At Last, Recreation Center Moves Forward
By GWEN MURANAKA
RAFU ENGLISH EDITOR IN CHIEF
Saturday, Sept. 27, 2008

City Council votes 12-0, giving LTSC the go-ahead to build gymnasium.

Photos by MARIO G. REYES/Rafu Shimpo
Councilmember Jan Perry, center, addresses the media on Tuesday after the City Council voted to approve a memorandum of understanding giving the Little Tokyo Service Center authority to build a four-court recreation center on Los Angeles Street in Little Tokyo. Also pictured are, from left, Edward Takahashi, president of the Little Tokyo Recreation Center board of directors, Bill Watanabe, LTSC executive director, and architect Hayahiko Takase.

The future site of the Little Tokyo Recreation Center on Los Angeles Street. The lot is currently being used by construction firms as work continues on the LAPD Motor Transport Division Facility on Main Street. The two buildings on the left are also part of the recreation center property.

Recreation center supporters join Perry after the vote for a group photo. In the background are handprints made by supporters of the project.

A recreation center for Little Tokyo came one step closer to becoming a reality on Tuesday as the Los Angeles City Council voted 12-0 for a memo­randum of understanding with Little Tokyo Service Center to develop the site. First conceived in the 1970s, the project has taken 14 years to get off the ground.

“I think I said finally, at last,” Councilmember Jan Perry, recalled of the vote. “I know how long they’ve been at it. I was happy to start working on it when I started as an elected of­ficial in 2001. The enormous amount of patience and devotion and tenacity, it’s an inspiration.”

“It’s hard to sink in that it’s actu­ally happening. We’ve had a number of false starts, part of me didn’t want to get my hopes up too high and yet part of me wanted to capture the sig­nificance of what happened today,” said Bill Watanabe LTSC executive director.

The four-court gymnasium will be located on Los Angeles Street between Second and Third streets, next to the Little Tokyo Library on a 36,000 square foot parking lot, which was purchased by the city. The city also purchased, through eminent domain, two buildings to the south of the park­ing lot which will also be part of the gym property.

“If the project goes ahead as it’s conceived with the parking structure and the land, this represents something in the neighborhood of $10 to $15 mil­lion worth of investment by the city in the project — that’s the land cost plus the parking,” remarked Watanabe.

The gymnasium would host bas­ketball and martial arts tournaments as well as serve as a recreation center for the downtown area. LTSC estimates it will take three to five years to be built and have immediately made plans to start up a capital campaign. Advocates for the gym have long looked to a recreation center as a way to bring Japanese American youth back to Little Tokyo. The development will also pro­vide much needed parking for the city employees and Little Tokyo.

“City employee parking during the week day, then public parking on eve­nings and weekends which will be when we need it the most, it’s like a perfect marriage,” said Watanabe.

Perry estimated that a ground lease on the property, the next step in devel­opment, would take “no more than six months tops.”

“I’m very committed to moving this along expeditiously so we can get to the point where we’re pulling permits, making sure that all the entitlements are in place. The land is fully assembled now so we can break ground and allow them to move forward on their capital campaign,” said Perry.

The Little Tokyo Recreation Center has looked to a number of properties in J-Town for the rec center over the years. In 2002, the issue was the focus of heated public debate between pro­ponents of the rec center and the Cen­tral Avenue Art Park. The gym faced opposition at that time to inclusion on the First Street North block from other stakeholders on the site, including the Japanese American National Museum, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Go For Broke Educational Foun­dation. Rec center project architect Hayahiko Takase presented a proposal in July 2002 to build a six-court gym underground to address concerns about noise and disturbing the serenity of the Go For Broke Monument.

In June 2003, Perry directed the Chief Legislative Analyst to study and make recommendations on build­ing the gymnasium on the property bounded by Second, Main and Los Angeles streets, south of Vibiana’s Cathedral.

Takase included a photo of a new concept model of the gymnasium in press materials. He has donated hun­dreds of hours of his time as the project’s architect.

“I’m glad I’m still alive, now have to live until the building is completed,” said Takase.

Watanabe also introduced Scott Ito who will be in charge of the capital campaign. Perry was upbeat that the recreation center would find funding despite the recent upheavals in the economy, saying it represented a “face to the future of Little Tokyo.”

“I don’t think it’ll be a tough road despite what’s going on around us. It’s a unique project, it’s a recreational fa­cility, we are sharing facilities, there is site control now, so there is no doubt or question of whether this project should move forward,” said Perry.

During their comments, gymnasium supporters held up a cloth with painted handprints of kids who said they wanted a recreation center in Little Tokyo.

“They’ve told us that a gym is some­thing they would come to and play in. So it makes a connection to their lives and Little Tokyo as a place for them. We need to make Little Tokyo a part of their experi­ence and their lives,” said Watanabe.

Sawako Nitao, a volunteer with the

Asian Pacific Islander Obesity Preven­tion Alliance, was among the supporters at the City Council meeting.

“We did a community survey and found that people want physical ac­tivity opportunities in Little Tokyo,” Nitao said. “The community wants a recreation center.”