The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 582

SAN GABRIEL VALLEY Cos Atifleles Slimes Sunday. August 31, 1986 SI'art IX EPA May Change ump Site Status, if Clear Way for Sale If By MIKE WARD, Times Staff Writer MONTEREY PARK-The U.S. -J i I I Takata said that the EPA has never objected to the sale of the property or tried to block development of it. He said the Superfund list "is not a blacklist to say you can't build there." In fact, he said, the property could be cleaned up and developed at the same time. But Mayor G.

Monty Manibog said that no one will buy and develop the property while it is on a toxic clean-up list because of possible liability. Commercial Proposal Transpacific Development Co. of Torrance has proposed a commercial center, including offices, retail stores and auto dealerships, for the property. The company set the plan aside after failing earlier this year to persuade the EPA to drop the Superfund listing. Richard Plummer, marketing director, said Thursday that the company is still interested in acquiring and developing the property "provided the agencies determine that the site is clean of toxic waste." Manibog said the proposed commercial project is vital to the city because it would create 3,000 jobs and produce $1 million a year in city tax revenue.

In addition, he said, sale of the property would channel up to $7 Please see DUMP, Page 9 Environmental Protection Agency, which is cleaning up the closed Operating Industries dump, says that 45 of the 180 acres could be taken off the Superfund list if studies to be completed by the end of this year show there is little contamination. That could clear the way for a $60-million commercial project. The 45 -acre parcel, separated from the remaining 135 acres of the dump by the Pomona Freeway, was put on the Superfund cleanup list in May over the objections of Monterey Park and state health officials. The city and state wanted to sell the 45 acres for the commercial project, arguing that the property had only minor contamination that could be cleaned up by a developer. But the EPA refused, citing the presence of methane gas, lead and cancer-causing chemicals, plus uncertainty about what else might be on the property.

Keith Takata, regional EPA chief of Superfund programs, told the City Council last week that by the end of this year the agency will have enough information to determine whether an extensive cleanup effort will be necessary on the 45 acres. "If it shows no problem, we could take that portion of the dump off the Superfund list," he said. fx fSlIX LLA Punk Reviva Councilman Applies Brakes to Auto Project Bill Tobes, top left, models punk T-shirt during last week's i retrospective at Pasadena's Art Center College of Design, where i students relived times of youthful rebellion. At left, Jeff Cranford sports typical punk hair style and tattoo. In bottom photo, Philip Hays, illustration department chairman, poses with manneqdns.

J'jM pT 1 Jew Movement's Founder, Art Students Celebrate an Era When Ugly Was In By MARY BARBER, Times Staff Writer By JEFFREY MILLER, Times Staff Writer COVINA At least three of the five City Council members consider the Covina Redevelopment Agency's proposal to condemn property for its auto -row project to be a straightforward attempt to boost tax revenue. But to Councilman Robert Low, the agency's efforts to acquire the Firestone auto service center on Citrus Avenue raise serious questions about the U.S. trade deficit and the quality of public education. Low's opposition is crucial to the future of the auto -row project because state law requires a four-fifths majority on condemnation votes. Councilman Jerry Edgar has been advised to abstain from voting on all matters pertaining to the auto row because he holds a second-trust deed on property within the project area.

That effectively gives Low veto power over any condemnation for the auto row since the other three councilmen favor the project. The city staff recommended con- As if once wasn't enough, the punk movement played a return engagement in Pasadena last week safety pins, obscenities, cacophony and all. What's more, punk and the man credited with instigating it were recognized for their cultural and artistic impact on a society that, for the most part, wanted to be rid of the whole ugly scene. The weird phenomenon that began in England about 10 years ago was played out in a three-day retrospective that ended Thursday at the Art Center College of Design. There, amid the pure, clean lines of architectural excellence, where students pay up to $25,000 in tuition for a three-year launching into professional art, anarchy and chaos brought nostalgic feelings to a generation that grew up under that influence.

Once again, the Sex Pistols ravaged "My Way" and "Land of DAVID BOHRER Los Angeles Times Developer Firm in Plan to Rebuild Huntington Blazes Plague San Gabriel Mountains Forest Rangers Battle Nature and Arson Hope and Glory" while models in darkly ominous leather and tattered garments glared catatonically into space. Mohawk hair, whitened faces, the tawdry, the disheveled and the freaky were revived in scenes of ersatz violence to show how it really was a decade ago. Heirs to that era, now in their 20s and serious students at the Art Center, bore remnants of punk's influence. The 100 who participated in the retrospective tended to shave parts of their heads and affect a solemn, ragged, paint- streaked bareness. Born as they were into punk's traditions, they sketched the scenes that were played out before them, unfazed by deafening blasts of recorded punk rock and the historic importance of their guest star.

