"No Expansion For Now"
Another victory for Grassroots Activists in Los Angeles.
From the Autry National Center with the help of Steve Sugerman and Latham & Watkins, (Discretion advise for unprofessional whining.)
Because you are a valued member (Southwest Society members) of the Autry National Center whose loyal support is vital to our institution, I want to make sure that you learn directly from us about a recent decision of our Trustees.
Today, with great reluctance, we informed the City's Board of Referred Powers that we are withdrawing our proposal to build an expansion of the Autry's building in Griffith Park. It has become clear to us that if we were to go on seeking approval for our proposal, our plans would be subjected to expensive and virtually endless official delays, while the Autry itself would be under constant threat of costly litigation. Given these circumstances, we have concluded that any further attempt to proceed with the expansion would be an ill-advised diversion of our financial resources, and an insupportable distraction from our work in serving the community.
We want you to know that this difficult decision follows upon the latest delay in the political process for approving the expansion. We have been informed that the Board of Referred Powers has postponed ruling on our proposal indefinitely, until such time as we contract to operate our Mt. Washington campus solely as a freestanding facility for the Southwest Museum. No responsible Board of Trustees could agree to this commitment. If imposed on us, it would return the Mt. Washington campus to a model of operation that has been conclusively proved to be financially destructive and curatorially unviable.
We cannot and must not go backward-and so, having made the only feasible decision, we will now move forward on two fronts.
On the first front, at Griffith Park, we will be developing fresh options for creating an inclusive and exciting experience within the existing facility. To some extent, this process has already begun through our ambitious schedule of exhibitions and programs. This fall, we will present The Art of Native American Basketry, revealing for the first time more than 250 baskets from the premier collection of the Southwest Museum. In spring 2010 we will present Home Lands: How Women Made the West, which will use historic artifacts, art, photographs, and biographies of individual women to show how women have been at the heart of the West across cultures and over time. We will continue to develop the Griffith Park building into a new treasure for Los Angeles, honoring all the diverse peoples of the American West.
Meanwhile, on the second front, we are working on an exciting and sustainable plan for our Mt. Washington campus. Since 2003, we have invested approximately $7.5 million in conserving the Southwest Museum collections that have been housed there and in repairing and stabilizing the landmark building. While this work continues, we are studying how to transform the Mt. Washington campus into a multi-use educational and cultural center, with publicly accessible exhibitions and collections from the Southwest Museum at its core. The center would also incorporate classes for all ages, conducted with partner institutions; an archaeology study center; research facilities; and space for cultural activities of Native American communities.
An institution is more than its buildings. It is a shared vision. We feel confident that we will realize our vision of a nationally recognized Autry National Center-one that will celebrate the American West and explore the interactions of all of its cultures and peoples.
Should you be interested, a copy of the letter we sent to the Board of Referred Powers is posted on our website, www.autrynationalcenter.org. We are deeply grateful to you, as always, for your understanding and support. We look forward to sharing our plans with you as they evolve.
Sincerely,
John L. Gray President and CEO
In discussions with members of the "Friends of the Southwest Museum" this afternoon, the Autry's decision to halt their expansion plans comes down to one word, "MONEY". The Autry has inflated their monetary backing, according to sources. Further, monetary pledges to the expansion plans at Griffith Park were predicated on approval and allocation of free public land at Griffith Park. With approval not looking promising from the Board of Referred Power and with CD-14 Councilman Jose Huizar flip-flopping into a leadership role for once. The Autry had no choice but to withdrawal their expansion plans.
With today's announcement from the Autry, museum activists are now focusing their attention on the Autry's plans for storing the Southwest Museum artifacts and future plans for the Southwest Museum site ("For Sale Signs ??") on Mt. Washington.
.......and somewhere on the flanks of Mt. Washington, "an exclusive society" and the vendidos and vendidas that constituted it, just became irrelevant.
Your thoughts....
Labels: Autry Museum, Friends of the Southwest Museum, Southwest Museum
"No Expansion For Now"
41 Comments:
It's so nice to see Latham & Watkins
lose yet another big one!
I couldn't be happier for Griffith Park!
Now back to the business of making the Autry keep their promises to the SWM.
BTW Red, I love the word "vendidos"!
Dedicated to the "Vendido of Spin" Eliot Sekuler.
This is terrific news. Congrats to the SWM group who worked so hard for this day!
Suzanne Muchnic at the Los Angeles Times Calendar Section has been covering up the Autry effort to steal the Southwest Museum for years.
Goes to show how the LA Times loves to give blow jobs to the elites in town.
I am sure that someone can suggest a movie where some desperate character puts a gun to his own head and threatens to pull the trigger.
