By Julie BUTCHER

At the beginning of the Glendale City Council on Feb. 13, Councilmember Paula Devine asked what the city is doing to protect Rockhaven.

“Is the city taking adequate precautions to protect the buildings at Rockhaven from these storms?” she asked.

City Manager Yasmin Beers attempted to assure the council that roofs have been patched and tarps deployed “each season, before the ‘rainy’ season.” Later in the meeting Beers reported that the roofs are “patched throughout the year.”

At a tour of Rockhaven on Saturday, Feb. 15 Crescenta Valley historian and Rockhaven volunteer Mike Lawler pointed out the lack of maintenance to a group of local artists from the Verdugo Hills Art Association onsite for a plein aire paint-out as a fundraiser to benefit both Rockhaven and the VHAA Scholarship Fund, calling the city’s response “complete bull****.”

Lawler pointed out numerous examples of years-old, shredding tarps, gaping holes in the ceilings of significant numbers of the rooms, including the historically significant room that Marilyn Monroe’s mother stayed in (and reportedly escaped from its window).

Friends of Rockhaven President Joanna Linkchorst started asking about preparations for the winter season and tarping beginning in early February 2019. In emails obtained by the group under the Freedom of Information act (FOIA), which requires governmental entities to make relevant records public, Linkchorst initiated a request to city officials on Feb. 3, 2019.

“This last weekend we inspected the buildings on the Rockhaven property during the cleaning day and during the rain. We found nearly all the buildings have significant leaks causing further damage to these historical buildings. Many years ago the Parks Dept. had tarps put on the leaking buildings but they were shredding and blowing off the rooftops within a year. And now buildings that didn’t have leaks have leaks. The buildings have gone too long without care.

“If the Parks Dept. cannot tarp the buildings, may we have permission to seek grant funding to have the work done please? I know there are talks over leasing the property to a private group, but the process has taken more than two years and the current negotiations are dragging on. Something needs to be done now to protect the beautiful buildings and their original elements.”

City Manager Yasmin Beers responded internally.

“We should place tarps on the roofs to protect what’s there.”

On Feb. 15, Assistant City Manager Roubik Golanian replied, “Do we want to spend [money] just to go through one rainy season, especially if nobody is using the facilities?” (sic).

City facilities manager Kevin Todd weighed in.

“I believe the last tarping, about eight or nine years ago, was about $40,000 and it lasts maybe a season. Today’s dollars would be much bigger.”

No tarping, patching or maintenance occurred.

Linkchorst reached out again, beginning in November 2019, emailing the city on Nov. 23.

“Can we please get the buildings at Rockhaven tarped? We are heading into rainy season and nearly all the buildings were leaking last winter. I think the contractor would appreciate the city’s efforts to protect the buildings from further damage so they don’t have as much repair work to do! And we appreciate the city protecting the historically listed buildings they are responsible for. Even if, as one employee said, no one is using them,” she wrote in her request.

Community and Parks’ Arsine Isayan responded quickly on Nov. 25 indicating the city’s plans to act.

“We put this request in a while back and I believe it’s been approved. I’ll follow-up with our team at Public Works to see when they plan on tarping. I’ll keep you posted,” she responded.

On Feb. 15, Lawler pointed out a window broken during a Glendale police department K-9 training exercise, no patching done, and serious holes in many of the ceilings of rooms. He estimated that the last time the roofs had been tended to was “at least six years ago.”

Linkchorst described the process of urging the city to follow up.

“The Oaks [building] there? Built in 1939. It didn’t leak until last year. They didn’t tarp, didn’t patch,” she said. “They sent out the guy who used to live here, who knows exactly where every hole is, and he put a five-gallon bucket under each hole. Now there’s three gallons of water in those five-gallon buckets.”

Lawler described a phenomenon of great concern to historic preservationists known as “’demolition by neglect,” a common strategy for developers to get around historically protected properties. It’s so common in the development community, he said, that demolition by neglect was even addressed in the last round of talks with council about historic preservation.

The city has not responded to repeated requests for work orders nor provided any comment on its plans to maintain the Rockhaven property.

  Julie BUTCHER