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Sunday, November 04, 2007

"Blue Ribbon Committee" of the "Southwest Society"

For the sake of disclosure, here are the "cast of characters" that comprise the "Blue Ribbon Committee" of the new "Southwest Society".

Congressman Xavier Becerra
State Senator Gil Cedillo
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez
Assemblyman Anthony Portantino
County Supervisor, Gloria Molina
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa
Council President Eric Garcetti
Councilmember Jose Huizar

Michael Alexander, Ex. Director, "Grand Performances"
Al Nodal, Cultural Affairs, Annenberg rep
Richard Montoya, Herbert Siguenza, and Ric Salinas of Culture Clash
Linda Dishman, Los Angeles Conservancy
Sazanne Lummis, granddaughter of Charles Lummis
Paula Starr, Native American activist
Colleen Colson, Democratic activist
Duane Champagne, Director of Indian Studies at UCLA
Paula Villasenor, Fernandeno Tribe member
Anthony Morales, Gabrielino/Tongva member
Cynthia Ruiz, Board of Public Works, "Friend of Antonio"
Bill Rumble, Northeast Democrats, husband of Carol
Carol Jacques, El Pueblo Board member, wife of Bill
Jenny Krusoe, Eagle Rock Center for Arts
***Tony Scudellari***, sounds familiar to this blog ??
***Eliot Sekular***, did this guy win a certain award ??
Grayson Cook, community activist
Pat Griffin, community activist
Natalie Seaman, community activist
Jim Thompson, NC member

Arroyo Seco Journal Article

Jose Huizar's "Victory Letter"

Boulevard Sentinel on "Southwest Society" Press Conference

Autry Center Expansion Plan

****"Kept in the Dark by Huizar"****, A Report from Heinrich Keifer

Labels: , ,

37 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said:

*
*
*
*
Lot of good people on that Board, some of which were unfairly slammed on this Blog. I guess the anti-Huizar crowd never gives up.

November 04, 2007 10:28 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

And some are slammed on the Blog fairly. Its not only the 'anti-Huizar crowd", its many people in the community who hate what Autry has been allowed to do, AND the plans they have to go in Griffith Park. There are at least three councilmen and the mayor involved.

November 04, 2007 11:12 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Can someone tell me when
Joanne Turner – "Community Leader –Eagle Rock" stopped being the President of the T.E.R.A, (The Eagle Rock Association aka The Eagle Rock Terriorist Association) and became a"Community Leader". Last I heard she was getting paid by the construction guy who built that Orange building for "Senior Citizens" (7 out of 70 apartments) then went to write articles on the Arroyo Seco on-line newspaper. Recently was hired to write the newletter for the ER Chamber of Commerce.

November 04, 2007 11:26 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Is Mayor Sam's blogging burros now referred to to as the three stooges or blogging burros? The midget mechista mexican mayor wants to know.

The mayor has his spies checking to see what Zuma is having for lunch. I am am doing spin for the mayor while sitting at my desk looking at porn and buying personal items with my city credit card.

November 05, 2007 2:57 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

2:57am,

Wow! Nice score. Really effective post. Time well spent! At least you're not just sitting there at 3 in the morning spinning your wheels.

November 05, 2007 7:03 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

What a stellar list:

Congressman Xavier Becerra Allowed his campaign to send out that "Marina Message" then blamed it on Nick Pacheco
State Senator Gil Cedillo Got fired from Local 660 for using the union credit card at a whorehouse while his wife was undergoing cancer treament
Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez Uses a non-profit to funnel money for his campaign operations
County Supervisor, Gloria Molina Had her MTA proxy, Antonio, steer contract to her outbidded husband
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa After Mirthala, who is the next life he'll ruin
Council President Eric Garcetti Come one, refers to his girlfriend as his life partner?
Councilmember Jose Huizar Richard Alatorre, Gustavo Valdivia, Estrada Courts Housing,staff turnover...

November 05, 2007 7:11 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Hey, 7:11, if we're all lucky, maybe it will be YOUR life the mayor ruins next. Then we can be rid of you.

November 05, 2007 7:43 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

"Got fired from Local 660 for using the union credit card at a whorehouse while his wife was undergoing cancer treament"

Are you f*cking serious???!

November 05, 2007 8:23 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Great. By looking at the surnames of that group, it's clear that they represent the "best" of the banana republic that the Third World populace (that L.A. is becoming) has come to expect . . .

