One Nation. One State. One City. One Neighborhood.

A National View From Northeast LA

The Arroyo Seco Journal Report from the CNN/LA Times Democratic Debate


By Edward Rivera


Kodak Theater, Hollywood, California, January 31, 2008—Before you are too impressed, let's set the stage here. Minutes before the CNN/LA Times debate is due to begin, I am seated three floors above the theater in an upstairs press room. Just in this room, there are about 400 reporters from all over the world seated at their laptops. What is essentially the most important American presidential debate since Lincoln battled Stephen Douglas, is about to begin. A woman is battling an African American to be the Leader of the Free World. They are the final two after the original 17 candidates. If you're in LA, and remotely politically acute, this is the place to be. When I was 20, I wanted to be backstage at every rock concert. Im not 20 anymore, and now this is where I want to be. Plus the catering is better.
Though the actual audience is by invitation only, there is a small photo and press booth in the theater itself. But the bulk of the national and world press is here upstairs. A lot of familiar TV news faces are strolling though the press room, as well as a lot of familiar local media. The behatted Patt Morrison from the LA Times just said hello, and even the guy who runs the press box at Dodger Stadium is here.
CNN's Wolf Blitzer, his own biggest fan, is warming up the crowd, and mugging to the trough of "photogs," as he calls them. He's like the comedian who warms up audiences before the Tonight Show. But not as funny.

Ground Rules
Seated in rows and rows of seats before a series of flat screen TVs, this is much like sitting in the press box at Dodger Stadium. Many years ago, covering a game, I applauded following a Dodger home run, I was gently informed by an editor that "there is no cheering in the press box." Tonight there is no cheering upstairs.

Let's Begin
It's struck me that no moment in the lives of either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton is as gigantic as this one. All that they have achieved in their careers as politicians leads to this night. Both will be under the world microscope down to the last speck. Every movement, every tic, every hesitation, every hiccup, and every gesture will be scrutinized. Imagine yourself under the same lens, and you have just a tiny sense of what it is like to be a candidate. Both candidates are friendly, respectful, and on their best behavior as we begin.
The Republicans had their debate last night in an entirely different California than this one. Los Angeles is heavily Democratic, and tonight's event is essentially a lovefest. Here are two beloved Democrats in front of the faithful. Both of their positions will be similar. There are no Republicans to boo tonight. When one of these candidates faces off against a Republican, then the tea party is over. Hide the good china.
Following the debate, the press will make its way down to the Spin Room to be fed Word Noise by both candidates' people. Brave correspondent that I am, that is still more than I can stomach. I'll be home long before they stop talking tonight.

Heath Care
Both candidates agree on the importance of revitalizing the US Health Care System, which is simply a hornet's nest of lobbyists and anti-patient HMOs. Apparently the basic difference is the question of mandating coverage, something that Clinton favors. Obama is in favor of mainly making it affordable. Both ideas would turn the idea of American health care on its head, hoping to recreate a system that favors avoiding health care, into one that emphasizes prevention.

Immigration
In answer to the "Driver's License" issue, Clinton emphasized the need firsthand to redo the immigration system with a series of steps and rules for illegal immigrants, and both attempted to minimize the actual licensing question.
"Lets do it in a practical, realistic approach," said Clinton, who introduced immigration reform before Obama came to the US Senate. On the other hand, Obama attempts to nail her down after hinting that she has changed her position a few times during the campaign.

Experience
Let's face it. neither candidate is an old warhorse. Clinton is a youthful 60-ish, and Obama is a youthful 40-ish. No one gets here by accident or coincidence. It takes years and years of work in the trenches, and countless hours of unglamorous work over a lifetime of sweaty politics. "It is an exciting and humbling experience for both of us," said Clinton.
For his part, Obama carefully avoids criticizing the Clinton Years, and emphasizes the number of new voters that this election has attracted, always a critical issue. Clinton responds to an Internet question from a citizen and rocks thehouse when she said, "It took a Clinton to clean up the house after the first Bush, and it will take another Clinton to clean up the house after this one." If cheering was allowed, this room would have shook.

