Desiderio Neighborhood Park recently appeared on the site of the former Desiderio Army Reserve Center.
In 2013, the City of Pasadena acquired the property. According to the Pasadena Star-News, “It involved property transfers from the Army to the National Park Service to the city for the park portion of the site; and a transfer from the Army to Housing and Urban Development to the city to Habitat for Humanity for the housing portion.”
The public debate at the time centered around whether to demolish or reuse the historic buildings.
Pasadena City Councilman Steve Madison said: “The buildings are not very adaptable to housing at all, they are old warehouse structures.” The typical response from a non-creative politician with little regard for historic preservation and our cultural heritage.
Today, the only remaining controversy is whether or not to install restrooms, or rather, where they will be installed.
Throwback Thursday is written and produced by Rick Thomas