Suit Aims to Halt Federal Funds To Accomplish Mission Rehabs

0

A Washington, D.C., advocacy group has filed suit to stop $10 million in federal funds from being used to repair 17 of the 21 Spanish missions in California, including the Mission San Fernando Rey de Espa & #324;a in Mission Hills.


The grants were part of the California Missions Preservation Act, signed by President Bush in November. The funds, managed by the California Missions Foundation in Riverside, would be used to restore the structures, artwork and artifacts at missions built between 1769 and 1798 and registered as California historic landmarks.


Americans United for Separation of Church and State sued Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton last month on behalf of four unnamed California residents who objected to having their tax dollars support religious buildings and artifacts such as Bibles and altars, according to the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.


Nine of the missions identified for the funds have active Catholic congregations, the suit says.


An official Americans United for Separation of Church and State could not be reached.


Dan DuBray, press secretary for the Department of the Interior, said the argument against the use of funds for religious sites is not unusual and that the government intends to fight the suit. “One of the most important roles for the Department of the Interior is we have oversight over a number of the historic sites and public lands that are tied to the heritage of all Americans,” he said. “One part of that heritage is obviously rooted in the spirituality of the folks who settled. There are several examples, not just the missions in California.”


Other funds have been used to renovate the Touro Synagogue in Newport, R.I., the oldest synagogue in the United States, and Ebenezer Baptist Church, childhood church of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., he said.



Burgeoning Budget

Reeling from looming budget cuts that threatened security services at Los Angeles Superior Court, the local court system now stands to benefit from an $88.4 million statewide increase for the current fiscal year.


Local courts had expected cuts to their security budgets of between $7 million and $13 million as part of an anticipated $77.5 million statewide reduction in trial court funds.


Los Angeles Superior Court was forced to make cuts to its security budget after the Judicial Council, which administers the state’s trial courts, approved $22 million in reductions last summer.


Court spokesman Allan Parachini said court administrators initially dealt with pending cuts by closing an entrance to the downtown courthouse but have since made other changes.


“We in fact have re-opened the Starbuck’s door, or the door between us and the plaza,” Parachini said. “When we closed that door for budget reasons, there was an outcry of catastrophic proportions.”


And instead of making those cuts, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has added the $88.4 million to the 2004-05 court budget.


Parachini said the bulk of that increase would come in retirement and benefits for employees and that little would change to the current security.


In Schwarzenegger’s recently announced 2005-06 budget, he increases the state’s trial court funding by $220.4 million over current levels. The specific dollars anticipated for Los Angeles Superior Court remain unclear until the governor releases a revised budget in May, Parachini said.


“All we can say is we’re cautiously pleased by the governor’s January budget,” he said. “However, as we know from past experience, there is a long road ahead between it and signed final budget later this year.”



Gatti Goes


John Gatti, an entertainment litigator who represents “The Simpsons” executive producer Sam Simon and boxer Lamon Brewster, has joined Greenberg Traurig’s Santa Monica office.


Gatti, a former partner at Alschuler Grossman Stein & Kahan LLP, is co-chairman of Greenberg Traurig’s nationwide entertainment and media litigation practice.


Staff reporter Amanda Bronstad can be reached at (323) 549-5225, ext. 225, or at

[email protected]

.

No posts to display