Iraq
Clearly, both candidates recognize the need for the US to extricate itself from the murky swamp that is the war in Iraq. While Clinton says she "hopes" we will be out in sixteen months, Obama emphasizes his position that American should never have gone into the country, a position this newspaper overwhelmingly supports. Happily, he also takes McClain to task—which few had really done yet—for his remark that the US should remain in Iraq for "one hundred years."
While Clinton gets a swipe for having originally voted for the war, this is a buffet for both candidates as they devour the Republicans on the issue. Obama nails it when he describes the the US as having "set the bar so low, they can't see it anymore."
Clinton counters with a cogent explanation of the parameters under which she voted for the Iraq War, while Obama strikes back, saying," It's important to be right the first time." I dont know many people who can claim that.

Clinton/Obama? Obama/Clinton?
"Its presumptuous," says Obama. Clinton agrees. Neither wants to commit to a running mate, while John Edwards is sitting and bravely smiling in the audience. As Obama pulls out Clinton's chair like a gentleman, the lovefest continues.

See you Super Tuesday.

The Specific Plan Delivers

What Eagle Rock Really Wants

by Joanne Turner
Last October, I attended a presentation by Root Development of a proposal to redevelop the three parcels at the northeast corner of Colorado Boulevard and Eagle Vista Drive on which Boston Transmission now mostly stands.

Before the 134 freeway was built in the early 1970s, Boston Transmission was a tan-colored biker bar with green shamrocks crudely painted all over the exterior walls and towering-handlebar choppers lined up outside. Outside now are disheveled cars in various states of disrepair behind a cold and uninviting wrought-iron fence. A highly visible location, it is ripe for change.

One of the first things the Root Development presenter said was that the Colorado Boulevard Specific Plan clearly outlines what the Eagle Rock community wants. She said the community wants less automotive businesses and that this project would replace one of them.

The existing characterless building, front parking lot and fence would all be demolished, and a mixed-use edifice close to the sidewalk with 10 condominium units above and two retail spaces on the ground floor would be erected in their place. Appropriately, parking would be located in back.

It was music to my ears. What a relief to know that the developer recognized the law and was ready and willing to honor it to further improve Eagle Rock’s business district. At last, there would be no hassles or fights trying to protect the letter and spirit of the law this community volunteered to write over five years, a law that was finally enacted by the city in 1992.

The drawings passed around at the meeting were somewhat simplistic, so I e.mailed the developer asking for copies of the plan specifications. I received the specs a few weeks later, only to see the same simplistic drawings but with all technical site plans and elevations included.

Overall, the project appears to be very well designed, but I wanted more detailed drawings that showed choices of colors and surface materials to see exactly what the building would look like. I called the developer and was told those details had not been finalized. He assured me he would let me know when they were.

Getting our business district on track for revitalization began in earnest in the mid-1980s, when our community lobbied hard to get the city to authorize us to write a law to reverse the ongoing destruction of our historic commercial fabric and bring back the pedestrian by creating attractive, sidewalk-fronted architecture with concealed parking.

Along with some in the business sector who “got it,” we succeeded. The Specific Plan, a relatively new idea at the time, was born and made into law. Fifteen years later, it’s working.

Fatty’s (A Place to Eat) used to be Stapp’s Auto Service. The Coffee Table Bistro was Williamson Auto Supply. Larkin’s (A Contemporary Soul Food Joint) was MR6 Auto Sales, housed in a deteriorating bungalow that has been lovingly restored. SW Hill Country Western Wear was an auto stereo-installation business whose name I can’t recall. Glendale Adventist Therapy & Wellness Center was Montgomery Ward Automotive Center.

What was One Day Paint & Auto Body is where Starbucks now stands (but there is a long, bruising story to this one). Rattan Wicker Tropical Mart, which along with rattan furniture and photocopying services illegally sold auto parts (say what?), is now for lease.

Blas Auto Repair/Auto Glass/Auto Upholstery/Performance Auto . . . pick a name, any name . . . is now The Loft Hair Lounge, Pollen Botanical Design, and Curve Line Space (an art framing business and gallery), and last time I looked there was some square footage still available.

I was recently told that American Tire Depot has been sold to a developer with plans to replace it with another mixed-use project designed, I am sure, to the Specific Plan’s higher standards. The pattern is unmistakable.

Most importantly, formerly empty sidewalks are teeming with people. We now have a diversity of charming businesses to patronize so we spend our dollars in Eagle Rock and not in Old Pasadena. It’s precisely what the Specific Plan intended.