He was Malcolm McLaren, whose London shop in the 1970s Please see PUNK, Page 7 Staff Writer The report, which has sparked heated debate between preservationists and Mielke, was done by the Ehrenkrantz Group of New York and San Francisco. It was paid for by Mielke, who commissioned it at the behest of Pasadena Heritage, a private preservationist group adamantly opposed to razing the structure. Request for Delay The city's Cultural Heritage Commission and Pasadena Heritage formally requested that the Planning Commission delay any decision on the zoning change until its members had reviewed the report's findings. The brief report, which was completed in seven days, concluded that "based on our review of the available data we cannot concur with the decision by the Huntington Hotel Associates to raze the historic Huntington Sheraton hotel." It also said that the developer had not provided a "documented, structured, feasibility analysis" detailing the decision to raze the building. Instead, the report said, that decision apparently was made because "there seems to have been a general 'frustration' with the general complexity or 'messiness' of the situation, so that the easiest and simplest path was to start with a Please see HOTEL, Page 8 i7 prrrr i All s- Los Angeies Times Robert Low demnation of the property on July 7 after Firestone officials and negotiators for the agency could not agree on a sale price.

Please see LOW, Page 6 Staff Writer Firefighters just about crackle with nervous energy during fire season, which begins in May and is in high gear from now until November. Firefighters say it is a time of danger and adventure when their skills are pitted against the fire. May Leave at Any Time "We may have to leave any time now" to go fight a fire, Hawkins told a visitor one day recently. The day was hot and calm as Hawkins visited several ranger stations to take inventory of firefighters and equipment. By early afternoon, he was at Clear Creek Ranger Station, about 10 miles north of La Canada Flint-ridge on Angeles Crest Highway, where firefighters were doing routine maintenance and putting away hoses.

The previous day, they had fought fires in Big Tujunga Canyon and the hills above Altadena. The Arroyo Seco District has six fire stations and six trucks. When more firefighting muscle is needed, Hawkins can call on other Forest Service districts, the county and city fire departments in Los Angeles and those maintained by municipalities such as Glendale or Pasadena. The Arroyo Seco District also Please see FIRE, Page 3 By DEBORAH HASTINGS, Times PASADENA Despite a setback last week when the Planning Commission postponed a decision on a zoning change required to rebuild the Huntington Sheraton hotel, developer Lary Mielke says he remains committed to razing the historic main building and erecting a replica. His plan has raised the ire of preservationists and some residents, who say the hotel, built in 1906, is a treasure that should be preserved.

Despite such opposition, Mielke said that he and his partners still believe that their plan is the best alternative for the site and "we don't see anything that changes our thinking." At a meeting last week, the seven -member Planning Commission requested that Meilke conduct marketing and structural analyses of rehabilitating the building and of reconstructing it. The matter was scheduled for a public hearing on Sept. 11. Before a standing-room-only audience of about 120, commission Chairman William Ross told Mielke that an exhaustive review of the pros and cons of rehabilitating the building, which is now closed, was needed before any decision could be made on the zoning change. Commissioners had just received a new report by a national architectural firm that said razing the building may be unnecessary.

By DENISE HAMILTON, Times It is fire season again in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. The August sun has shriveled the brush, baked the ground and sent most mammals scurrying for shelter. At times, firefighters and arsonists appear to be the only ones who don't shy away from the dry hills at this time of year. The former have been busy fighting a string of small fires that have plagued La Canada Flint-ridge, Glendale, Pasadena, Altade-na, Monrovia and Angeles National Forest in the past two weeks. The latter have been busy setting most of them, according to the U.S.

Forest Service. Fire Every Day "We've got an arsonist working the front canyons. We've had a fire almost every day this week," said Rich Hawkins, Forest Service fire management officer. Hawkins coordinates manpower and equipment to fight fires in the Arroyo Seco Ranger District of Angeles National Forest. He is responsible for 50 firefighters, including 32 seasonal workers who are hired each summer to augment the force, and 112,000 acres that stretch from La Crescenta on the west to Duarte on the east and up north to near Wrightwood.

A li.lJAL:. 'OTA DAVID HURONaKa Lot Angeles Times Dave Franklin, a firefighter based at the Angels Crest Ranger Station, takes a rest after returning from duty in Oregon..