Preservationists Enter Lincoln Place Fray

Owners postpone planned demolition

Reeve T. Schley
   Mirror staff writer
  
   For the moment, a new lawsuit filed on May 8 in Los Angles Superior Court has spared five buildings from demolition at Lincoln Place — a low-to-moderate income apartment complex just east of Lincoln Boulevard in Venice.
   Robert Bisno, the owner of the apartment complex, which was built just after World War II, has been trying for some time to redevelop the property, and tore down two of the complex’s 52 buildings last month despite vociferous opposition from tenants and community groups.
   The five buildings now targeted for demolition run from 1024 to 1942 Lake Street. They were gutted a year-and-a-half ago and stand empty, with their landscaping ripped up and poisoned, and windows broken by passersby.
   Over the weekend, Bisno agreed not to knock the buildings down, at least in the short-term, after the California Preservation Foundation (CPF) and the Los Angeles-based 20th Century Architecture Alliance, filed a lawsuit challenging permits to raze the buildings.
   All 52 buildings of Lincoln Place were found to have historic significance after the State of California’s Historic Resources Commission said they met the criteria for placement on the National Register of Historic Places in February. (Lincoln Place turned 50 years old in 2001 making it eligible for listing as a historical site.)
   A month later, State Historic Preservation Officer Dr. Knox Mellon forwarded the National Register nomination to the Keeper of the National Register endorsing the Commission’s finding of National Register eligibility.
   Because of the nomination, the groups are claiming that Bisno’s current demolition permits are no longer valid and that he must apply for new ones with the City of Los Angeles.
   “We are concerned about demolition that happens without the appropriate reviews. Local jurisdictions throughout the state have preservation laws that need to be followed,” said Executive Director of CPF, Roberta Deering. “Property owners understand that their property is subject to these laws.”
   There is fresh hope that the buildings may be saved. According to Jan Chatten-Brown, co-counsel on the CPF’s suit, a bid has been made to purchase the gutted buildings on Lake Street. For now, however, preservation advocates are simply trying to keep the structures standing.
   “The Department of Building and Safety is not supposed to issue permits to demolish buildings that are eligible for listing as a historic place,” said Sheila Bernard, the head of Lincoln Place Tenants Association (LPTA). “In order to issue permits they have to make a finding that preservation is not feasible. That requires an investigation and hearing testimony which they have not done. Therefore they don’t have grounds to issue those permits, which is why we are challenging them.”
   The Keeper of the National Register has since returned the nomination for clarification, something that may happen several more times before a decision is made.
   Tenants of Lincoln Place — who have been fighting Bisno for more than a decade – are ecstatic that outside agencies have joined them in the struggle.
   “This is a battle for non-property owners, rights for people. As a society, we have not tackled rights for non-property owners to live stable lives in stable neighborhoods,” Bernard said. “It has been a roller coaster ride for 15 years. You think you’re up and then you are down. All I can say is that up or down we are taking it to the wall.”