The Root Development representative couldn’t have said it better. It’s what the Eagle Rock community wants.

Central High’s ‘Dirt’y Little Secret

How a High School Site Got Stolen, Buried and Recovered

By Margaret Arnold
Exclusive to the Arroyo Seco Journal

Several years ago, Glassell Park resident Alisa Smith attended a meeting about a Caltrans maintenance facility proposed for the north end of the former Taylor Yard railroad site off of San Fernando Road. Caltrans needed to relocate the facility from North Hollywood because that site was needed for a school.
Didn’t Northeast Los Angeles need a school too, Smith wondered? Why was North Hollywood getting a school while NELA was getting a truck yard?
Jump ahead to November 19 of this year. Smith was sitting in a courtroom as a judge awarded that same parcel of land—Taylor Yard Parcel F—to the Los Angeles Unified School District. It is to become LAUSD Central Region High School #13.
The court decision represented a hard-fought victory for education activists from communities across the Northeast. The struggle involved a close brush with success in 2005, only to see the property snatched away by a developer, followed by some serious contamination of the land with arsenic, lead and volatile chemicals under mysterious circumstances.
The need for another NELA high school has been apparent for decades, as secondary students from Glassell Park and Cypress Park have had to walk or take the bus to Eagle Rock, Franklin, Marshall and Lincoln. Those schools have long been overcrowded, resulting in year-round scheduling with shortened school years and portable classrooms.
The Taylor Yard site was a rare find on the urban landscape. A school could be built there without necessitating the displacement of any homes or businesses. It was set back from a major transportation corridor. A large park was going in just down the block. A community college satellite campus was slated for just up the street. And property owner Legacy Partners of Texas wanted to sell.
Still, a full high school may have looked like too much to hope for. LAUSD was simply not in building mode and hadn’t been for generations.
In September of that year, then Glassell Park Neighborhood Council Chair Helene Schpak brought together representatives of LAUSD, the Construction Bond Oversight Committee, City Council offices, the Neighborhood Council and property owner Legacy Partners.
“The purpose of the meeting was to introduce ourselves to each other and begin the process of discussing the viability/possibility of a school being built on Parcel F,” says Schpak. “It was agreed that the conversation would continue.”
At that point, Caltrans pulled out of discussions about the property.
A lot changed in 2004. A voter-mandated move away school overcrowding meant dollars for construction. Local activists pointed LAUSD in the right direction, and in 2004 the district was on the verge of an agreement for the purchase of Taylor Yard Parcel F. The district began an environmental assessment. The School Board took its sweet time with the politics of approval, but HS13 looked like a done deal.
But a shocker of a plot development was in the works. In 2005, the development firm of Meruelo Maddox swooped in and offered Legacy Partners more money than the fair market value the school district could spend by law. The District is said to have offered $29.4 million. Meruelo Maddox offered $30 million.
Meruelo Maddox holds the largest property portfolio in Downtown Los Angeles and has extensive holdings in areas surrounding Downtown. CEO Richard Meruelo was the largest individual donor to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa’s election campaign.
Meruelo Maddox dubbed the property “Riveredge Village.” A description of the development firm’s plan for Glassell Park is on the company’s web site:
A mixed use community is being planned to offer attractive housing, local-serving retail and inviting public spaces that bridge Glassell Park and a projected revitalized L.A. River. Projected for the 23 acre plus parcel are 1,000 to 1,200 units of varied housing types, and 120,000 SF of commercial uses, a variety of active and passive open spaces, and links to proposed mass transit system. It has been recommended that a high school planned for the site be relocated on an adjacent central parcel bordering the Rio de Los Angeles State Park to encourage joint use.
