SW Museum supporters sue... finally.

Kewl.

Southwest Museum supporters sue city, fearing site's extinction
August 3, 2011 | 3:27 pm

Years of wrangling over whether the Autry National Center has a right to shed a costly and inconvenient subsidiary, the Southwest Museum, has spilled, perhaps inevitably, into the courts.

Southwest backers are asking a Los Angeles Superior Court judge to overturn two recent decisions by Los Angeles city officials allowing the Autry to undertake what it has characterized as a routine gallery renovation at its Griffith Park museum. Opponents say the remodeling would be the first step in an irreversible sequence that would end the Southwest’s nearly hundred-year run in Mount Washington as the home of a prized collection of Native American artifacts. ...

Read the rest at the LA Times.

[CityWatch] Stubborn Autry Museum Asks City Council to Break Law

Stubborn Autry Museum Asks City Council to Break Law
By Ann Walnum

PARKS POLITICS - As a long-time volunteer for the Southwest Museum and a founder of the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition (70 community and civil rights organizations), I remain amazed at the Autry Museum’s stubborn effort to violate our General Plan – the City’s fundamental zoning law – in a series of project proposals intended to relocate the Southwest Museum to the Autry’s building in Griffith Park.

A recent version of this idea was approved by the Recreation and Parks Commission but City Council voted under Charter Section 245 to assume jurisdiction over the issue due to concerns about transparency of the approval process.

After Autry angrily withdrew its first expansion proposal in 2009 which endangered preservation of the Southwest Museum under the General Plan, the Autry Board developed a new project idea, to move its collection storage out of Griffith Park and begin relocating the Southwest Museum’s premiere exhibits from Mount Washington to Griffith Park’s storage area.

The new project and the one withdrawn in 2009 are equally offensive to the City’s General Plan which contains a policy requiring the City to only take actions that “maintain the Southwest Museum on Mount Washington.”

Autry applied to the State for a $6.6 million grant to pay for relocation of the Southwest Museum’s most important Native American exhibits to its Griffith Park building. State officials, unaware of the unlawful nature of the grant proposal, tentatively funded it.

This puts the Los Angeles City Council in an unfair position: Should it ignore its own General Plan and approve Autry’s project to avoid losing the State grant? Or should the integrity of the City’s fundamental law -- the General Plan -- prevail? Autry knows its proposal is contrary to City law, but is asking Council Member Tom LaBonge to ram it through City Council on Tuesday, June 21, 2011, nonetheless.

Recently, the California Department of Recreation and Parks announced that the Autry Museum was selected to receive a $6.6 million Proposition 84 grant of taxpayer dollars to pay for the construction of permanent and rotating galleries of Native American themes and a native plant education garden at its Griffith Park site. On the surface, to the average person and typical City Council member, this sounds like good news: $6.6 million returning to the City’s economy.

But dig deeper and you’ll learn that Autry’s grant application should have never been submitted. That’s because the project for which it seeks state funding is designed to forever destroy the Southwest Museum – an institution Autry promised everyone it would “respect” by maintaining its separate identity and operation as part of a 2003 merger with the former Southwest Museum Corporation.

For more than 50 years, school field trips to the Southwest Museum brought to life history lessons about the State’s and Southern California’s earliest inhabitants. Autry’s move will render the historic building redundant to exhibiting its own collections – a building for which we taxpayers already shelled out $25 million for a Metro Rail Gold Line station at the front door to help bolster its economic feasibility. That clears the way for Autry to sell or give the building away – essentially stealing the Southwest’s priceless collections for itself and forever extinguishing the “Southwest Museum” name/institution.

At a hearing in Council Member Tom LaBonge’s Arts and Culture Committee on Friday, June 3, 2011, Council Member Ed Reyes had some questions he needed answered.

The Casa de Adobe (a replica of a hacienda from California’s pastoral farming days), from which Autry removed all the artifacts and locked the door, lies in Reyes’ District. “What are Autry’s plans for the Southwest Museum and Casa de Adobe?” Reyes asked. Autry’s new CEO and President, Daniel Findley, essentially took the Fifth Amendment: “I will defer to the City Attorney as to whether I have to answer that question,” Findley replied.