November 05, 2007 8:29 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

The conspiracy theorists and "oppose anything that's proposed at all costs because we just hate the Autry" types will never be happy, but the vast majority of the community IS happy with this Huizar deal, or they don't care because there are bigger issues.

Huizar did what he said he would do and if you look at what the community askd for a few years ago when this started, the Huizar deal delivers.

Yawn. The only people still complaining are the most extreme "coalition" members who want to dig into the entire Mt. Washington hill and build a whole NEW museum wing and a major expansion (at what envionmental cost and with what money?) who got their feelings hurt they weren't invited to be on the Blue Ribbon committee.

These are the same people who are opposing the Autry's EIR and who oppose all kinds of environmental issue because of hillside complaints, but who want to carve into Mt. Washington for an expanded Southwest Museum?

No thanks. I live on this hill and I like the museum as it is - a small, but lovely piece of our community which provides history and beauty of its own.

Why in the world would we want a huge modern museum with restaurants or whatever and tons of people and traffic coming up this hill everyday? We wouldn't. Why in the world would we want the environmental affect that all the construction and diggging and soil moving and hauling and vehicles would cause? We wouldn't.

You want to see a "coalition"? Try pushing for the museum expansion, my friends. THEN you will see what a "real" opposition coalition looks like because every reasonable and sane person on this hill would rise up against it.

I don't blame Huizar for not putting the Anti-Autry Pro-Big-Southwest-Expansion whiners on the blue ribbon committee. Who wants to deal with people who talk out of both sides of their faces and who can't see the forest for the trees when there's a lot work to do for the betterment of the entire community, not just a few folks agendas?

The Autry NEVER functioned as a full-on successful mainstream museum, the attendance was never there in the first place. So if Huizar can get it back open regularly, exhibiting artifacts on a rotating basis to bring people there and bring them back again another time to see other stuff, that's a GOOD plan, which thinks into the future for creating a museum that can actually last.

Also, all the talk about "vision of Lummis" loses a lot of steam when you look at the whole list of Blue Ribbon members, and see that Susan Lummis IS ON THE BLUE RIBBON panel. If the family of Lummis, who started it all, supports this plan, that's good enough for me.

Give it a break. Can't you tell this is much ado about nothing from the fact that every time something on the Southwest Museum is posted in the middle of a post about something else in CD14 that no one heads your direction to talk about it?

Let's move on to something that matters. This one's done.

I look forward to once again enjoying the nice, local feeling the Southwest Museum has always offered, thanks to Huizar and the others who are working to that goal.

November 05, 2007 8:37 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

....and Griffith Park be damned ?

Great Spin !!

November 05, 2007 8:55 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

“But finally I do not believe we can resolve this problem unless we bring people out of the shadows,” Clinton said, adding that undocumented immigrants should have a pathway to citizenship but they’d need to register, pay taxes, pay fines, learn English, and wait in line after those who’ve come to the United States legally. Those who have committed crimes, she said, should be deported.

Clinton added that the policy of simply giving licenses to illegal immigrants is not something she thinks any governor would seek out.

HILLARY WOULD NEVER SAY THESE WORDS IN LOS ANGELES WHERE THE MECHA MAYOR IS SUPPOSED TO BE CAMPAIGNING BUT IS AFRAID TO FOR HER.

November 05, 2007 9:10 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

TYPICAL DUMMIES!!!! WILL SOMEONE PLEASE TELL THE BLACKS THAT THERE'S NEGATIVE STEREOTYPES OF AFRICAN AMERICANS CAUSE THE GANGSTER RAPPERS MAKE THE MUSIC VIDEOS AND BLACKS BUY THE MUSIC. WHY AREN'T THE BLACKS YELLING AT THEIR POLITICANS FOR SITTING ON THEIR BUTTS NOT DOING ANYTHING?

Protesting Demeaning Images in Media
By FELICIA R. LEE
Wearing white T-shirts with red stop signs and chanting “BET does not reflect me, MTV does not reflect me,” protesters have been gathering every Saturday outside the homes of Viacom executives in Washington and New York City. The orderly, mostly black crowds are protesting music videos that they say degrade women, and black and Latino men.

November 05, 2007 9:13 AM  

Blogger Zuma Dogg said:

Is the Mayor an investor in the new restaurant on Flower St across from Staples and Nokia? (The Liberty Grill) If the Mayor IS investing, they should change the name. By the way, schweet location...AKG CENTRAL!!! Hey Mayor, any investment opportunities left?

