SAN MARINO NEWS
By Mitch Lehman

The final item on Tuesday night’s agenda for the San Marino School Board was a vote to approve a contract for demolition of the Michael White Adobe, which currently lies fallow amidst the high school campus. But an eleventh-hour deal that named former San Marino Mayor Eugene Dryden as chairman of a select citizen committee charged with finding a solution to what has become an historic problem bought the venerable structure at least three months – and probably six – that might allow for the passions of local preservationists to transform into tangible support.
“You may want to know that why we initiated an [Environmental Impact Report] in the first place was not to demolish the Adobe, but rather to understand the obligations of a historic structure,” School Board President Jeanie Caldwell said following more than two hours of lively debate at the district office before a standing room-only crowd. Caldwell lamented that several attempts to “find leadership and take ownership of the Adobe” had been unsuccessful, prompting the board to look for a different solution. The board and district staff claim that the Adobe is unusable and has become a liability. Superintendent Gary Woods told The Tribune that the district’s insurance company has offered to pony up $171,000 just to make the Adobe go away and remove the risk. The district has offered the Adobe for $1 on the open market, provided the buyer pay for the cost of moving the 174-year-old structure – a figure estimated at $1.6 million.
Supporters of the Adobe showed up by the dozens, packing the district office that had been reconfigured for a larger audience than is typical at board meetings.
“Your mandate is education. Your students need the examples of creative solutions,” said Senya Lucich in firing the first salvo. “Use the resources at the high school. Write grants. Demolition doesn’t make sense.”
Seventeen like-minded supporters echoed her request, among them San Marino resident Robert Almanza who told the board that tearing down the Adobe would be “like losing your hair. You will miss it when it’s gone.”
Dryden, a former President of the San Marino Historical Society which has researched possible alternatives for the Adobe, told the assemblage “what has stopped us in the past is the money.” Dryden chaired the citizen campaign which built the Lacy Park War Memorial that was dedicated in November, 2007. Many see that as the best destination for the Adobe, and wouldn’t Dryden love to crack open an apple cider and cut another ribbon in Lacy Park.