When it became clear that Findley would refuse to answer Reyes’ questions about plans for the future of the historic Southwest Museum structures in Northeast LA, Reyes simply read his questions into the record and they remain unanswered.

However, it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out Autry’s goal. Autry signed the 2003 merger agreement promising to rehabilitate the Southwest Museum if its expert team found it physically and economically feasible.

Read the rest of this story at CityWatch

New Autry head chosen

Daniel M. Finley, ex president and CEO of the Milwaukee Public Museum, has bee announced by the Autry Board of Trustees as the successor to  John Gray, the president and CEO who announced his retirement this year. Finley's tenure begins on August 31st.

Finley resigned from his previous post on June 30th after almost five years with the Milwaukee museum. This may indicate he was already packing his bags for Griffith Park at that time. Read an excerpt from his remarks made June 17 at the Public Policy Forum's annual Salute to Local Government here. It talks an awful lot about partnering with government and communities for find that win-win spot. It should be interesting to see how Finley applies all his happy togetherness talk to the real issue of the Southwest Museum.

Autry to redesign Griffith Park facility, SW Museum left out of plans

The Autry announces a new new project... redesigning the Griffith Park facility but this time within its existing footprint. The SW Museum is still completely screwed in the redesign as the Autry continues to ignore the terms of its merger with the SW Museum.

So, um, we guess the threat by the Autry to leave town was exactly that, a threat. Aren't you just totally surprised?

What follows is Brenda Levin's somewhat nauseating press release on the subject.
-------------

AUTRY NATIONAL CENTER ANNOUCES PLANS FOR TWO MAJOR ARCHITECTURAL PROJECTS

Transformation of Griffith Park Facility by Levin & Associates Will Add 25,000 Square Feet and Offer Stunning Showcase for the Autry’s Collections New Building in Burbank Designed by Chu + Gooding Will  Serve as Autry Research and Resource Center

LOS ANGELES, CA June 30, 2010– Moving forward with its ambitious plan  to create a major new intercultural center, where it will bring together and honor the stories of all the peoples of the American West, the Autry National Center today announced plans for two major architectural projects. The Autry will transform its existing Griffith Park campus into a cultural attraction for Los Angeles, designed by the distinguished firm of Levin & Associates. The Autry will also purchase a new building in Burbank and work with Chu + Gooding to create a new Research and Resource Center. Through the $75 million, seven year project, the Autry will bring its collections and exhibitions to the public as never before.

Over the past year, the Autry has worked closely with Brenda Levin, Principal of Levin & Associates, on a planning study for the Griffith Park facility. The study determined that if the Autry is to dramatically increase and modernize its galleries in the existing building, it must free up spaces on the first floor that are currently used for offices, conservation laboratories and collection storage. To achieve this goal, the Autry will establish an off-site Research and Resource Center, which will accommodate its curatorial offices, laboratories, research libraries and approximately 500,000 artworks and artifacts that have been stored until now in both the Griffith Park and Mt. Washington facilities.

Brenda Levin’s plan will open up the first-floor level of the museum, adding 25,000 square feet of gallery space. These new galleries, scheduled to begin opening in 2013, will allow for the presentation of multiple exhibitions. Highlights include First Californians, a permanent gallery devoted to the story of Native Americans living in the West before European settlers arrived; a new gallery space for rotating exhibitions of the Southwest Museum’s outstanding Native American Collection; and a redesign of the outdoor landscape area now called Trails West.

The new Autry Research and Resource Center will be a two-story, 100,000-square-foot structure located on Victory Boulevard in Burbank, approximately 2.5 miles from Griffith Park. Its primary use will be to provide state-of-the-art, museum-quality storage for the Autry’s extensive collections of art and artifacts and library materials. The Autry’s Institute for the Study for the American West, which encompasses the Braun Research Library and the Autry Library, will move to the Research and Resource Center. A reading room will be open to the public by appointment.

