Arts, library officials to discuss funding new center

Stacy Brown

NEWPORT BEACH -- A hastily called meeting will continue the dialogue in

planning an arts and education center today as an ad-hoc committee

exploring the project continues to seek a common objective.

The closed-door 4 p.m. meeting, scheduled for the Friends of the Library

Conference Room at the Central Library, will be attended by two library

board trustees and two members of the city’s Arts Commission. The main

topic for discussion: how to fund the $12 million center.

Initially, library board Chairman Jim Wood said the center would be

presented solely as a privately funded project. Then Trustee Patrick

Bartolic contradicted that, saying there was a “40% chance” public funds

would be used. The contradiction didn’t sit well with Arts Commissioner

Don Gregory.

“There is compromise in the air, and I don’t like it,” Gregory said.

The commissioner added that the possibility that public funds may be

sought could represent a grave threat to the proposed 22,000-square-foot

project.

“I’ve seen things die because they got off to the wrong start,” Gregory

said. “This is on the path to death. The minute the city becomes

involved, the [private] endorsements will definitely not come in.”

Bartolic said Monday that he hoped the group could resolve all of this

soon.

“Any way you cut it, this will be partially publicly funded,” Bartolic

said, noting that the city would have to contribute the land on which the

center would be built. “Public funding may be the path that leads to

death, a path we would like to avoid at all costs.

“But we have to remember that we are only in the ad-hoc stages, and I

will say that our initial proposal to the City Council would be that they

allow us to attempt to raise the money privately.”

The concept, for the most part, has been embraced by community so far.

However some question the wisdom of building a lavish arts center.

“If the City Council should honor the commitments of its predecessors and

keep its trust with the people of Newport Beach, it would retain the site

and make it into a Newport Central Park,” said resident Jan Vandersloot.

Resident Adele Mann echoed those thoughts, saying: “The land behind the

library should remain open space ... it is particularly disturbing that

taxpayer money might be used to build this center when the city has a

responsibility to repair aging infrastructure.”