Autry Says Southwest Museum in ‘Grave Danger’
A letter calling for an end to a $175 million expansion in Griffith Park sharply criticizes efforts to preserve the Mt. Washington facility.
By Paul Aranda Jr., EGP Staff Writer
Citing frustrations with “a political process with no end” and “constant attacks” from community-based organizations, the Autry National Center officially dropped plans for a major expansion project in Griffith Park on Tuesday.
In a letter announcing its decision, the Autry revealed its first public notice of frustration over a three-year-long effort to move forward with the project. In the letter sent to the Board of Referred Powers, Autry President John Gray said he was “dismayed” that the board disregarded its own adopted resolution to hold a hearing on the project.
The board voted on June 30 to delay a vote for a period of four weeks to allow Los Angeles City Councilman Jose Huizar (CD-14) and the Autry time to negotiate a legal agreement that would tie the proposed Griffith Park project to the Southwest Museum located in Mt. Washington. Gray stated that he learned from an email circulating on the Internet that the board would not hold the meeting as originally scheduled. The referenced email was sent by Nicole Possert, co-chair for the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition.
In the email, Possert stated that Councilwoman Janice Hahn (CD-15) had accepted Huizar’s request to delay the meeting to a date after August 31. The Autry cited the increased costs of the project due to the constant delays as well as threats of certain lawsuits if the project were approved as reasons for the decision to pull the plug on its $175 million project.
The Autry expressed frustration that after three years it has yet to receive the required approval from the city to move forward with its Griffith Park expansion. The two-phase project would have expanded the facilities for the “curation, storage and display of much the Autry’s collection, including many items from the Southwest Museum.” The proposed project would have increased the size of the Griffith Park facility from 142,000 to 271,000 square feet. Gray said an expanded facility would have drawn more attendance and programs that would create “new revenue growth opportunities.” In the letter, he stated that without the Griffith Park expansion, “it is simply not possible to maintain the existing programs at Mt. Washington or take on new challenges at the site.”
The Autry’s decision represented at least a “partial victory” for local resident Heinrich Keifer.
“No one believes that there was going to be a big increase in revenue,” Keifer said when asked if the abandoned project would affect the Mt. Washington facility.
“They got what they wanted. The artifacts.”
He said he hopes that decision means that the Autry will now honor the merger agreement. “[The decision] should be good for us,” he said.
Possert said Gray’s letter sends a poor message for those in the community that have worked hard to save the Southwest Museum. She said the coalition has long supported the Autry’s effort to conserve the collection, even if they have not agreed with the Autry’s plans for the museum site. She said the coalition’s concern has always been how to display the collection to the public. The Autry blaming the community is “unfortunate,” she said.
Possert sees this latest development as an opportunity to revive the 2003 merger agreement between the Autry Museum and the Southwest Museum.
“Where there’s adversity comes opportunity,” she said.
For another northeast Los Angeles resident who has followed the project closely, the decision did not signal any kind of victory.
Elliot Sekuler said the after reviewing Gray’s letter to the board on Tuesday, he is confident that the Autry remains committed to its operations of the Mt. Washington facility. As a member of the Southwest Society, Sekuler supports a proposal from the Autry that represents a scaled-down version of the proposal sought by the Friends of the Southwest coalition.
Sekuler said the objective of the Southwest Society remains to partner with the Autry to maintain the Mt. Washington facility as community center with sufficient gallery space that would allow a sizable amount of the Southwest collection to remain at its historic home. He said he hopes that the Autry’s decision does not alter its relationship with the Southwest Society.
“I’m still hopeful to partner with them,” he said.
In a statement to EGP, Huizar said he hopes to continue his negotiations with the Autry.
“While I’m surprised the Autry chose this path, I’m hopeful this will give us an opportunity to start over and really honor the spirit of the 2003 merger agreement between the Autry Museum and the Southwest Museum,” said Huizar. “Both museums need to be on equal footing. We can’t have a situation again where $175 million in funding revenue is being sought for one museum, while absolutely no fundraising is being done for the other.
The Southwest Museum is the oldest museum in Los Angeles and Charles Lummis left a fantastic legacy honoring Native American, Latino and Southwest culture, which needs to be honored and preserved in Mt. Washington.”
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August 13, 2009 Copyright © 2010 Eastern Group Publications, Inc.
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I’d like to know where my great-grandfather, Chief Thinderbird’s regalia is? Is it in the museum still or moved to another museum? It is part of our families legacy. He wasn’t just some historical person, he’s our grandfather.