The collections now stored at the Southwest Museum building in Mount Washington will also be moved over time into the Research and Resource Center. This move will ensure that these priceless artifacts and pieces of artwork are maintained under pristine conditions; that they remain safely accessible to scholars and researchers; and that the Autry’s curators can select from them for exhibitions and installations. Gallery space in the Southwest Museum is currently being used for expanding much need conservation and preservation work on the collection. The Autry expects this conservation project to be completed at the end of 2013. The Autry is currently seeking partnerships with educational, cultural or civic organizations to develop future programs suitable to the Southwest Museum site.

Cut and Paste Briefs from CD 14

"Autry National Center President John Gray has left the building"

In what can only be describe as a victory for grass-roots activism, Autry National Center President John L. Gray has announced his resignation/ retirement from the western-theme museum.

Activists in both the Mt. Washington and Griffith Park communities were surprised by this announcement, but in hindsight, even an loyal Autry stalwart such as Gray could read the "political tea leaves" and determine that the Autry National Center's "expansionist vision" would never become reality in the current political environment.

Speculation by one member of the "Friends of the Southwest Museum" coalition, centers on the recent proposal by CD 14 Councilman Jose Huizar to make million in loans and grants available to the Autry, for rehabilitation of the Southwest Museum, thus insuring a viable museum on the slopes of Mt. Washington.

But in an recent meeting of the Autry Board of Trustees and Jackie Autry, they turned down the proposal by Councilman Huizar. This in retrospect could have help make easier the decision by Gray to tender his resignation/ retirement to the Autry.

Gray for his part, could not resist taking an swipe at Southwest Museum preservationists,

"My largest challenge was dealing with people who didn't understand the role of the museum and didn't appreciate it", Gray said. "As a result, the process of saving the Southwest and working on working on expansion plans were never discussed in terms of cultural institutions. It simply became politics".

The politics that were part of the Autry Expansion/ Southwest abandonment desires, included the hiring of such unsavory political entities such as Latham & Watkins and the convicted criminal Steve Sugerman, who on the behalf of their Autry client, attempted to usurp transparent political processes.

In addition, one cannot overlook the cost of political favors, by the likes of Mayor Villaraigosa and Councilman Jose Huizar to the cast of "community vendidos y vendidas" that constituted the fraudulent "Southwest Society". Whether it was the giveaway of the Hazard Park Armory to Jenny Krusoe, committee appointments for Carol Jacques and favors directed to Eliot Sekuler. The true cost of the Mayor and Councilman Huizar's attempt to force the Autry agenda down the throats of open space and Southwest Museum preservationists, may have long-term political ramifications starting in 2011.

In retrospect, while the battle to preserve Griffith Park and the Southwest Museum is not over by any means, the efforts and unity of preservationists in this saga, deserve the proper kudos of praise.

OTHER NEWS:

** The traveling roadshow featuring the City Council Budget Committee, made its schedule stop last evening, in the El Sereno neighborhood of CD 14. For host Councilman Jose Huizar, this was an evening that he may want to expunge from his political memory.

First, Budget Committee attendees were given copies of the latest issue of the Voice Newspaper, which called into question Councilman's Huizar use of discretionary funds. Then speaker after speaker spoke negativly about issues within the district, whether it was fire services cutbacks, contracting out recreation services, or the general disdain for the current political leadership at City Hall, This was not the positive image that "Team Huizar" wanted to present for the evening.

Then there was the political drama, with 2011 repercussions, taking place right in front of the Councilman. Seated with Public Works Commissioner Cynthia Ruiz, was an prominant local businessperson, who is entertaining thoughts about future political aspirations. Judging by the tone of activists within the meeting room, any possible candidate that may want to challenge the incumbent Huizar in 2011, would be met with an open mind.

But the most poignant moment of the evening was the emotional testimony of a greiving son, who painfully retold the story of waiting with his father nine plus minutes for a paramedic, only to see his father pass away.

