She left permanent mark on advisory board, colleagues say
Longtime Landmarks Commission member Margot Alofsin has resigned two years shy of when her term would have officially ended.
Alofsin, an architect, had to leave her post when she sold her Sunset Park home and moved across the border into West L.A. Commission members are required to live in Santa Monica.
During her six-year-tenure, Alofsin left an indelible impression on the Landmarks Commission, her colleagues said.
They credit her as being one of the members who transformed the group from simply rubber-stamping demolition permits of older Santa Monica homes to a body that attempted to preserve more of the city’s older homes and landmarks.
The change in the commission’s nature also drummed up some vocal neighborhood opposition. Late last year, a group of homeowners living north of Montana Avenue began an anti-historic district campaign because landmark commissioners may create a historic district where they live. The residents think the designation would prevent them from remodeling their homes.
Though commission members and city officials deny that claim, some of the homeowners have formed a group called Homeowners for Voluntary Preservation, which is attempting to gather enough signatures to place a ballot initiative before voters that would prevent the city from landmarking private property without the owner’s permission.
Alofsin, who was chair of the Landmarks Commission during the unrest, quickly became a target for upset homeowners at public meetings. Some in the group criticized the way she ran those meetings, saying Alofsin was too autocratic and unsympathetic to their concerns.
“I think that they were kind of looking for a target, and she was trying very hard to be businesses-like and straight forward,” said Landmarks Commission member Nina Fresco.
“They wanted something they couldn’t get and wouldn’t have gotten from any chairperson,” she said. “Anyone would have been a lightning rod for them. She tried very hard to be formal with them, but she was being hooted at.”
“They were a pretty rowdy crowd,” she added.
Alofsin was unavailable for comment. The commotion over whether or not the Landmarks Commission would consider advising the city council to create new historic districts put Alofsin on the spot, commissioners said.
Ruthann Lehrer, the current chair of the advisory board, said no previous Landmarks Commission has ever come under such heavy public scrutiny than during that recent controversy.
“She was in a difficult position when it was under attack,” she said. “It was hard, and we don’t know how anyone would have handled it.”
“We don’t fault her for the slings and arrows of fortune,” she added, quoting a passage from Shakespeare.
Landmarks Commission members described Alofsin as dedicated to preservation and a tireless supporter of preservation causes within the city.
Alofsin, who filled the commission’s dedicated seat as an architect, gave insight into matters before the commission that otherwise wouldn’t have been discussed, colleagues said.
“Because she was an architect, she was very knowledgeable and helpful with details about building,” said Landmarks Commission member Roger Genser. “She sorted out a lot of the detailed questions about construction that the rest of us did-n’t (have experience with).”
Alofsin also worked extensively on crafting the city’s Landmarks Master Plan, which maps out Santa Monica’s preservation plan for the next 10 years. She also was instrumental in getting city approval to conduct a survey of all historic homes in Santa Monica, a task that had not been done for almost 20 years.
With Alofsin’s resignation, there are now two vacancies on the Landmarks Commission. While Alofsin’s seat must be filled by another local architect, the other seat is dedicated for a local real estate agent.
“In recent years since she has been (on the Landmarks Commission), more things have been preserved and more things have been landmarked and more things have been saved,” Fresco said. “Now we hope we will be able to continue moving forward and saving even more things.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 6, 2002. Read the original PDF.