LOMPOC - Saving the historic Lompoc Theater from the wrecking ball is now a goal for the City Council which has voted to begin what could be a long process of trying to take ownership of the popular landmark.
"This council has already unanimously agreed that we want to save the facility", says Mayor John Linn, "we're just trying to find the least expensive and the fastest pace forward."
The theater remains tangled in the legal mess left by the insolvency of its previous owner, the Lompoc Housing and Community Development Corporation.
Hundreds of thousands of dollars will be needed to repair a leaking roof, and make the theater earthquake safe.
Now a grassroots preservation effort has begun to try and help the city save the theater.
"I think any theater is worth saving", says downtown business owner Brian Cole.
Cole is part of a local steering committee that has filed to become a legal, non-profit group to raise money to save the theater.
"There's admittedly a lot of work to be done, there's no denying that", Cole says, "the city is working very hard with us and we're working very hard behind the scenes as well too."
Cole says a majority of city residents support saving the theater and preserving what's left of Lompoc's historic downtown.
The city is currently crunching numbers to see how much it will cost to repair the theater while it awaits word from the State of California on how best to proceed with acquiring ownership of the aging building.