If one needed to be reminded of the serious ramifications of the budget crisis at City Hall, this moment would of jarred you back to reality, but then if you were listening to Councilman Huizar, the cutbacks/ brownouts of fire services is "only an reallocation of resourses".

Your thoughts..................

Autry making good on threat to close SW Museum

“To Whom It May Concern,

I have been both a member and a volunteer/docent with the Southwest Museum since 1985. Last Saturday, 12/12/2009, the docents had their annual holiday gathering at the museum. John Gray made a surprise appearance, and announced to our group that the Southwest Museum site at Mt. Washington would be closing to the general public. The reason he gave was that they needed space for artifact restoration and conservation. He said that after 12/31/2009, the bookstore area will be closed and used to do work on the bead-work portion of the collection. Any public events now taking place at the museum will cease. Museum access will be given only to museum members…–for example, the monthly tours of the building. It was unclear whether the NELA art openings would be open to the public or members only (the next show is 1/23/2010). No public annoucement would be made regarding either the closing of the store or the site itself.

With this action, the Southwest Museum is now officially a storehouse and conservation site, nothing more. Mr. Gray stated that it would not open again for at least three years and perhaps longer pending need. He stated the future plan for the site was still to create a cultural center, exhibition space and education facilities. This was the plan that came out of the public meetings held in 2006 by the The Human Rights Commission of L.A. Since there is no contractual obligation to move forward with this plan after negotiations ended last fall with the city, the Autry’s word becomes its sole binding agreement for the future of the site. With the miscommunication and lack of transparency about the future of the Southwest Museum since the initial agreement was signed back in 2003, it is difficult to believe that the Autry will honor its previous agreement. This latest action shows clearly that the Autry’s long-term commitment to Southwest Museum is questionable and doubtful. The closing of the site to the general public is contary to both the wishes of the community at large and the L.A. City Council.

Michael Wyman
SWM Docent”

Additional:

Autry Returns Scarce State Funding Secured for SW Museum
by Nicole Possert  

Autry's Decision to a Complete Closure of the Southwest Museum Shuts Off All Public Access to the First Museum in LA;

Autry Returns Scarce State Funding Secured for Southwest Museum Statement from Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition

LOS ANGELES (December 16, 2009) The revelation that Autry intends to quietly completely close the Southwest Museum to the general public on December 31st is the latest proof of Autry's continued disrespect to our community, to the City of Los Angeles and to the history of the Southwest, said Nicole Possert, Chairperson for the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition.

In 2003, Autry merged with the Southwest Museum with the stated intent to save the Southwest Museum institution.  In the ensuing seven years, Autry has done just the opposite. It has not complied with the legal merger agreement and Autry's pattern of contrarian actions proves that they never intended to stay and continue to operate the first museum in Los Angeles. This is the last stab in Autry's death by a 1,000 cuts" strategy to kill the first museum in Los Angeles and take for themselves the priceless Southwest Museum Collection, continued Possert. "Wake up Los Angeles." Our history is unnecessarily going away.

This news piles on top of more negative news and a financial red-flag alert. Autry recently returned scarce grant funds to the State of California for over $160,000 to waterproof the historic tunnel entrance to the Southwest Museum  the entryway with unique dioramas used by schoolchildren coming by bus and visitors using public transportation (Southwest Museum Metro Gold station and Metro Bus lines are immediately adjacent). The Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition had originally supported that grant request and is alarmed by Autry's actions of disinvestment in the promised rehabilitation of the Southwest Museum and our community. "In light of Autry's financial condition, this is a strange and illogical way to be a responsible steward and uphold their fiduciary responsibilities to the merger,"concluded Possert.

The Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition has watched, warned and worked to prevent this from occurring. Self-labeled IMBY's (In My Back Yard), the Coalition has worked to keep the Southwest Museum a key museum destination for Los Angeles. It has proposed various win-win solutions including a modest expansion of the Mt. Washington site for more exhibition space, supported Autry's artifact conservation efforts and fundraising activities for the rehabilitation of the Southwest Museum and Casa de Adobe. Each time, Autry rejected the Coalition's attempts at support and solutions.

