Published on Saturday, August 16, 2008
By AARON BURGIN
Lake Elsinore's Redevelopment Agency is pursuing a $2 million federal grant to seismically retrofit two of downtown's most venerable buildings: City Hall and the Cultural Center.
The brick-and-mortar buildings have each stood in Lake Elsinore's core for more than 80 years, but city officials have long been concerned that a major earthquake along nearby faults would cause them to collapse. They just have never had the money to do the work.
"It has always been a vision of the city to retrofit these buildings," said Steven McCarty, the city's redevelopment analyst. "They are two of downtown's treasures. This provides us with a real opportunity."
A Federal Emergency Management Agency grant became available after the Southern California fires in October. The state office of emergency services is administering the grant.
