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ONTARIO -- Constitutional questions aside, the Nativity display is important
artwork and has been part of the city's landscape every Christmas season since
1959, the City Council decided Tuesday.
The board declared the Nativity a historic landmark, which means no one can
alter or destroy the life-sized ceramic figures without the city's approval. The
12 scenes depicting the life of Jesus are displayed along Euclid Avenue
downtown.
"We think they are certainly historic," Mayor Gary Ovitt said. "And we look
forward to hopefully seeing them beyond my lifetime."
The unanimous vote came despite the figures being less than 50 years old and
the protests of the Anti-Defamation League.
The organization faxed a letter from its Los Angeles office to the mayor's
office on Monday, saying it appeared the city was using its historic
preservation law to sidestep the constitutional separation of church and state.
"Any attempts by Ontario to regain responsibility for maintaining and
erecting this display undoubtedly violate the first amendment," said the letter,
signed by the league's associate director and Western States Associate Counsel.
Chamber of Commerce executives and City Manager Greg Devereaux said the city
has no intention of returning to the arrangement in which city workers stored,
maintained and set up the Nativity and were reimbursed $2,000 by the
chamber.
City Attorney John Brown said "no comment" when asked if he thought that
arrangement violated the first amendment.
The league said that if the scenes are less than 50 years old they must be
considered of "exceptional importance" to earn the historic landmark status.
"While the pieces in the Nativity scene may hold much sentimental importance
to the Vargas family," the letter read, "the display fails to meet the city's
established criteria."
Well-known religious sculptor Rudolpho Vargas crafted the elaborate scenes,
one of the reasons city planners consider them historically significant. They
were commissioned by an early Christmas on Euclid committee comprised of
prominent city leaders, planners added.
City planners researched the scenes after the controversy about them hit last
year.
"The city of Ontario has a real treasure on its hands," City Planner Jerry
Blum said. "The pieces are unique one-of-a-kind artwork that should be
preserved."
The city agreed to stop using public resources for the Nativity after atheist
Patrick Greene filed a claim against the city last year when he saw public
workers erecting the pieces.
Greene has said he will withdraw his claim if the Nativity display is
declared historic.
Chamber executives have promised to take care of the displays from now on.
They raised more than $15,000 and recruited volunteers to set them up in an
outpouring of support from the community.
Councilman Alan Wapner, who is Jewish, said he doesn't believe the historic
designation is an effort to circumvent the constitution.
"I certainly enjoy the artwork no matter what the symbolism is," Wapner said.
"I've never heard any of my Jewish friends say that they're offended that the
Nativity is there." |
