FEMA UNCORKS FUNDS FOR BOTTLE VILLAGE FIX.

Byline: Christopher Noxon Daily News Staff Writer

Supporters of the funky folk art landmark known as Bottle Village said Thursday they are encouraged by a promise that $434,000 in federal earthquake repair money has been earmarked for its restoration.

Three years after applying for help, art historians and activists said they have finally secured a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The money will help restore a unique historical monument that crumbled and shattered in the 1994 earthquake.

``We're overjoyed,'' said Janice Wilson, president of the Preserve Bottle Village Committee. ``When it's open and people can come to it safely, it will be an incredible thing for the community.''

The grant award was approved on Nov. 13, and was finalized last Friday, Wilson said. The application process has been both lengthy and complicated, she said, with FEMA officials twice promising repair funds and both times failing to deliver.

``I won't really believe it until we get it in our hands,'' she said. ``There are so many promises that have fallen through that we won't start celebrating yet.''

Built over 20 years by a retired teacher named Grandma Prisbrey, Bottle Village is a cluster of three dozen buildings and sculptures assembled with concrete and an assortment of objects including beer bottles, license plates, headlights, spoons, marbles and shards of brightly colored tile.

The property includes a cobalt-blue sculpture made entirely of Milk of Magnesia bottles and a hut covered with more than 2,000 pencils. The property, at 4595 Cochran St., was listed as a California Registered Landmark in 1984.

Private fund-raising for the repair and operation of Bottle Village was postponed by the 1994 earthquake, when wood plank ceilings and cement walls collapsed and the site was sealed off from the public.

While the property is considered by many art historians a landmark rivaling Watts Towers, some city officials question its legitimacy. City Councilwoman Sandi Webb, a longtime critic of the operation, called the FEMA grant a waste of taxpayer money.

``That place is a junk heap and taxpayer money shouldn't go for fixing it,'' Webb said. ``If people want to preserve a place like that they are more than welcome to put their own money into it. I highly object when all of us are struggling to keep food on the table and clothes on our back, they can put $500,000 into this trash heap. It should have been bulldozed years ago.''

But supporters say the public will benefit once the repairs are done and the village reopens.

``This isn't a grant or an award - this is the same fund that people got to repair their homes,'' Wilson said. ``The whole community is behind Bottle Village now. This is going to be a world class museum we can all be proud of.''