November 05, 2007 9:14 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

No, this one is not done. This one causes great mistrust of anyone on this list. This one causes anyone on this list to look like the one-agenda sell outs that they are. This one is the reason there are lots of empty chairs in lots of places where the gospel (according to them) is preached. I would challenge any of the ones who think this one is done to take a chair count at the next neighborhood council meeting or local association meeting. That's how you tell that this one is not done. This one has caused a lot of people to lose a lot of creditability within their own neighborhoods and their own political party, and if any one of the ones on this list told me something and then followed it with "Trust me. I have the inside scoop. You can take this to the bank", I would be hard pressed not to laugh out loud.

No, this one is not done by a long shot because this one won't go away quietly. This one has some mighty strong, hard feelings of betrayal, railroading, exclusion and deceit attached to it. And this one will not be forgotten for a long, long time. Especially when the ones on the list come calling for money for Hilary.

November 05, 2007 9:22 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

LEARN ENGLISH???

HOW DARE HILLARY ASK THESE POOR IMMIGRANTS TO LEARN ENGLISH!!!!

Rise up everyone & join the Great Villar as we march and chant for immigrant rights. Don't forget your American flags.

"AQUI ESTAMOS!!!!!!!!!"

"Racistas go home! Racistas go home! Racistas go home! Racistas go home! Racistas go home! Racistas go home! Racistas go home! Racistas go home! Racistas go home!"

November 05, 2007 9:25 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

What another scandal uncovered by the "Blogging Burros" of Mayor Sam's blog. Congratulations guys once again you guys know more than all the people and news agencies combined.

We don't want Huizar doing what the local residents of Mt. Washington wanted and asked for. We want Huizar doing what the three stooges ask for.

Zuma and red spot for mayor, governor, president oh wait, let's make them "kings of the world".

November 05, 2007 9:28 AM  

Blogger Red Spot in CD 14 said:

Revisiting the "SCUD"

• Villaraigosa commission appointee Tony Scudellari is in hot water for an email containing slurs against supporters of Nick Pacheco, the ex-councilman running in the 14th district. The mayor's office calls his remarks "surprising and disappointing."

November 05, 2007 9:28 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

I don't have a dog in this fight and all this whining is boring, but fact that Autry is in a part of Griffith Park, adjacent to the zoo, with lots of parking (if it runs short, they can still deal with it a lot better than around current Southwest Museum, where there is no public parking to speak of), means it's not in a residential area but an area already zoned and used for local and national tourism.

Right now, they get a lot of people visiting the zoo, many Hispanic families from what I see out for a cheap day if they have a family membership. This Southwest Museum expansion will appeal also to those from outside the area with broader tastes. Their collection has been featured in a number of catalogues and books, but the current location of the museum is hard to visit.

It's a great old building, though, and hopefully it can be used for some limited exhibits, like the Old Getty vs. New Getty.

Every time a major expansion avoids the hassles of forcing itself onto a residential neighborhood, especially one in the hills, so much the better. If Huizar did force the museum to expand there as a few whiners want, he and the city would face the huge hassles anyone faces for pushing commercial development into a neighborhood.

If Griffith Park is out Central Park, look at New York: they have the old and venerable Natural History Museum adjacent, and school kids usually combine a visit to both, a museum and lunch in the park. Here, adding the zoo makes it even a better destination.

He's opposing development in Elephant Hill, so it would hardly look consistent.

I'm not defending Huizar at all, and don't know what the guy's agenda is. Wish he'd spend a part of his time improving the flats of his TJ- like district, stop fighting for the rights of illegals to drive without a license or insurance, start thinking of the Americans in the city (of any ethnic background) and of how our city is hurt by this pandering to the illegals, sanctuary city stuff, etc.

From a land use perspective though, moving the museum to Griffith Park makes perfect sense.

November 05, 2007 9:32 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Friends of Huizar and Antonio,

Glassell Park
Tony Scudellari, Past President Glassell Park Improvement Association*
Doug Dawson, Community Activist
Gladys Pinto, Community Activist

Mt. Washington
Grayson Cook, Mt. Washington Association*
Pat Griffith, Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council*, Mt. Washington Association*
Carol Jacques, El Pueblo Commission President*, Mt. Washington Association*,
Berda Morley, Mt. Washington Association*, Social Activist
Julie & Sri Nagesh, Community Activists
Gloria & Jerry Schneider, Mt. Washington Association*,
Mt. Washington Homeowners Alliance*,
Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council*, Community Activists
Natalie Seaman, Mt. Washington Association*, Community Activist
Jain & Eliot Sekuler, Mt. Washington Association*
Hank Shaeffer, Mt. Washington Association*
Jim Thompson, Past President, Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council*

November 05, 2007 10:07 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Ahhhh. The blogging shills for the Autry are here.