The “adjacent central parcel” referred to is the current Fed Ex site, which Meruelo Maddox only recently acquired. The Fed Ex property is less than half the size of the site Meruelo bought out from under the school district. Rather than having their own athletic and recreation spaces, the high school students would be expected to use the new park, a use for which community activists say the park was not designed. Further, the smaller parcel is the subject of a legal dispute totally separate from the LAUSD case.
Rethinking the plan for the school, which was designed specifically for the Parcel F site, could mean a delay of five years.
The school district was having none of it. The board went after the larger parcel by means of eminent domain, Meruelo Maddox took the matter to court, negotiations failed—and hence, the November 19 court date.
The court appearance resulted in a victory for LAUSD and local school advocates. But there are still huge issues to be worked out.
First up is the fact that the temporary owner apparently trashed the place.
In 2006, the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council and the Glassell Park Improvement Association began receiving inquiries as to why there were trucks pulling into the property. A strip of land was covered in asphalt, and Glendale Kia began storing cars there. The neighborhood council board wrote to officials at various levels of government expressing the concern that a large pile of dirt had appeared at the site, and no one knew what was in it. No one could find any permits.
Actually, activists didn’t know what was being imported—but they had their suspicions.
In April of this year, the Los Angeles City Attorney announced that his office had filed multiple criminal charges against Meruelo Maddux Properties for the improper removal and disposal of asbestos-tainted materials at a demolished industrial complex on the edge of Downtown. The complaint alleged 16 criminal counts, including illegal disposal of hazardous waste and improper handling and disposal of asbestos removal. The company was unable to document proper asbestos removal procedures or provide waste shipment records for hazardous materials removed from the site.
In October, LAUSD received the results of its newest environmental study. Despite substantial clean-ups of the former rail yard in the l990s, there are now 37 sites on the property contaminated with arsenic, lead, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, polychlorinated biphenyls and/or pesticides. The infill contains building debris. Clean-up will involve trucking out 7,000 cubic yards of soil and the total clean-up cost will be about $4 million.
Javier Hinojosa of the Department of Toxic Substances Control told a November 8 community meeting on a remedial action plan that “undocumented” soil represents a huge portion of the contamination. Tom Watson of the LAUSD Office of Environmental Health and Safety, when asked about the “undocumented” fill said, “We believe it was brought in by Meruelo Maddox.”
In January, the court will address the issue of hazardous clean-up and who’s going to pay. In April, the court will assess whether and how the change of ownership impacts Glendale Kia (although its lease on the property ends in January).
On May 5, a valuation trial will take place. Attorneys cannot discuss figures being put forth in chambers, but one participant did divulge that Meruelo Maddox is asking for approx 75% more than LAUSD’s valuing of the property.
But despite pending issues, education activists from Glassell Park, Cypress Park, Mount Washington, Atwater Village and other NELA communities are in fact getting the school they have been fighting for.
The school has been designed to accommodate almost 2,300 students. They will, however, be divided among five “small learning communities,” each with its own building and its own specific area of academic focus. Students will therefore have the advantages of personalized attention and of shared athletic, arts and library facilities. It is expected that programming will make strong use of the revitalization effort at the nearby L.A. River.
Roberta Trotman of the Greater Cypress Park Neighborhood Council points out that Marshall has 4,500 students, while each learning community at HS13 will have 460 students with their own administrator. The official district drop-out rate is 15%, although Trotman says the number of students who start 9th grade but never graduate from high school is substantially higher.
“Kids drop out of school because they’re bored,” says Jackie Goldberg, the area’s former School Board Rep, City Council Member and State Assembly Member.
“We need this size school,” says Trotman, “and a development like Meruelo’s just exacerbates the problem.”
If all goes well, current fifth graders may be the first students of High School 13.

