Church, city sparring over spaces

Scientologists use sidewalk for proselytizing shoppers

May 31, 2007
By Janette Williams

Pasadena -- Before work has even started on the Church of Scientology's new complex in Old Pasadena, members have clashed with the city over sidewalk tables used to distribute church literature and sign up passers-by for "stress tests."

Eden Stein, president of the Scientologists' Pasadena branch, said Tuesday that a church lawyer has written to City Attorney Michele Beale Bagneris and the Police Department to complain that code-enforcement officials were "out of line" in citing them for using the sidewalk for church activities.

"There was an incident about a month ago, and what actually happened, I think, was someone got out of line in violation of our freedom of speech," Stein said.

Bagneris did not return a call for comment.

Stein said the church has every right to use the alley beside its landmark 1906 Braley Building at 35 S. Raymond Ave., which it bought in June 2006.

"As far as setting up on Raymond, that's not an issue - it's our property, the alley and in front," she said. "When it was raining \ moved for one day right in front, for shelter, and only for one day."

Stein said church members, who also have set up on Colorado Boulevard, are there only on some weekends.

Steve Mulheim, president and CEO of the Old Pasadena Management District, said Tuesday he has had several calls from people complaining about the Scientologists' sidewalk presence.

"Mostly it's people complaining they are quite aggressive in trying to pitch their beliefs, or sell some product ... and are relentless in pursuit of an opportunity - they don't just ask and let it go," Mulheim said.

Mulheim said safety is one concern, and that he's had complaints that church members are "filling the sidewalk with furniture and paraphernalia," leaving pedestrians to walk around them and even go into the street during the busiest times.

Old Pasadena is a magnet for many political and other groups, Mulheim said, but everyone must follow the same laws on using public sidewalks.

That the church has made its presence felt in Old Pasadena before work has started on converting the 1906, four-story, 50,800-square-foot building comes as no surprise to Pasadena businessman Morty Mittenthal.

Mittenthal, a member of Pasadena Heritage, is an outspoken critic of the Scientologists' presence in the city's historic retail hub.

"It doesn't feel right that \ the oldest commercial buildings in Pasadena should turn into a church of any kind," describing Scientology as "complete phoney baloney."

"What's going to happen is they're going to go across the street, make offers \ can't refuse and it will become a whole enclave like the huge complex at the corner of Sunset and Vermont," Mittenthal said.

Mulheim said such fears are misplaced.

"We've had a couple of calls from people just concerned that all of a sudden the Scientologists are going to take over all of Old Pasadena, and that's rather a ridiculous end," he said. "Why people choose this location is that we are successful, with a large number of pedestrians."

Jack Huang, who owns the Bar Celona restaurant on Colorado Boulevard around the corner from the Braley Building, said he's been annoyed by offers of "stress tests" from church members on Colorado. But he has no beef with the church presence "as long as they don't harass people," he said.

"If they're on the sidewalk, it's controversial, but it's not just them," Huang said, adding that political groups and homeless people also set up on Old Pasadena streets.

Huang said he has invited church members and officials to come to Old Pasadena neighborhood meetings. "It's more to let us know their purpose, become part of the community and grow with us," he said.

Conversion plans for the building - whose last tenant, dentist Dean Y. Mizuno, is expected to leave "any day," Stein said - have not yet been submitted to the city, said John Andrews, the city's senior project manager.

But in the meantime, a travelling exhibit titled "Psychiatry - An Industry of Death" is on public view in the former antiques mall inside the building. The exhibit will run through Tuesday.