Let me see if I get this right: The Autry wants to expand its building in Griffith Park to swallow up the Southwest Museum's collection. When Autry is done, it will be four times larger than the recently expanded Griffith Observatory -- yet the City will not own the building on its land.

The expansion will be on taxpayer land in Griffith Park where Autry is receiving a huge subsidy from the City - a free land lease worth at least $11 million in foregone rent that would otherwise go into City coffers. It looks like Autry wants this land forever instead of the 50 year lease it signed.

As a result of the Merger with the Southwest, the Autry, unlike in 1985 when it owned no land, now owns 12 acres of land with a museum building and a Gold Line rail station at the front door. The station represents a $25 million investment of taxpayer monies. Autry, with a bit of imagination, could sensitively expand on its own land and boost the ongoing renaissance of investment in Arroyo Seco communities including cultural tourism of other hidden gems in Highland Park, Garvanza, and Lincoln Heights.

Yes,the Museum Building is in need of repair and restoration due to years of deferred maintenance at the hands of the incompetent Southwest Museum Board of Directors. The Autry has tried to make it sound like the building is falling down. It is not. It is thick concrete walls with steel rebar that has withstood 93 years of seismic shaking in Southern California -- a stellar record than other buildings from the era. A lot of the cosmetic plaster on the exterior of the building is peeling and needs replacement. Autry knew this when it agreed to assume the site.

Autry hired historic preservation architect Brenda Levin and a whole team of experts to assess the historic significance and feasibility of rehabilitating the Southwest Museum building as a museum. The study showed that the building could be restored to meet museum standards and, with a modest $22 million investment, be moderately expanded to better serve the exhibition needs of the spectacular Southwest Museum Collection.

Ironically, it was Antonio Villaraigosa who pried Brenda Levin's report out of the hands of Autry CEO John Gray and made it public. Gray delayed release of the report for 9 months because the Autry Board did not want it known that the Southwest Museum could be restored to museum standards and at a bargain price. Since then, Gray has exaggerated the problems with the building. He's happy to try to raise $100 million for expansion in Griffith Park but unwilling to seek much less money to rehabilitate and reuse this spectacular site -- a cost estimated between $22 to $45 million.

If anyone reading these posts thinks that Autry will ever carry out the "plan" announced by Councilmember Huizar, you are delusional. Autry has proposed this "plan" and hired lobbyists and attorneys to get the Mayor and Huizar to abandon their campaign promises to maintain the Museum in the Arroyo.

When the Southwest Museum's Collection is taken from the site, prepare yourself for the announcement that the site has been sold to a developer. In this way, a national treasure, and this City's first museum, will be unnecessarily raped by Jackie Autry, the Mayor, and Huizar.

Nice.

November 05, 2007 10:23 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

There is some interesting new spin from the Autry/Mayor on this one. So now there's just a "few whiners" and "Autry-hating extremists".

www.FriendsOfThe
SouthwestMuseum.com says otherwise.

The Coalition of 70-some community-based organizations, some representing statewide and national interests, is not a "few whiners." Careful, saavy, and good people have insisted that Autry live up to the written promises found in its merger agreement. Is asking the Autry to live up to a contract it signed "extremism" or "Autry-hating"? The spin is heavy but the facts show otherwise.

November 05, 2007 10:35 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Man, when I heard on the news that the Mayor and Huizar were forming a blue ribbon committee to raise money for the Southwest Museum, I thought they were talking about restoring the Southwest Museum itself, in place.

This committee is a farce. There is no one who has the juice to raise any serious money. If the commitee is not going to raise real money for the Southwest, then why does it exist?

November 05, 2007 10:40 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

........still looking for those hidden gems along the Arroyo Seco.

All I can find are illegals, gangbangers and graffiti.

November 05, 2007 10:43 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Sylmar has the first hospital in the country trained to treat Chagas, the inevitably fatal heart disease which has affected some ten million mostly poor people in Mexico, El Salvador and other parts of Central America.

It can take 10-30 years for the disease to manifest, but now for the first time, there is a blood test that is largely reliable. Donors with the disease have and can infect the blood supply just like AIDS. But there are no FDA approved drugs for this, because until recently, with immigrants to areas like Arroyo Seco and Sylmar, this disease has been rare in the U. S.

