Dear Friend of Pershing Square,

You have one more chance to call in, on Wednesday, February 10, to speak out for restoring Pershing Square. Instructions are at the bottom of this post. But first, we have a LOT of news!

On January 13, we stopped a meeting of the Cultural Affairs Commission by making public comment about it being an illegal Brown Act violation which was not properly announced to the public. That lack of transparency has sadly been par for the course where Pershing Square’s redesign is concerned.

A Special Meeting was scheduled for January 28, with the Commissioners and presenters in video conference on Zoom, and the public asked to call in on an audio-only line. Pershing Square was again on the agenda. But the Cultural Affairs Department, which organizes these meetings, screwed up again: the phone number given to the public was not connected to the public meeting.

Once again, we spent a frustrating afternoon trying to participate in Los Angeles democracy, which in this case meant complaining to the office of Councilman Kevin de León and the City Attorney about an inaccessible public meeting. And as on January 13, this meeting too was voided for being in violation of the Brown Act.

We heard from a number of you that you tried to call in and had the same frustrating experience. Thank you for making the effort.

Cultural Affairs hopes that the third time will be the charm, and they have again scheduled a vote on allocating $24 Million for a half-baked Pershing Square design that the public doesn’t want.

But here’s something new! This latest agenda includes a link for watching the livestream of the meeting on YouTube. That means if the call-in number is a dud this time, the public will be able to see the meeting that’s happening without their participation.

And by following that YouTube link, we discovered an archive of videos of recent Zoom meetings of the Cultural Affairs Commission! The link to view these meetings have never been shared with the public before.

If you’d like to see how Richard’s complaint about a lack of a proper agenda got the January 13 meeting halted, you can watch it happen in real time here. 

Incredibly, the January 28 meeting ran its full two hours before being retroactively voided over the lack of a working public comment line. Here is video of the Pershing Square presentation (LINK: https://youtu.be/wNbU2VOt6lA?t=897)

We watched it last night, and we learned a lot.

Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Office, represented by Design Czar Christopher Hawthorne (“the client”), is pushing the project forward in the absence of indicted ex-Councilman Jose Huizar. The plan is to do a piecemeal version of Agence Ter’s “winning” design in the hopes that money can be found after work begins and the park can be completed in time for the 2028 Olympics. But if they don’t find the money, Pershing Square will be worse than when they started!

In her presentation, Debra Gerod, the project manager from local architecture firm Gruen Associates, claims it is impossible to restore John Parkinson’s design because large trees can’t be planted over the underground parking garage. (LINK: https://youtu.be/wNbU2VOt6lA?t=1394)

We believe her statement is both misleading and incorrect. It may well be possible to have large trees — as far as we know, no study has ever been done on the possibilities for reintroducing shade trees. In fact, later in the presentation, we learn the plan is to have large 36” box trees in raised planters that can be moved later, if additional funding is ever found to implement Phase 3. The planters will be partially underground, taking advantage of the elevated park design which Phase 3 would remove. (LINK: https://youtu.be/wNbU2VOt6lA?t=1735)

Question: Shouldn’t the park’s current elevation and its potential for allowing large tree plantings be fully explored before moving forward with elements of Agence Ter’s Radical Flatness / Openness scheme?

Even if it’s determined that large trees are not an option in the center of the park, it is still possible to restore Parkinson’s design. Smaller, lighter plantings can provide shade and visual interest, and these were always present in old Pershing Square. The core elements of Parkinson’s design are the axial walkways, benches, lawns and central fountain, not the large trees on lawns where the public was forbidden to walk.

In a change from the January 13 slide show—and we believe in direct response to our social media posts—the sculptures and monuments are explicitly called out as having interim locations in the partially transformed park. However, these apparently will not include Barbara McCarren’s “Hey Day” artwork created for the current Legorreta + Olin park design. The public has never had an opportunity to give feedback on their removal, and we know they have fans. (LINK #1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?t=1428 & LINK #2: https://youtu.be/wNbU2VOt6lA?t=1994 )

A major aspect of Agence Ter’s scheme is reworking garage access, to make it safer for pedestrians entering the park. But with no budget for such major work, this will not happen without “a great civic patron to help fund it.” (LINK https://youtu.be/wNbU2VOt6lA?t=1469)