Councilmember Jose Huizar's office has been working with City staff to review funding options to keep the Southwest Museum open and requested a meeting with Autry to discuss any financing options. The Coalition strongly urges the Autry to meet with Councilmember Huizar and actively secure a solution to re-open the Southwest Museum as a museum to the public, as promised. There is a trigger option, soon expiring on the Southwest Museum, allowing the Autry board to begin selling off parts or all of the priceless Collection, including the two historic museums - the Casa de Adobe and the Southwest Museum.

The Autry letter returning grant funds and highlights of Autry's actions counter to the intent of the 2003 merger will be detailed and available on the front page of the Coalition's website.  

Remove Autry Board from Fiduciary Control of SWM

With the Autry supposedly pulling out of their planned Griffith Park expansion, the question now is about what they may try to do with the Southwest Museum site and collection. So far, all they have done is spin spin spin. But from what they have said so far regarding the Southwest, by the sound of John Gray's letter (see below) they plan on a basic dissociation of the Southwest as a unified entity.

Dissociating the Southwest would be a violation of the merger agreement between the two entities. Backing this assertion is a paper trail that can be followed in the Los Angeles City Clerk's council files archive from roughly 2001 through 2007. It remains to be seen whether the Los Angeles City Council, Jose Huizar, and the Friends of the Southwest Museum can muster enough to force the Autry to keep their word.

So the race is on. The Autry will be trying to make a buck on the Southwest before the City gets its act together. Given the typical speed at which the City does anything, the Autry stands to succeed. One way to stop this from happening is to force the Autry board to give up fiduciary control of the historic property and its inventory. It's been done before. From the NY Times....

-----------------------

April 30, 2008
Montana Museum Board Breached Duty, Court Says

The Montana Supreme Court dismissed on Tuesday the board of the Charles M. Bair Family Museum in Martinsdale, Mont., saying it breached its fiduciary duties by closing the museum from 2002 to 2005. The court said the board had not spent enough money to give a good start to the museum — home to an eclectic collection of fine European antiques, valuable art works and priceless Indian artifacts. It ordered U.S. Bank, the trustee, to create a new board that has to meet within six months.

“As a result of the board’s failure to spend ‘whatever principal and income of the Charles M. Bair Family Trust that is necessary to improve and maintain the museum,’ the museum never received a fair opportunity to succeed; the museum was destined for failure rather than success,” the court wrote in its opinion, quoting the trust document. “The board’s ensuing breaches emanated from this initial failure.”

U.S. Bank had not seen the ruling and had no comment, said a spokesman, Steve Dale. It controlled four of the five seats on the trust’s board of advisers, which oversaw the museum.
The case has been widely watched in the nonprofit world and among state regulators of charities. The regulators are often responsible for interpreting and defending donors’ intentions long after their deaths and in the face of strong opposition from powerful boards. Thirteen states filed amicus briefs in support of the Montana attorney general.

“It’s great news,” said the attorney general, Mike McGrath. “The Montana Supreme Court said the board does not have unfettered discretion.”

The case was brought by a community group, the Friends of the Bair Museum, whose members were overjoyed. “The little guy won,” said Jamie Doggett, chairwoman of the group. “The court realized that this was Alberta’s first and foremost desire to have the museum in her home in Martinsdale in memory of her father.”

Alberta is Alberta M. Bair, the strong-willed, quirky heiress who favored red hats and vodka and established the trust that had financed the museum. She died in 1993, leaving the fortune her father had amassed in minerals, finance and sheep. The trust created on her death stated that it was her “cherished aim and foremost desire” to establish a museum in the Bair family house, where she and her sister, Marguerite, had gathered their collection. She directed the board to spend whatever necessary from the trust’s principal and interest to maintain the museum and buy property, if needed.

