Eviction of Lighthouse Keeper Postponed : Parks: The 60-day reprieve will allow community residents to discuss the Point Fermin landmark’s future with Los Angeles officials.
After a barrage of letters and petitions from area residents protesting the decision to evict him, Julian Jimenez has won a temporary stay of eviction from his home in the Point Fermin Lighthouse in San Pedro.
But a senior Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks official insists the stay is just that--temporary. Sooner or later, he says, Jimenez will have to leave the lighthouse where he has lived for the past 10 years.
“I’m just kind of holding on right now,†Jimenez said of the temporary reprieve, which was designed to allow community residents to meet with parks department officials to discuss the future of the lighthouse. “The support of the community has really kept me together. I hope they (parks department officials) will listen to the people.â€
But Jimenez’s boss, David Gonzalez, the newly appointed head of the parks department’s Pacific Region, said, “We’re not caving in†on the Jimenez controversy.
“There’s no doubt about it, he’s not going to stay,†Gonzalez said.
The controversy began in April, when Jimenez was notified that he would have to leave the lighthouse in Point Fermin Park by June 30. Jimenez, 52, a $32,000-a-year maintenance supervisor for the parks department, had lived in the 118-year-old landmark, providing 24-hour security for Point Fermin Park in return for virtually free rent. Although old and in need of repair, the two-story Victorian-style lighthouse provides a breathtaking view of the ocean from its location near the cliffs at Point Fermin.
Jimenez said then that living in the lighthouse had been “a dream come true for me,†and that he had hoped to remain there until he retires in about five years.
Gonzalez said at the time that moving Jimenez was “an internal matter,†and that the parks department wanted to open up the lighthouse to greater public access. Gonzalez said that someone from the department’s recreation division probably would move into the lighthouse, or at least live somewhere on the grounds.
But, if the Jimenez eviction started out as an internal matter, it didn’t remain that way. Soon residents of surrounding communities, concerned that the park would be left without 24-hour supervision and upset that Jimenez was being evicted after a decade of service “above and beyond the call of duty,†started lobbying on his behalf. Petitions were circulated, letters were written, and City Council member Joan Milke Flores was called in to help.
“We have received numerous letters and calls from organizations and individuals in the community supporting the retention of Julian†as the lighthouse’s live-in caretaker, Flores aide Ann D’Amato said. “We haven’t had even one letter or call to the effect that he should move out.â€
Flores introduced a motion before the City Council last week to allow Jimenez to stay in the lighthouse. Although action on that motion was postponed for 60 days, D’Amato said parks department officials agreed to postpone Jimenez’s eviction for 60 days.
Meanwhile, a public meeting to discuss the lighthouse issue has been scheduled for 10 a.m. Saturday, at the American Cetacean Society Building, 807 Paseo del Mar, near the lighthouse in the park. Jimenez supporters say that a rally for Jimenez will be held before the meeting.
Gonzalez says the whole issue has been blown out of proportion.
“Julian Jimenez is not being run out of town,†he said, noting that even if he doesn’t live in the lighthouse, Jimenez will continue the same maintenance tasks he has performed at Point Fermin Park and other nearby city parks.
“He (Jimenez) has known for a long time that there was going to be a change,†Gonzalez said. “It wasn’t an arbitrary or capricious decision on my part. (The lighthouse) really needs to be under the recreation division.â€
Gonzalez said the parks department would unveil firm plans for the lighthouse at the June 27 meeting. As for community support of Jimenez, Gonzalez said that although he understands the sentiment, “We would be totally paralyzed if we had to get community approval for everything.â€
Jimenez, meanwhile, is hopeful that continued community and political pressure on parks department officials will persuade them to reverse the position they insist is irreversible.
“We’ll just have to wait and see,†Jimenez said.
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