BILL ANALYSIS �
ACR 173
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Date of Hearing: August 18, 2014
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
ACR 173 (Gomez) - As Introduced: August 11, 2014
SUBJECT : Joe Gatto Memorial Highway
SUMMARY : Designates a portion of Interstate 10 in Los Angeles
County as the Joe Gatto Memorial Highway. Specifically, this
bill :
1)Designates the portion of Interstate 10 between Interstate 710
and Interstate 5 in Los Angeles County as the Joe Gatto
Memorial Highway.
2)Requests the Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to
determine the cost for appropriate signs showing the special
designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate
sources covering that cost, to erect those signs.
EXISTING LAW : Assigns Caltrans the responsibility of operating
and maintaining state highways, including the installation and
maintenance of highway signs.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown, but the measure requests that Caltrans
only erect the appropriate signage upon receiving donations from
nonstate sources covering the cost.
COMMENTS : This bill designates the section of Interstate 10
between Interstate 710 and Interstate 5 in Los Angeles County as
the Joe Gatto Memorial Highway. Joseph "Joe" Gatto was born
December 22, 1934, in Pueblo, Colorado, served in the United
States Army, and became the first in his family to attend
college, graduating with a bachelor's degree from California
State University, Los Angeles; a master's in education from
Pepperdine University; and a master's in design from California
State University, Los Angeles. He settled with his family in
the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles and worked for 47
years in the classroom as an art and design teacher at the
primary, secondary, and postsecondary levels. He helped found
the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, where he served
as Dean of the Visual Arts Department.
Mr. Gatto also taught at other educational institutions,
ACR 173
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including Granada Hills High School; Pierce College; California
State University, Northridge; California State University, Los
Angeles; the Otis Art Institute; and the Art Center in Pasadena.
He was awarded the Bravo Award as the California Arts Teacher
of the Year in 1986; was a recipient of the National
Distinguished Teacher Award; was honored at the White House in
1988, 1989, and 1998; received the California and Pacific Region
Art Educator of the Year award in 1990; and received a
distinguished teacher award from the City of Los Angeles in
2003.
In addition to teaching, Mr. Gatto created his own hand-crafted
jewelry line, Wear Art Now, which was exhibited at museums
including the Los Angeles Museum of Art, the Craft and Folk Art
Museum, and the Museum of Science and Industry. He is survived
by his three children, son Mike and daughters Nicole and
Mariann, their spouses, three grandchildren, his former wife
Isolde, and brothers Don and Frank.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Anya Lawler / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093