The Coalition Responds: Autry’s New Accomplices: The Best That Money and Politics Can Buy

An Opinion of the Steering Committee of the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition

Dear Editor,
Activist Eliot Sekuler received space to insult the intelligence of our community in your last issue. The Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition, a broad-based group with tens of thousands of constituents from over 70 organizations, including Native American supporters, wholly rejects the revisionist “history” contained in Sekuler’s opinion piece.

Now is not the time to be fooled by Autry’s new de facto spokesperson, Eliot Sekuler. He seems to act as if he speaks for our Coalition when he claims “we won.” The Southwest Museum remains threatened by the Autry National Center’s ongoing plan to take it all to Griffith Park.

Los Angeles did not win with the so-called “Southwest Museum Agreement” as claimed by the Mayor and Councilmember Huizar at a secret press conference this past September. Autry tries to paint the picture of a community “divided.” But this is not about a squabble within just the Mt. Washington community. The Southwest Museum’s future goes way beyond the “hill” where it iconically reposes as the cultural anchor of Northeast LA.

This is about Autry and what it is NOT willing to do for an underserved community. Autry refuses to provide an investment that’s remotely equitable to its ambition to raise $150 million for its Griffith Park home. Instead, Autry seeks to rob Northeast of our cultural resources and heritage.

Sekuler flip-flopped on his Mount Washington constituency as representative to the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council (ASNC). When political considerations led to his abandonment of the community, he asserted his own opinion as that of ASNC and was voted down and replaced as ASNC’s liaison to our Coalition. ASNC still remains a supporting organization in the Coalition, along with six additional Neighborhood Councils.

Sekuler does not need to quote Scripture to explain the real reason that he joined a few other individuals (Carol Jacques, her husband Bill Rumble, and Grayson Cook) to begin a campaign of false “excitement” over the “Agreement” memo from Autry CEO John Gray. Everyone knows the memo is nearly identical to the unenforceable proposal that Gray presented in September 2006 that the community, including Sekuler, rejected.

In our opinion, these individuals from Mount Washington are seeking to curry political favor by falsely claiming a divide of opinion – an old political trick. Instead of supporting community interests, these individuals are supporting the political playbook of the Mayor who, after three years of silence, has been seduced by the money of Autry and its law/lobbying firm, Latham & Watkins.

Sekuler will now lead this false campaign at hearings on Autry’s proposal to expand in Griffith Park by four times the size of the Griffith Observatory. Into this Autry behemoth, sitting on taxpayer land instead of land it owns here, the Southwest’s collection and identity will disappear. Thereafter, we think, the Autry will renege on the unenforceable “Agreement” touted by Sekuler. Autry then has the power to sell the Southwest Museum and take that money to Griffith Park too!

The story Sekuler et al are trying to sell to the naïve and uninformed is that our Museum really will become a “new cultural use” and “premiere public destination”. Autry refuses to make this “Agreement” enforceable so it is clear it exists only for the purpose of Autry looking “good” in the upcoming hearings.

Sekuler is a polished media relations executive for NBC Universal. He “spins” positive messages for Universal including its controversial $3 billion development project. This project is supported by the Mayor, Councilmember LaBonge and, like Autry, is also represented by Latham & Watkins. Sekuler’s diminished enthusiasm for holding Autry to its promises coincides with the announcement last fall of Universal’s ambitious plans.

Everyone knows that Sekuler cannot simultaneously serve the interests of the community and those of his employer. So now he emerges as the de-facto PR spin voice for Autry in Northeast LA. What better way to assure the Mayor continues to support Universal’s $3 billion traffic nightmare in the Cahuenga Pass than Sekuler’s help selling the Autry plan?

Autry wants this to devolve into a personality match between a few political operatives with a minority opinion and the overwhelming majority of Los Angeles represented by our Coalition. Instead, it is the time to:

• Hold accountable the Autry, Mayor, Councilmember Huizar, and these Mount Washington individuals for the misleading press conference at the Southwest Museum.
• Raise our collective voices to defeat the portion of Autry’s plan to expand so much in Griffith Park as to enable it to impair the Southwest as an important Northeast economic development anchor.
• Open our wallets to pay for enforcement of Autry’s promises.
• Tell the world about Autry’s breaches of fiduciary duties.

We are not going away until Autry stops trying to destroy the Southwest Museum in the Arroyo Seco -- the dramatic place where Charles Lummis envisioned a museum to serve the people of California and to educate your children.

Steering Committee of the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition:
Nicole Possert, Mark Kenyon, Scott Piotrowski, Ann Walnum
Kay Brown, Keith Vielle,
Heinrich Kiefer, Johnnie Summer, Jesse Rojas, Olga Hall, Daniel
Wright