She also gave the board the option of closing the museum after five years. The board members said that attendance had declined, that the house was ill suited to be a museum and that it lacked adequate security and protection against fire as the collection was increasing in value. From 2002 to 2005, the value of just the art collection increased 40 percent, to $6.7 million. Some of the most valuable pieces were moved to other institutions at the board’s discretion, reducing the attraction, and the court did not order their return. Mr. McGrath said he expected an accord with the new board.

Ms. Doggett said reopening the museum would be a boon to the Martindale economy. “People stop and look at a museum,” she said. “Not just a display on the wall, but to go into someone’s home and see how they lived.”

Autry's Griffith Park Development Dream Collapses!

WOOHOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
-GS for GPW

From the LA TIMES:

Autry drops plans for $175-million expansion at Griffith Park site
12:02 PM, August 11, 2009

The Autry National Center has bowed out of a protracted battle for a $175-million expansion of its facility in Griffith Park.

City approval of the plan hinged on a recent demand for the Autry to make a legally binding commitment to support the Southwest Museum as a fully functioning art institution in perpetuity. In a letter delivered to members of the Los Angeles City Council today, the Autry stated that such a commitment would be irresponsible and that it is withdrawing its proposal.

“Any further attempt to proceed with the proposed expansion project in Griffith Park would be an ill-advised diversion of our financial resources and an insupportable distraction from our work in serving the community,” Autry President John L.Gray stated in the letter. “We come to this decision with reluctance and deep regret — but the constant delays, the past and future costs, the unyielding insistence on financial and programmatic commitments which we cannot responsibly make, and the prospect of future expensive and debilitating litigation all demand that we fulfill the Autry’s vision under different circumstances.”

The Autry proposed a two-phase project that would have increased its Griffith Park building from 142,000 square feet to 271,000 square feet, including exhibition and visible storage space for the Southwest’s collection. Despite the setback, Autry leaders say they will carry out their vision by continuing to care for the Southwest’s Native American art collection and historic building, and converting Autry storage space into galleries.

Check back with Culture Monster later today for updates on this report.

-- Suzanne Muchnic

Autry Board Goes For Broke

At the most recent board of directors' meeting, the Autry voted to tell Councilman Jose Huizar (CD14), the Southwest Museum Society, the Friends of the Southwest Museum, and the citizens of Los Angeles to effectively 'go to hell', threatening the City with taking both their museum and the billion dollar collection of the Southwest Museum out of town. The exact quote from John Gray or one of their board muckie-mucks went something like... '...you don't want to be responsible for losing both the Autry Museum AND the Southwest, do you?'

(read CM Huizar's response)

Oh my. Lose the Autry? That austere institute, quietly nestled on eleven acres of invaluable open space in Griffith Park for a mere $1 per year that taxpayers subsidize to the tune of $27.5 million? That bastion of academic fortitude? The keeper of all true history related to the American West?

What a huge loss to the upper eschelons of the academic community if the Autry were to leave LA! I mean, after all, just look at their most recent offering, absolutely steeped in the true essence of the American West.

WHAT WOULD WE DO WITHOUT THIS MUSEUM ?


From the Autry's web site:

On display starting July 28, 2009

The Autry National Center is proud to announce the installation of the two intertwined shirts worn by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in the Focus Features 2005 groundbreaking film Brokeback Mountain, also starring Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway.

The shirts will be displayed as part of a reinstallation of the Contemporary Westerns case in the Autry’s Imagination Gallery. Directed by Oscar winner Ang Lee, the film is adapted from the short story by Pulitzer Prize–winning author E. Annie Proulx in her Close Range: Wyoming Stories collection. The shirts are on loan from collector, producer, and socio political commentator Tom Gregory.

The Western genre is an American art form that has played a crucial role in the development of American popular culture. Putting the Western into a larger historical context, the Imagination Gallery shows how the genre has evolved over the last one hundred years in response to social and cultural changes taking place in America. The iconic shirts are at the center of the Contemporary Westerns case in order to highlight Brokeback Mountain’s significance in keeping the Western genre alive and thriving in the new millennium, and also to spotlight the LGBT community’s struggle for safety and inclusion in the rural, Western communities from where many originate yet often feel forced to abandon....

