Down comes the tower Pieces of leaning tower to be stored so it can one day be restored 3-Year Housing Cost for County Nearly $1 Million
25 YEARS AGO
A crew pulled the top section off the Senator Theater's celebrated leaning tower Wednesday afternoon, just a day after the City Council agreed to the demolition permit.
With a crack and a few falling planks of wood, a huge crane lifted the globe-topped tower section a few inches at 5 p.m. so it leaned slightly to the south. Then the crew members on the roof stopped, and waved to those on the ground to stop Main Street traffic.
A few minutes later, the tower was pulled away and lowered to a few feet above Main Street. People took advantage of the chance to get a close look — standing in the closed traffic lane as a flatbed trailer was pushed beneath it.
The jewel-shaped globe had what appeared to be bullet holes in places and live pigeons still inside. Dropping-covered wood supports were visible inside the top tower section.
Crew members slapped each other on the back and shook their fists in the air, celebrating their success.
The job apparently turned out to be “more dangerous” than originally thought, according to City Building Official Dave Purvis. It put several crew members at risk, he added, since there was much more “rot” in the top section of the tower than originally thought.
One crew member said the guy who did the sawing was the bravest man he knew.
For some, the tower's partial destruction was an allday event, understandable since it's been part of the downtown landscape for a long time. Designed by architects Miller and Pflueger in 1927, the tower is its main feature and a part of downtown's quirky style. …
The crowd, dozens of people strong, was largely quietly watching the show at 517 Main St. Others were upset that more hadn't been done to save the tower, yelling “put it back!” as it was borne skyward. …
Bute Councilman Rick Keene said elected officials felt they'd done all they could Tuesday night.
“We couldn't have forced them to rebuild it, according to our legal advice,” he said. …
Purvis said the tower would be taken down to its roofline. The sections are being stored at the city's corporation yard, behind the Humboldt Road police station. United artists proposed to store the sections in an unfenced yard, which the city judged unsafe, Purvis said.
At present, all the city has is a letter from UA agreeing to cut down the tower in sections and store it, then allow the “community” to put it back up after it's rebuilt. They also said they'd paint the facade of the building, and show movies at the El
Rey theater for free for an event to be used as a fundraiser for the group raising
OROVILLE (E-R) >> The cost of housing provided by the Butte County Housing Authority for 1970 to 1972 totaled nearly $1 million, according to an audit federal officials want kept confidential.
According to county Auditor William Lawrence, there were no serious discrepancies in the audit performed by the firm of Matson and Isom Accountancy Corp. of Chico and what irregularities were noted are being corrected.
In a report to the Board of Supervisors, however, Lawrence recommended that annual audits be made of the housing authority and also that the information developed be available to the public.
L. G. Melton, executive director of the housing authority, was advised in a letter last month from Keith Axtell, director of the housing programs management branch of the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development that the information be given only to persons with an initial interest in the matter or who must act on it.
The HUD official stated the audit was found to be satisfactory.
Lawrence took issue with Axtell on the confidentiality issue.
He said both the budget of the housing authority and the audit should be public information “in the same manner as the county governmental activities.
“That's an awful lot of money to handle and keep secret,” Lawrence said. “I know of no provision of law requiring secrecy. I feel the other way. Audit information of public agencies should be made public.” …
The audit showed tha the three-year cost of housing administered by the authority, comprising owned housing and leased housing subsidized by HUD, totaled $958,367. Owned housing cost the authority $180,293 and leased housing $778,074.
The audit indicated the net public cost increased for the three years from $188,443 in 1980 to $312,722 in 1971 and $475,202 for 1972. The costs are offset by rents.