Editorial: GPNC’s Bradley Must Go

Community is Ill-Served by His Poor Leadership

Let’s consider the question of leadership for a moment. In a democracy, does the true leader lead or follow? Does he or she follow the wishes of those they serve or do they merely follow their own? Does a leader play by the rules or deconstruct them to serve their own ends? Do true leaders make up the rules as they go along?
One of the most unique and precious things Los Angeles has as a city is the Neighborhood Council system—a network of locally based citizen politicians elected by their neighbors. When administered properly, they are a strong and dynamic entity that can pay off with tangible changes in any neighborhood.
Used improperly, as in the case of the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council (GPNC), they can be a neighborhood’s own worst enemy and used only to further the goals of one group, or one person, in this case.
Bradley (He uses one name only), is perhaps the most stunning example of what can happen when ignorant leadership leads a Neighborhood Council astray.
Many in Northeast LA (and beyond) were appalled by his behavior last Spring as he attempted to bar a citizen from videotaping a GPNC meeting, and then simply lying to her as he demanded that she stop or leave the meeting.
It has happened again and again, at almost every subsequent meeting, when he, as an elected official, simply refused to answer any questions regarding his clear conflict of interest in the Victory Outreach Sign matter. He routinely refuses to answer our questions, and we stopped asking a while ago, opting instead to let facts speak for themselves.
Documents clearly show that he was in the employ of Victory Outreach when he was voting (in violation of procedure) in their favor.
He is a manipulative and arrogant leader, but without the strength of knowledge that the best manipulators hold. What we are left with is an ill-informed bully, who has recruited friends and business clients to further his goals and eventually line his own pockets.
To be clear, no one is accusing Bradley of actually stealing, but there is a pattern of action that begins with recruiting members of a church to run for election of a board you hope to control. They pay you to massage their case in City Hall, and your business grows.
What developer wouldn’t hire the chair of a neighborhood council to expedite his case in council chambers?
His poorly planned, unfocused and illegally over-budgeted upcoming Diversity Forum is only the latest example of his not playing well with others. We are not against the concept of a Diversity Forum (though its sounds like a lot of word noise), but we might be more supportive if anyone actually knew what it was.
Add to this his profound ignorance of parliamentary procedure—who can vote when, who can spend and how, and how to hold a meeting—and you have a community that is ill served and at the mercy of a capricious leader.
We don’t expect to see any current members of the GPNC Board rise up and call for his removal. Indeed, the Council amazingly does not have a bylaw mechanism for the removal of leadership.
We would ask them however, to take a good hard look at what is fair, who has benefited from his leadership, and who has lost.
Bradley, for the good of the community and your own future, leave the council of your own volition. Perhaps in the developer/builder/city hall circles you travel in, your coat is still shiny. But take it from us, from where we sit, you are naked.
And we can already imagine your ire at this editorial. And that’s fine with us.
We’re not afraid to say it again. It is time for you to resign.

New SW Museum Agreement: Another Broken Treaty?

