” said protest organizer Stephanie Harker of Protect Plummer Park, the group of local residents that has campaigned against the city’s proposed $41 million renovation of the park. “It was a holiday weekend, and we had very short notice, but we still got 50 people here at 7:30 in the morning
Harker and Cathy Blaivas, two driving forces behind the Protect Plummer Park movement, urged people to attend the Jan. 21 City Council meeting at which the council is expected to take a final vote on demolition of the building. “We need hundreds of people there to show we don’t want the building torn down,” Blaivas said.
If the council does approve demolishing the building, the contractor submitting the lowest bid will then have 20 days to complete the job. Demolishing Great Hall / Long Hall has always been a part of the city’s long-term plan for renovation of the park. That plan was put on hold in February 2012 in response to intense public outcry against the plan. The council promised to bring back alternative designs for the park renovation and to devote an entire council meeting to the future of the park. However, those alternate designs and that single-topic council meeting never materialized. Instead, at its Dec. 2 meeting while the council was considering a proposal by Councilmember John D’Amico to perform emergency repairs and reopen Great Hall / Long Hall for public use, the council voted 3-2 to demolish the buildings and create an open lawn in its place. Councilmember Jeffrey Prang joined D’Amico in voting against the demolition.
Residents at Monday’s protest said the council wasn’t listening to them. “Today’s event is a response from a community begging to be heard,” said resident Lucas John, who is a candidate in the March 2015 City Council election. “When we show up for public comment, we still aren’t heard. The council keeps ignoring the will of the residents.”
Lauren Meister, a local activist and former city planning commissioner, pointed to a statement in the city’s Climate Action Plan, issued in September 2011 at the same time that the city approved its General Plan (which guides development in the city), stating the city encourages reusing and adapting buildings rather their demolition. “They should be practicing what they preach,” Meister said. “They’re setting a bad precedent when they don’t follow their own policies.”
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The most important aspect is to bring together the four lawns. Sorry but Protect Plummer Park has not budged an inch to compromise. Tennis courts belong in the park and I am sure the people who constantly use them would argue they stay. The underground parking feature is NOT happening. First compromise to happen, second there is no air shaft to run close to the preschool which your group did not want. Second compromise. Fiesta Hall will be upgraded but the exterior design will be altered. Third compromise. The design will be debated latter but the contemporary design that Plummer… Read more »
PLEASE circulate the petition mentioned above. We can’t be bullied into a less than perfect park because a few loud mouths insist on speaking for the community.
Nothing against the buildings really, but they just don’t belong there anymore. We need open space, lawns, a place to have a soccer match. A park shouldn’t be a place for offices….besides, the new community center provides plenty of room for anyone needing meeting space–that’s why it’s there!
SIGN THE PETITION
If the 2 southern tennis courts were relocated, and a great open lawn were to be created that way, (which would also save having to demolish trees) great hall/long hall could be utilized for the preschool, opening up where the current preschool is into even more open space….compromise! Win-win…..
https://www.change.org/petitions/city-of-west-hollywood-stop-the-plummer-park-master-plan
While yes, there will be a new building in Plummer Park; a beautiful pre school that West Hollywood can be proud of and not the shameful eyesore it has always been. It is an embarrassment! Plummer Park is also a community park; a park of the City and not a neighborhood park. The most historic act is to Preserve Plummer Park with open green space where a building, Great Hall/Long Hall now stands. This is not worthy of designation as a WPA structure like the Beverly Hills Post Office or many others across the country that actually hired artisans’ to… Read more »
@ wehoan, I am sorry…..what building is replacing Great Hall/Long Hall, (the Nationally Designated buildings)? Is there a plan for a new building? As for the trees at weho park….yes, you are right. The children’s play area does have beautiful shade trees, (which by the way in the new plan for that park, will be removed, and relocated…..), but what about the Great Lawn area, that is what I am talking about. There are very few trees there…..which again, is fine for THAT (oh, please forgive me, my fingers decided on all caps, not me) park. Weho park is not… Read more »
Oh dear, someone has gone off the deep end with the caps lock…. There are actually plenty of trees in the vastly improved West Hollywood Park. Perhaps you’d like to go take a look? I’d suggest looking around the two jungle gym areas. You’ll find them there. And again, just because your definition of an ideal park is a space full or trees for junkies and old cruising men to hide, doesn’t mean that’s what the rest of us want in West Hollywood. Especially if it means replacing a decrepit and crumbling old building with a sleek and beautiful new… Read more »
@wehoan….well now you are making no sense at all….must be sun stroke from spending too much time in shadeless weho park. You see…..you have no idea whom you are stereotyping…..privileged, progressive, wealthy elites!? WOW! You can tell all that from …..from…..what? The fact that we like the old growth shade trees? The fact that We APPRECIATE history? The fact that We DO NOT AGREE? Here is what is TRUE….not for you but for the people who are “shouting”……we do NOT WANT OPEN SPACE at the cost of the trees and buildings…. the precious open space CAN be ACHEIVED without having… Read more »
I mean… can the “crowd” opposed to this project be any more of a caricature of privileged, progressive, wealthy elites? “Think of the trees!” they shout… Get these people a drum circle to attend, stat! Perhaps they can debate divestment from Israel and the merits of banning meat eating while we’re at it… Something tells me removing a few trees for the sake of the overall improvement of this shared space is not going to turn Los Angeles County into an arid wasteland. The new and improved Plummer Park will one day be an asset to the entire West Hollywood… Read more »
Riley: The community wins by moving forward with the removal of the ugly obstacles in an potentially beautiful, open, green park.
Rip that crap down and reassess the space and involve the community in the new project. This is a win-win for all, it’s just that the “crowd” doesn’t know it yet.
Video Here: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=594981720549521&set=vb.286504498063913&type=2&theater
@Coco – oops your ignorance is showing!
I hope the community “wins” on this one. There is no reason to destroy historic buildings. There is always another way to achieve “open space”, but there is NEVER a way to achieve another historic building. And per the trees…who would kill all those trees just to replace them with nothing? There must be something wlse going on there? Does anyone know the true back story?
“A crowd is a small and definable group of people, while ‘the crowd’ is referred to as the so-called lower orders of people in general (the mob).” There is nothing there worthy of preservation. People: Take a picture! Move on!
Coco would weep at your lack of concern. If you’d like a tutorial on historic architecture, please drop me a line. Obviously, you could use a bit of educating in the field.