Drugs must be specially obtained from the CDC and are just as toxic and hard on the body as chemotherapy. The disease can only be slowed, but is always fatal.

While it is insect-born, like Lime disease, it is also transmitted by blood sharing (needles, drugs) and by donations to blood banks. This is not saying that casual visitors to Mexican areas will be infected, but it's unclear if the disease is spread by saliva in some cases as well as blood. Certainly a TB patient who has chagas could spread both by their coughing.

As the disease takes its toll on the millions of immigrants from infested areas who are here for the 1o-20 plus years to manifest, the financial toll of treating them in this country will explode.

We need to control our borders from these immigrants, just as Hong Kong and China did during the SARS epidemic, when even passengers going through their airports had to be tested or quarantined from entering the country. There are other diseases that are rampant in Latin America and have been sneak attack killers, like Hepatitis. Another reason to control and monitor immigration.

November 05, 2007 12:07 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Hmmm, no "real" NC representatives from any of the dozen Northeast area neighborhood councils on the Blue Ribbon panel.

Maybe because every single one opposed letting Autry snatch and grab the collection and take it elsewhere, and opposed letting them expand in Griffith to hide the loot.

(Note before you correct -- Thompson isn't Arroyo Seco NC anymore since last year, and Sekular is termed out in two months. He was also replaced by his council as the "Friends of Soutwest Museum" liaison when he decided to change sides and retract NC positions without taking them back before the board for a vote.

November 05, 2007 1:01 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

If the city is leasing land for free to the Autry at Griffith Park (which isn't unusual to help get some cultural institution going, although it's usually just for maybe 20 years max, not open ended), does the city benefit from revenues/ visitor fees, so it comes out ahead in the end? Who's paying for construction? Most of us don't really see this as a local issue but since Griffith Park and the zoo, like Autry, are city institutions, as a "what's best for the city as a whole" issue.

But what does Huizar have to gain by moving out of his district, when usually pols -- like Alarcon and before him Pacheco, with the Children's Museum -- go out of their way to keep museums IN their districts? Is it possible that he's been persuaded to look at the big picture for the city? (If some of you can look past the inherent assumption that all pols are on the take -- that isn't the case on the whole, but there are exceptions.)

November 05, 2007 1:48 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

You're forgetting a few other NC folks as well. Pat Griffith (served with Sekular), Bill Rumble and Carol Jacques also were in the mix. And before you correct, ALL were members of the same neighborhood council at the same time the "blue ribbon" panel was created, and all voted to support the neighborhood council's withdrawal from the Friends coalition.

"ALL" meaning Griffith, Thompson, Sekular, Jacques, Rumble and Schneider.

November 05, 2007 2:20 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

"If the city is leasing land for free to the Autry at Griffith Park (which isn't unusual to help get some cultural institution going, although it's usually just for maybe 20 years max, not open ended), does the city benefit from revenues/ visitor fees, so it comes out ahead in the end?"

Ummm, the City receives no share of Autry revenues, no share of visitor fees. Nothing.

And if you think that the Autry "helps" the attendance at the Zoo, think again. The Zoo is the big attraction and studies show few people walk across the parking lot to also go to the Autry.

Gene and Jackie Autry were so cheap, they found it less expensive to hire lobbyists in 1985 to get the City to give away the People's land in Griffith Park, than it was to buy land for their museum.

The initial lease was for 50 years... and with a proposed $100 million investment on this land about to come before Council, you can bet Autry will ask for an extension of the length of the current lease -- for free. The Zoo, the Golf Course, the Observatory and other things to do in Griffith Park are run by the City or under a City contract for which the City gets a revenue stream.

Autry politically strong armed its way into Griffith Park and pays the City absolutely nothing for 50 years. And now the Mayor, LaBonge, and Huizar think that is just dandy.

The big picture is that not only does the historic Southwest Museum get screwed, so does the City.

November 05, 2007 2:52 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

2:20

Wrong wrong wrong.

Only Sekular, Griffin, & Schneider were on the board this past year- 2007, all others left December of last year 2006 (learn to use a web browser like me, you won't look so dummm). All those are lame ducked and within 8 weeks there will be ZERO neighborhood councils boardmembers on the turncoats-wearing-blue ribbons brigade.

Their NC remains one of the most active members of the friends of the SW coalition, still, and has taken the strongest stand of any NELA NC to require that the SW be the MAIN show place for Lummis' legacy.