Community Split Over ‘New’ Plan

by Edward Rivera
A recently announced agreement between 14th District Councilmember Jose Huizar and Autry National Center President John Gray over the future of the Southwest Museum has been met by a storm of protests in Northeast LA, and seemingly raises more questions than it answers.
In addition, the agreement, which consists of a memo from Gray to Huizar, creates a new organization—The Southwest Society—made up of elected officials and various local citizens who will meet to direct fundraising for the Autry and Southwest Museum. Curiously, no current members of the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition, made up of 70 local community groups who have led the fight to keep the Museum open, were named to the group.
A local ad hoc group, the Northeast Progressive Alliance, kicked up a wave of protests, both public and private, when it announced its support of the “agreement,” hailing it as a victory. Most community members did not know any agreement or plan was forthcoming and were put off by being left out of whatever negotiations took place.
“This is not an agreement nor a contract, and the major victory points are still vague,” said Nicole Possert of the Highland Park Heritage Trust, a longtime activist who has been fighting to expand the Southwest Museum campus and keep it open as a full-time museum.
The agreement does not confirm the future existence of the Southwest as a continuing full-time museum open to the public.
What is most telling about the new plan and the reaction from the community is that it represents a clear split in Northeast LA, among those who have participated in the sometimes-volatile discussions with the Autry over the future of the Southwest Museum. Many on both sides are former friends and have fought together on many issues.
The members of the Alliance—Eliot Sekuler, Tony Scudelari, Grayson Cook, Carol Jacques and others—are former members of the Coalition, and very active politically. All have close ties to Huizar and Mayor Villaraigosa. (Interesting, the Southwest Society does not include First District Councilmember Ed Reyes nor State Assemblymember Kevin DeLeon.)
Sekuler was the former Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council rep to the SW Museum Coalition, but resigned his post. A week later, the ASNC board voted against his position with regard to the museum.
Possert said she was “surprised that (the SW Museum Coalition was) not involved in the negotiations. Huizar did not include us. The Northeast Progressive Alliance is not a member of the Coalition. Who are they anyway?”
Alliance Spokesperson Eliot Sekuler described the Alliance as a “group of friends conceived over cups of tea in (his) living room.”
Possert continued, “It was the Coalition that first suggested a blue ribbon committee. Fundraising should not supplant what the Autry is committed to.”
Characterizing the agreement, Possert said, “This is an incremental step in the process. This is not an enforceable agreement. What’s a measly little letter going to do? This is just an interim step. We need real world transaction standards.”
She continued, “What the Autry is saying to us is, ‘Your culturally and economically diverse community that is the heritage of the West does not deserve a museum, does not deserve this in their back yard, we are putting in our yard instead.’”
Huizar, responding in an e-mail, said, “I would say that approximately 90% of what the community asked for from the Autry was secured. This is a win-win situation.”
Autry Center President Gray told the Arroyo Seco Journal, “The Autry has clearly articulated its vision for a vibrant new cultural and educational use at the Southwest Museum site. The creation of the Society will help raise funds on top of the millions the Autry as already raised for the site, the collection and the landmark building. Rescuing this important landmark and creating a vibrant use benefits the neighboring communities in the Arroyo and all of Los Angeles.”
Asked about the enforceability of the agreement, Gray said, “The Autry has made its commitment to the Southwest site absolutely clear. The Autry has secured millions of dollars for the Southwest, and is in the process of a sustained multi-year effort to restore and rehabilitate the museum and the Casa. Standing with the Mayor of Los Angeles and Councilman Huizar, Autry President John Gray reaffirmed his commitment to this site. (Full memo is available at www.arroyosecojournal.blogspot.com)
In response to why the SW Museum Coalition was not involved in the most recent negotiations, Gray said, “Councilman Huizar met with the Coalition and was given a list of demands. He summarized those demands in a letter to the community. The commitments from the Autry answer completely the overwhelming majority of the Friend’s requests. The Society is very inclusive of diverse voices from the Native American community, cultural leaders in Los Angeles (including Linda Dishman from the LA Conservancy) and the stakeholders in the adjacent neighborhoods in the Arroyo.”
Asked how many members of the Blue Ribbon Committee have been actively involved in the SW Museum discussion over the last five years? Gray, said “Many.”
Gray said the Autry has been consistent in its vision for the future of the Southwest Museum, with exhibit space and expanded public uses.
Said Gray, “The agreement announced yesterday comes after years of public discussion, including a public process led by the City’s Human Relations Commission. The Councilman and Mayor are very supportive of the future vision and are confident it will be achieved.”
At least one local activist countered that position. Dan Wright, president of the Mt. Washington Homeowners Alliance, said, "The announcement of a blue ribbon fund raising committee for the Southwest Museum by the Mayor and Councilmember Huizar is not credible. First, it has no Board members of the Autry on it. If the Autry is not going to help itself obtain funds for the Southwest Museum, why would sophisticated donors give them money?"
Wright added, “I think that this committee has been announced now, just before Autry tries to get (City) entitlements to double its museum space on leased taxpayer land in Griffith Park, as a mirage to hold up before the decision makers at the public hearing.
“It's a slap in the face of their own Native Mexican ancestors whose lives and artifacts were envisioned by Charles Fletcher Lummis for display and conservation at this dramatic hilltop place of honor."
The Friends of the Southwest Coalition has scheduled an emergency meeting for this coming week.

The Memo

To:
Councilmember José Huizar

Fr:
John Gray, President

Re: The
Autry’s Vision for the Southwest Museum and Casa de Adobe



On behalf of the Autry National Center I want to thank you for your leadership as
We move forward in saving the Southwest Museum and its world class collection. The Autry has a strong vision for the future, and look forward to working with you and the Northeast Los Angeles community to realize our mutual goals.

In summary, we share the following commitments for the future of the Southwest
Museum and the Casa de Adobe:

Expand and maintain the storage and public display of the Southwest Museum’s
collections in Mt. Washington. Using Southwest collections, present the depth and breadth of the Southwest’s collection with rotating exhibitions in the Sprague and Van Nuys Galleries.

