BYRON DE ARAKAL -- Between the Lines

As nightmares go, terror always seems to reach its apogee the

nanosecond before you wake up bathed in a drenching sweat. When we have

phantasms of falling from some great altitude, the eyelids always pop

open like a couple of parachutes from heaven a half moment before our

bodies slam to the ground with a bone-shattering thud. And just when that

dripping, gooey monster is a moment away from consuming us for lunch, we

suddenly find ourselves awake and begging for air.

That must be how it was for James Anderson, managing partner of

Commonwealth Partners, after Monday’s Costa Mesa City Council meeting.

After 17 months of being pulled through a keyhole, poured through an

hourglass, Anderson and his stand-in, Phil Schwartze, can wake up now.

The Noguchi Follies have, I think, ended, and the Oompa Loompas have left

the building.

For that we have Mayor Libby Cowan to thank. We’ll get to that in a

moment.

Now all of this didn’t end before reaching that pinnacle of horror we

know of nightmares. It was etched on Schwartze’s fatigued mug just

moments before the council voted 3 to 2 Monday to bless the Two Town

Center Development Agreement (DA-00-04 to those who have watched this

nightmare unfold).

“Are you going to nail this thing down tonight?” I asked before the

vote.

“I don’t know,” he said with a ton of trepidation in his voice. “I

have no idea.”

Now you’ll recall as a matter of review that Commonwealth Partners is

the owner of the Two Town Center office campus, which includes the late

Isamu Noguchi’s California Scenario sculpture garden. Since January,

Anderson and Commonwealth have been walking on hot coals in their bid to

have the City Council bless their plan to redevelop Two Town Center into

an upgraded office plaza with a pedestrian-oriented emphasis on the

theater and arts. And it has been a gripping adventure in frustration.

The glowing obelisk in the episode has been Noguchi’s prized work;

specifically, the length of time Commonwealth is to be obligated to

preserve and maintain the California Scenario. Noguchi devotees -- led by

Councilwoman Linda Dixon -- voraciously insisted that Commonwealth agree

to protect the garden “in perpetuity,” a phrase now as famous in Costa

Mesa as “pregnant chad” is in Florida.

For its part, Commonwealth never demurred on the point that Noguchi’s

masterpiece should be protected. But “in perpetuity,” meaning forever,

doesn’t wash in real estate investment circles. In this case,

Commonwealth’s financial partner, CalPERS, found the phrase to be vague,

unrealistic and a shackle on its fiduciary duties to responsibly manage

the assets of its investment constituents (some of whom are Costa Mesa’s

city employees). But not being so rigid as to not budge, Commonwealth

agreed to protect the Noguchi garden for 50 years, twice as along as they

had originally proposed. This came, under Cowan’s leadership, after

months of maddening and cloistered negotiations among a gaggle of city

and Commonwealth attorneys.

Despite all of this, the Oompa Loompas in this nightmare (the good

folks bent on preserving the California Scenario until the Earth stops

spinning) had Commonwealth lashed to a poll as they danced around

chanting, “In perpetuity, in perpetuity.” To this day, I don’t understand

how Commonwealth could be legally responsible for protecting the garden

“in perpetuity.” That’s because the contract requiring that they do so is

legally enforceable for only 20 years. And it can be rescinded by some

future council not so smitten with the California Scenario. Nightmares

rarely make sense.

Which brings us back to Monday’s City Council meeting and what I hope

was the final act in the Noguchi Follies. It occurred to me that we were

about to awake from this nightmare because the terror rocketed to its

zenith just moments before. Schwartze, on behalf of Commonwealth, had

just agreed in total to language proposed by the city attorney’s office.

But then the “in perpetuity” drums began beating in the distance. This

time, the Oompa Loompas were clamoring for the protection of the Two Town

Center parking structure that abuts the California Scenario garden. These

walls, according to one Noguchi scholar, are “integral elements of the

artistic ensemble of the garden. It would be impossible to modify them in

anyway without damaging the aesthetics and meaning of Noguchi’s work.”

Then in stepped Cowan, as if to grab Commonwealth by the shoulders and

shake it awake. She ended the debate and pressed for the vote. DA-00-04

was approved. Dixon and Councilwoman Karen Robinson were the lone

dissenters. And we all woke up.

Tuesday, the day after the nightmare ended, I learned that weeks ago

Cowan -- sensing an important project with long-term public benefits was

slipping away -- interceded in the agreement talks and directly

negotiated terms of the development agreement that ultimately proved

acceptable to a majority of the council and Commonwealth. The move --

which isn’t likely to sit well with a number of her supporters -- was

nonetheless admirable, practical and courageous.

That kind of leadership is always a work of art.

* BYRON DE ARAKAL is a writer and communications consultant. He lives

in Costa Mesa. His column runs Wednesdays. Readers may reach him with

news tips and comments via e-mail at [email protected].