The new park furniture will be what’s known as Hostile Architecture, designed to be inhospitable to skaters or sleepers. An important question we have been asking for years on our tours: “So, can you take a nap in Pershing Square?” Apparently not in Agence Ter’s version! (LINK: https://youtu.be/wNbU2VOt6lA?t=2039)

After the presentation, the Commissioners gave feedback and asked questions. And that’s when things really got really interesting.
Commissioner Charmaine Jefferson, former Executive Director of the California African American Museum, is skeptical about numerous aspects of the project. She doesn't want to see the iconic Los Angeles palm trees removed. She wonders if all this proposed work would need to be redone by 2030, as zero emission cars become the norm and the parking garage may not be able to accommodate them. (LINK #1: https://youtu.be/wNbU2VOt6lA?t=2612 )

Debra Gerod responds—and here makes either an unintentional error, or a telling hint that the city has plans to find a private partner to fund Pershing Square redevelopment: she repeatedly contrasts the "public" property of the sidewalk with the "private" property of the park. But Pershing Square is not private property. It is our oldest PUBLIC park! (LINK: https://youtu.be/wNbU2VOt6lA?t=2933)

After hearing the response to her concerns, and the excuse that the project is so lacking in funding that the architects don’t know what elements will be completed in Phases 1 and 2, Commissioner Jefferson states that she is not happy with the lack of completeness in the proposal before them. “If I had a chance to have a conversation with the mayor, I would say the following: ‘I could approve this conceptually, but I couldn’t approve this for final.’ Rarely do we have someone come before us without all the signage and other things that are associated with what they’re asking us.” (LINK: https://youtu.be/wNbU2VOt6lA?t=3113)

In response, Debra Gerod seeks to justify Mayor Eric Garcetti's reasoning for moving forward without the money to implement the project. “People have heard about Pershing Square getting renovated for so long, and nothing has happened. So my [maybe] optimistic belief is that if we can get something started and kind of prove that we’re serious about this, that either some great civic patron will come forward, or there will be some way that money is found to complete the design.” (LINK: https://youtu.be/wNbU2VOt6lA?t=3255)

So, how do the Commissioners vote? They make a motion to approve Pershing Square as a conceptual project only, not as final approval. The architect must come back with a better presentation in the future. This motion passes unanimously. (LINK: https://youtu.be/wNbU2VOt6lA?t=4116)

But because the public had no access to this meeting, nothing that happened is valid. The Commissioners have to do it all over again on Wednesday. And this time, they can hear from you—we hope!

Assuming the phone number is working, we again encourage interested citizens to call in to the re-rescheduled meeting at 1:30pm on Wednesday February 10, and make public comment on Item VI. B, PERSHING SQUARE MODERNIZATION.

Please call in (instructions below) and tell the Commissioners to vote no on Item B, PERSHING SQUARE MODERNIZATION. Here is a suggestion of what you might say, and feel free to personalize this message.
"Commissioners, my name is [Name] and I am a resident of [Neighborhood]. I'm asking that you please not approve Item VI. B, Pershing Square Modernization. The non-transparent design competition was spearheaded by Councilman Jose Huizar, ignoring more than 2400 Angelenos who signed the petition asking that John Parkinson's 1910 design be restored. Huizar has since been indicted under Federal racketeering charges and removed from office. This unfunded, undemocratic project has the potential to make the park worse if it is only partially completed, a real possibility. Don't squander millions on a Pershing Square redesign that the public doesn't want, and has had no real opportunity to weigh in on. Please do the right thing and vote no. Pershing Square deserves better." 

WHEN: Wednesday, February 10 at 1:30pm.

TO CALL: Dial 1 (669) 900-6833 and enter Meeting ID 939-6621-5269 for listening to the meeting and making public comments

NEW! TO WATCH THE MEETING LIVESTREAM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZJvISMdpRY

TO SEE THE AGENDA: Click the PDF link here http://ens.lacity.org/cad/affairsagenda/cadaffairsagenda92147564_02102021.pdf

TO SEE THE DESIGN PROPOSAL: Click here https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JpdsuP_atIGqRpCZCWX2uuarPExHYp1g

For more information about the historic park, the restoration campaign and what comes next, please visit: https://restorepershingsquare.blogspot.com

yours for Los Angeles,
Kim Cooper & Richard Schave
The Pershing Square Restoration Society