Southwest Museum Fight Moves to L.A. City Hall
A coalition to preserve the Arroyo Seco site as a historic institution urges community members to attend June 30 meeting.
By Paul Aranda Jr., EGP Staff Writer
During a special meeting next week at City Hall, members of a city council committee could reach what one Northeast Los Angeles community activist described as “the first major decision” concerning the vulnerable Southwest Museum.
Nicole Possert, chair of the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition, said the June 30 meeting is important because it will mark the beginning of a series of public meetings that will determine the fate of the long fought effort to preserve the Mt. Washington facility as a fully functional museum.
“We would like the community to be present,” Possert said. “This is the city’s first museum,” she explained.
The Board of Preferred Powers will conduct the meeting in City Hall at 3 p.m. to, among other things, vote on the final environmental impact report (FEIR) and related environmental documents for the proposed Autry National Center’s Griffith Park expansion.
Possert said coalition members have asked members of the Board not to approve the environmental review.
“We would like for [the Board] to consider a reduced project that would allow for a more viable project in the Northeast,” she said.
The Autry National Center proposes a two-phase modernization and renovation project that it states would “establish the Griffith Park Campus as the premier interpretative site for the exhibitions of the American West…and to enhance the Campus as a cultural resource.”
The expansion would include storage facilities, office space, a research facility and a library. If approved, expansion project would increase the Griffith Park Campus by approximately 129,000 square feet in two phases.
For members of the Southwest coalition, an expansion of the Griffith Park location would signal the end of a fierce effort to preserve the historic Mt. Washington site as a fully operational museum rather than a community center with some exhibit space as proposed by the Autry.
The coalition has long insisted that contrary to the Autry’s position, a complete renovation of the existing Mt. Washington campus could re-establish the Southwest Museum as a vital cultural landmark in Northeast Los Angeles. Museum preservationists, like Possert and the Southwest Coalition, also want the Autry to return the Southwest’s extensive collection of Native American artwork and artifacts to its Southwest home.
Should the Griffith Park expansion be allowed to go forward, the Southwest Coalition fears that might never happen.
The Autry National Center included an “expansion of the Arroyo Campus” (Mt. Washington) as Alternative E in its FEIR, but concluded that this alternative would produce a greater environmental impact than the Griffith Park project.
For Possert, the idea that the city would allow the Autry to double the size of the largest building in Griffith Park when it already owns land in Mt. Washington is puzzling.
“[The Autry] should put the money into something they already own,” she said.
Possert said that the Autry does not operate in a transparent way so it is difficult for the coalition to determine if it has enough funds to operate the proposed facility when it opens.
The Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition features more than 10 neighborhood councils, various homeowner associations, the Sierra Club and numerous other citywide organizations.
In response to the proposed Griffith Park Campus project, the Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council (GGPNC) sent one letter to the Department of Recreation and Parks in October 2008 and one letter to the Los Angeles Planning Department in September 2008. Both letters demanded a reduced project in Griffith Park, lease conditions and support for the preservation of the Southwest Museum.
In a letter sent to Los Angeles Planning Department, the GGPNC stated the following: “ We strongly support the citizens of our city living in the Arroyo Seco area and throughout the city who seek to preserve the Southwest Museum as an institution (and not simply as a building).
The Board of Preferred Powers will hold the meeting on Tuesday, June 30 in City Hall, Room 350 at 3 p.m. The Coalition is scheduled to provide transportation for community members interested in attending the meeting. For more information on transportation to City Hall contact:
http://www.friendsofthesouthwestmuseum.com/take.html
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June 25, 2009 Copyright © 2010 Eastern Group Publications, Inc.
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