There was never a vote to leave.

Here's the last minutes on the matter, approved by a two-thirds vote (at the next meeting, a supporter of the SW friends replaced Sekular as the liaison):

MOTION:

1) [A letter] restating ASNC support of the Coalition's continued work; to provide a viable museum destination for the public at the original historic site.
2) Specific support for the conceptual plan, dubbed the “Alternative Plan” or win-win vision, that illustrate the community's vision for an enhanced museum combined with the stated needs of Autry (education and cultural center). The main points are revitalizing the historic museum for museum display of the SW Collection (via the sound plans of Brenda Levin) and adding new exhibition space that addresses the space deficiencies stated by Autry, the parking deficiencies as stated by Autry, and adding economic and attendance generators like the restaurant.

3) Opposition to the Autry expansion proposal in Griffith Park because it removes the Southwest Museum collection from the Arroyo Seco and unnecessarily negatively impacts public parkland and increases commercial activity in public parkland. SEE HANDOUT. Discussion on issuing a new statement of ASNC's position regarding the Southwest Museum and the Friends of SW Museum Coalition, Scott Rubel.



Call for vote on Scott's motion: six voted for.

Pat, Eliot, Maggie vote against.

November 05, 2007 5:22 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

10;35
thats why only ahand show up to protest. i count maybe 10folks. where is this 70+CBO's coalitions? please, they are just paper endorsements.

November 05, 2007 10:24 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

Jackie Autry has such a deep emptiness that she needs to fill it up with more and more and more. Her ambition is so extreme that she does not care she is dragging her husband’s name through the mud as long as she gets what she wants, the Southwest Museum collection. To say that she is doing it for her husband is a lie. Gene Autry is no longer among the living. She does not have anything else better to do than to buy unethical politicians and lawyers to do her dirty work.

November 05, 2007 10:54 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

“The Southwest Society” wrong name, the real name is the “Secret Society of Traitors” and “The Blue Ribbon Committee of Future Hopeful Elites”. They have all been bought by Jackie Autry. Huizar and the Mayor are her puppets.

November 05, 2007 11:29 PM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

The Autry Museum ought to be forced to repay the MTA for the cost of putting a now-pointless Gold Line station next to the Southwest Museum.

The proposed station at Avenue 50 was dropped to save money in favor of keeping the Southwest Museum station to promote the museum. That was tens of millions of dollars that could have been better spent, as it turns out.

Then the Autry stabs everyone in the back by closing the museum and leaving the station an orphan serving very few riders and contributing to the Gold Line's woes. The ringing bells and squealing steel wheels annoy the neighbors, few of whom use the station. Gold Line ridership suffers because the run from end to end takes longer than you could do it in a car. Too many stops is one of the reasons.

Perhaps everyone would be better served now if the MTA simply abandons that stop and cuts a couple of minutes from the line's total trip time.

The Autry owes us big-time for this screw-up. Big-time!

November 06, 2007 5:49 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

5:49 am
Amen! But maybe the Mayor and Huizar have an undisclosed plan for the SW Museum station.

The Southwest Museum Rail Station area is under a foreboding threat of the City Planning Department's new "density" plan. Autry will sell the Museum to a developer to make even more money off the merger. The Museum building might or might not be preserved but HOUSING -- dense housing on 12 acres of spectacular view sites -- are possible with a quick zone change at the hands of our ever so helpful elected officials.

The Autry's proposal to expand in Griffith Park is just that: a proposal. Now is the time for loud protest because Autry still does not have the money it needs to build in Griffith Park and the cost to renew the Southwest Museum is actually much less.

Folks in Northeast have to decide if they would rather fight Autry now over the museum or later, fight with the developer Autry will sell this site to after the Collection is stolen.

Has a deal been cut with the Mayor and Huizar? Why else would Huizar act like a pansy -- allowing the Museum to be lost from the 14th Council District to Tom LaBonge's district? Why else would the Mayor turn his back on the community of people who supported him when no one had heard of him?

It's time for those in the know at Autry and City Hall who are troubled by this to let the truth out on Mayor Sam.

November 06, 2007 11:00 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

5:22pm - all were there when the panel was created. And the argument to pull out was debated over several months, not just in one evening. Still, you can't argue that birds of a feather don't stick together.

November 07, 2007 9:30 AM  

Anonymous Anonymous said:

here is the direct updated link to the southwest society article
cheers
TT

http://www.boulevardsentinel.com/10-2007.htm

December 10, 2007 5:37 AM  

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