Hearing on Autry Expansion in Griffith Park Delayed

(Article courtesy Friends of the Southwest Museum who have partnered with Griffith Park advocates to protect the park's interest in the Autry's desired expansion: a proposed tripling of the Autry building size plus up to 100 additional signs and billboards, a 100' tower, new liquor license, etc. on Griffith Park land for only $1.00 per month in rent.

At this point in time, it is very disconcerting that no one is officially representing Griffith Park and the public who uses this important park land in these negotiations. Tom LaBonge, the councilman in whose district this project lies, is 100% for handing the Autry everything they want.

The Greater Griffith Park Neighborhood Council is the most obvious choice for a place at this negotiation table to speak for the park. It remains to be seen if a "table" even materializes as the posturing of the Autry continues.)


City Hearing Postponed as Autry Rebukes Any Negotiation for Southwest Museum

Yesterday, July 28, 2009, Board of Referred Powers Chair Janice Hahn accepted a request from Councilmember José Huizar for additional time to work on getting the Autry National Center’s Board of Directors to agree to a legally binding commitment for the Southwest Museum and Casa de Adobe in its proposed lease amendment with the City. (Tony Cardenas is the new chair of the Board of Referred Powers for 2009-10 - ed.)

Councilmember Huizar seeks such a condition to assure Autry will not simply take the Southwest Museum’s Collection to an expanded Autry museum building in Griffith Park and abandon or sell the Southwest Museum site. For this reason, Huizar has requested a continuance of the further hearing of the Autry’s expansion plan in Griffith Park until after August 31, 2009.

The reason given from his letter of request: “I have been acting in good faith to bring agreement and/or compromise to the issue at hand. However, I do not believe that the Autry has taken seriously the Board of Referred Power’s instructions to work out with me options for a legally binding document. The Autry Center has essentially threatened to abandon its expansion project at Griffith Park altogether if I continue to pursue with them any document which legally binds them to its commitments made to me and to the City of Los Angeles.”

Councilmember Huizar is to be applauded for his leadership as he has been working diligently these past 4 weeks. As the first elected official to be publicly granted a meeting directly with the Board of Directors in regards to this issue, he now has first hand knowledge of the Autry decision-maker’s position.

Our Coalition was asked by his staff to select just two people to represent the entire 70 organizations and many individuals to meet with the Councilmember. Mark Kenyon and I participated in two meetings with the Councilmember to discuss the longstanding position of the Coalition: a legally binding agreement and a fully functional Southwest Museum. (And submitted to him supporting documents.)

At the second meeting on Thursday, July 23rd, we agreed with the Councilmember that the three key items needed were:

1) legally binding commitment that could be accomplished in various forms

2) 12,500 sq ft. of exhibition space for the Southwest Collection at the historic museum facility (or Option B from the Brenda Levin study)

3) a timeline for re-opening

Just last evening, CM Huizar invited 11 organizational representatives from Council District 14 to a meeting in which he shared this information and a newly adopted resolution from the Autry Board that opposes any negotiation with the City that would address the issues for the Southwest Museum and Casa de Adobe.

We strongly urge you to read these documents, available at our website: http://www.friendsofthesouthwestmuseum.com/AutryBoardResoLtrBoRP072409.pdf

There was overwhelming agreement and support at this meeting for the Councilmember to continue to pursue a legally binding commitment and the exhibition space allocation of Option B. And, everyone one was willing to support him in this endeavor.

This is a fast moving train. I immediately requested that the Councilmember attend and talk with our entire Coalition as soon as possible to confirm with all of us that these are his goals too and to allow everyone concerned to be a part of the solution.

We are working with City staff as to what the necessary next action items will include. Please be ready to participate as you have already been doing in support of the Coalition’s position all these years. For our community, for the future of our children and for our own history and common heritage that is the Southwest Museum, I thank you for being devoted to community service.

Nicole Possert, Chair