When possible, host traveling exhibitions relating to the multiple cultures of the
Southwest.

Refurbish the Plains and California Halls as public space. This will allow for more
diverse educational, cultural, community and museum activities.

• Continue to store the portions of the collection that may be appropriately maintained at the Southwest Museum, such as archaeology and anthropology, and
make them available to scholars, and by appointment, to the broader public.

• Beginning with the reopening of the Southwest Museum, establish regular public
hours for the Museum’s public spaces, consistent with museum standards for
operations, by promoting the exhibitions and programs to a broad Los Angeles
public.

• Maintain American Association of Museums accreditation for the Southwest
Museum.

• Make available for public review at the Southwest Museum and on-line
a photographic inventory of the Southwest collection.

Preserve and protect the Southwest Collection of priceless artifacts

• Save the Southwest collections from substandard conditions and deterioration.

• Store the collection in museum-standard storage.

• Clean, repair and catalog, including barcoding, the more than 250,000 artifacts
that comprise the Southwest Museum collection.

• Make collections accessible to Native communities and the general public and
audiences throughout the world by putting artifact records and images on a
Collections On-Line website.

Preserve, rehabilitate and maintain the original historic Southwest Museum
Building and the Casa de Adobe

• Create a phased plan to systematically maintain and improve the Southwest
Museum and Casa de Adobe over the next decade.

NOTE:
The Autry has already invested more than $5 million to save the
Collection and stabilize the Southwest Museum and Casa de Adobe, and is
Committed to the project’s completion.

As plans are finalized, publicly disseminate information about the rehabilitation.

• Conduct
major repairs to the Southwest Museum and Casa de Adobe.

• Re-install
the dioramas after the completion of the water proofing and the new
delivery system of lighting to the tunnel.

• Stabilize the underlying structure that joins the Caracol Tower to the main
building.

• Upgrade mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems.

•
Conduct earthquake retrofitting, perform critical water mitigation work, and repair damages to Casa de Adobe kitchen and historic stove.

• Continue the water proofing and building improvements of the exterior of the
building, such as the current Caracol Tower renovation that is taking place today.

• Create a campus that is handicapped accessible, by bringing the elevator to the
second story of the Southwest Museum building, and upgrading the bathroom
facilities.

• Improve the watering system, and stabilize the Hopi trail in the Ethno botanic
gardens.

Expand the educational and programming activities of the Southwest Museum and
Casa de Adobe

• Continue the Arroyo Seco Museum Science Magnet program for junior docents at the Casa de Adobe and then expand it to the Southwest Museum once refurbished.

• Establish appropriate educational programs for elementary schools students,
including fourth graders, with emphasis on early California History and Native
American Cultures.

Keep community members and stakeholders well-informed on plans and
Programming at the Southwest Museum and Casa de Adobe



•

Provide monthly updates to the community on the rehabilitation of the Southwest
Museum and Casa de Adobe through the SWMFuture.org site and corresponding
Email blasts.

• Continue attending community meetings and presenting new information about
the rehabilitation of the Southwest building and preservation of the collection.

• Continue to include in the Autry’s published materials all programming at the
Southwest Museum and Casa de Adobe, such as What’s Next and Convergence
Magazine.

AutryNational Center fundraising for Southwest Museum and Casa de Adobe:
The Autry’s multi-million dollar fundraising to date includes:

• Raised over $3 million from major foundations to support conservation and long-
term care of collections.

• Raised over $450,000 from the federal government for conservation of the
collections through the Save America’s Treasures grant. This was the highest
grant amount given that year by this program.

• Raised over $500,000 from the federal government for the Southwest’s electronic catalogue, through grants from National Endowment for the Humanities and Institute of Museum and Library Services.

• Raised $300,000 for the Southwest’s electronic catalogue.

• Raised a grant of $936,000 from the California Cultural and Historical
Endowment to waterproof buildings.

• Raised over $1 million in FEMA funds in 1994 for stabilization of the
Southwest’s buildings; funds were in peril of being lost as no work had been
Conducted prior to merger.

• Raised funds from the National Park Services to assist in creation of Historic
Structures Report for Casa de Adobe.

• Raising $160,000 from CCHE to create greater ADA accessibility through
extension of the museum’s only elevator. (Pending)