(January 19, 2003) -- Despite a massive budget deficit, CA taxpayers will pay half a million dollars to build a 2,000 sq. ft. building in a Long Beach park for a City Hall run entity that's overseen the spray painting of graffiti type markings on the park's existing buildings. (Further photos, below.)
The $500,000 allocation from the CA Dept. of Parks & Recreation will provide 70% of the cost of a new 2,000 sq. ft. building for the Homeland Cultural Center (operated under the City of Long Beach Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Marine) but will not fund its activities.
The Homeland Cultural Center, which is concluding a controversial exhibit of city-authorized graffiti it called, "Wonder Women -- The Girls of Graff, " currently operates out of two trailers and shares a recreation room at LB's MacArthur Park in central Long Beach (Anaheim St. at Gundry Ave.)
The Center's graffiti event (first reported by LBReport.com in late December) was described in a City of LB Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Marine press release as featuring "the art of a new generation" in a "mural collaboration and gallery exhibit" featuring "the top 14 women graffiti artists of Southern California." It added the Center "brings non-traditional art forms such as graffiti into the cultural mainstream by encouraging legitimate expression, appropriate applications and respectful content."
The City of LB web site describes a number of the Center's activities but doesn't mention the permitted graffiti style markings covering large parts of MacArthur Park's buildings. The markings have existed for some time but were first reported by LBReport.com following news of the city-sponsored graffiti exhibit (see Dec. 27/02 LBReport.com coverage.) To view City Hall's web page for the Homeland Cultural Center, click here.
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Photo left shows part of the Homeland Cultural Center's offices in one of two City of LB trailers.
Photo right is part of a MacArthur park building.
The CA Dept. of Parks & Recreation web site says money for Urban Recreational and Cultural Centers (URCC) is used for "the development or rehabilitation of real property consisting of urban recreational and cultural centers, museums, and facilities for wildlife education or environmental education."
On September 24, 2002, LB's Mayor and City Council held their annual 6th district Council meeting in the MacArthur Park Recreation Center building, large parts of which are covered by the markings seen on this page.
(On December 27, LBReport.com extended an opportunity to a staffer at the Homeland Cultural Center to provide a long-form explanation of the activities on which we reported and reiterated this offer on January 11 without success.)
To be considered for state funding under the URCC program, a member of legislature must nominate a project for grant competition. In June, 2001, former LB Councilmember, now Assemblymember Jenny Oropeza (D., Carson-LB) nominated the Homeland Cultural Center.
In October 2001, Phil Hester, LB's Director of the Dept. of Parks, Recreation and Marine advised Councilmembers to apply for the state money. In an October 23, 2001 memo, Mr. Hester described the Homeland Cultural Center as having a "mission to provide a safe place to cultivate, present and preserve the cultures of area residents through the performing and visual arts; and to celebrate the Anaheim (Street) Corridor's dramatic ethnic diversity by enocuraging artistic expression in various cultural traditions."
The memo added, "The development of the proposed 2,000 square-foot cultural project will ensure the future of a program that actively provides youth and adults with opportunities to enhance their lives through arts education projects, molds youth talent into marketable skills, and provides support for youth and adults of an inner-city community."
About a year later, the CA Dept. of Parks & Recreation announced that the City of Long Beach will be given a $500,000 URCC grant to construct a new building for the Homeland Cultural Center. The funding source is Prop. 12, passed by CA voters in March, 2000, designating $2.1 billion for acquisition, development, improvement, rehabilitation, restoration, enhancement and protection of park, recreational, cultural, historic, wildlife, river, and coastal resources.
On November 12, 2002, the LB City Council voted 9-0 to accept the $500,000 from Sacramento. A city staff memo says an additional $200,000 needed to complete the building will come from city collected park impact fees imposed on new development.
The CA Dept. of Parks and Recreation web site contains a list of prioritized nominated projects. It indicates the Homeland Cultural Center's new building was number one among URCC competing projects statewide.
Related coverage (in reverse chronological order):
- Jan 13, 2003: Postcard Size Promotional Piece Showing Child (Toddler Appearing Age) Holding Spray Can Promotes City Hall Sponsored Graffiti "Exhibit" At Long Beach Public Park
- Jan. 13, 2003: Pres./Exec Dir. of Nat'l Anti-Graffiti Group Blasts LB City Hall's Graffiti Policy After Learning About "Wonder Women -- The Girls of Graff" Parks & Rec. Graffiti Event
- Jan. 11, 2003: LBReport.com Editorial: City Hall Turns Public Property At LB's MacArthur Park Into West Coast Version of 70's Graffiti Marked NY Subway Train; Inflicting Double-Standard On Central LB Neighborhood
- Jan. 3, 2003: Digital Editorial Cartoon: Regarding Press-Telegram Editorial: "Two Kinds of Graffiti"
- Jan. 3, 2003: Graffiti, Add'l Follow-Up: Gang Graffiti Mark Alleys Just Blocks From MacArthur Park; 14th St. Vicinity Walnut & Gardenia
- Dec. 27, 2002: Graffiti Follow-Up: See Photos Of What City of LB Allows -- and Encourages -- On Bldgs. In MacArthur Park (Anaheim St. @ Gundry Ave.)
- Dec. 26, 2002: LB Dept. of Parks, Rec & Marine To Sponsor "Top 14 Women Graffiti Artists" of So. Cal In "Mural Collaboration and Gallery Exhibit," Calls It "Art of a New Generation"; Read the Press Release