That's where we are with the Autry. The Autry will now try to move the Southwest's collection. Unfortunately, if they do, they will trigger more investigations of their misconduct.
Mel Gibson, in "Lethal Weapon."
Say it ain't so?
Was spin-flipper Eliot Sekuler interviewed on KPCC this afternoon, talking like he was part of the movement that made Autry back down?
I must have been hearing things. Even he's not that indecent. is he?
If you really want to know why the Autry is withdrawing its expansion project, you need to look at the money, the sustainable EIR, and the votes at Council......none of which Autry has.
Sophisticated donors probably conditioned their gifts on the Autry getting their entitlements. There is little cash on hand to build the project and the entitlements were fading away. Thus, the cash ain't there folks and it ain't gonna show up soon.
At the hearing, the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition punched a hole in the Autry's EIR and Autry's lawyers were left to deliver the bad news to the Autry Board that it cannot be fixed.
The Board of Referred Powers told Autry it needed to compromise to create a Win-Win. But Jackie Autry is used to getting her way through money and intimidation. When Latham & Watkins counted up the votes at Council, it did not add up to 8 (Tom LaBonge was left dangling in the wind....by himself.)
So, the Autry did what any self-respecting bag of hot air would do: Blame someone else.
The resolution of the Autry Board (www.autry.com) is a stunningly disrespectful screed at the City, Councilmember Huizar, and the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition.
This attack on the City comes from the organization that its getting $27 million of free land from the City and its people. Hypocrites.
KPCC has suppressed stories about the Autry too. Ever listen to who is strategically supporting KPCC? It's the Autry!
Larry Mantle will have Autry and Huizar on tomorrow morning during Air Talk. Community activists who read this blog should call in to counter the Autry spin doctors.
Would someone please tap Antonio Villaraigosa's shoulder and ask him to carry out his promise to preserve the Southwest Museum on Mount Washington?
Pardon me Mr. Mayor. Your pants are down around your knees (again).
The Autry Board of Directors should be removed from fiduciary control of the Southwest Museum.
It's been done before:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/30/us/30museum.html
Point of Clarification. Jackie Autry DID NOT PAY even one penny for the Southwest Museum collection. She got it for free with the condition to honor the agreements in the merger.
11:00
Better yet, maybe people should call in and ask Huizar if it's true about himtsking the money from VIP for doing no work? Or maybe someone should call I. And ask Huizar what happen to the young lady staffer he threaten with physical violence at a public event? She is no longer working at the Boyle Heights office. Did he get rid of her because she is now a liability? Did he get rid of her becase he is done sleeping with her? Only thru know for sure.
Autry likes to assign "blame" for the condition of the collection on the Southwest Museum building -- as if an inanimate object could have responsibility for such an issue.
It was years of deferred maintenance by the former Southwest Museum Board -- a Board regarded in the philanthropic community as poor managers -- not the building itself, that resulted in the building becoming more susceptible to pest intrusion. (When the doors and windows were left open because the Museum's board had not raised money to upgrade the heating/air conditioning system, or replaced windows and doors with state of the air seals, it did creat conditions that were not good for the collections.) Unfortunately, several of the most incompetent Southwest Board members were transferred to the Board of the Autry.
Autry is applauded for its collections conservation work. Someone in the region needed to undertake this important work. But for Autry to "blame" the building and disparge the building as justification for trying to abandon the site is just plain wrong.
The only objective study of the site, one prepared by Autry's team of experts, irrefutably demonstrates that the Southwest Museum could be successfully rehabilitated and used to exhibit its collection.
This is the part for which Autry deserves the criticism heaped upon it. The Autry Board was so convinced that the expert study would show the Southwest Museum was not feasible that when the facts were establish that it was feasible -- the Board did not want to believe it. They rejected to conclusions but had no facts to back up the claim. That folks, is a breach of fiduciary duty.
So it is hypocritical for the Autry to cite "fiduciary duty" as a basis it is unable to shoulder the costs of completing the rehabilitation of the Southwest Museum and continued operation of the site. It would cost far less than the ego-centric expansion sought in Griffith Park.
The irresponsible actions of the Autry Board are one big breach of fiduciary duty and that is why the criticism of their actions are well-founded.
11:00 = Henry Casas. Get over it. And stop trying to discredit Huizar and reflecting your own lifestyle on him.
Young women = Celine Mancia ??
Was spin-flipper Eliot Sekuler interviewed on KPCC this afternoon, talking like he was part of the movement that made Autry back down?
I must have been hearing things. Even he's not that indecent. is he?
August 11, 2009 9:31 PM
YOU THINK NOT?
The poor management sited above was lead by Duane King. He ran the museum into the ground thru much of the ninties. He was rewarded with a head position in Tulsa, OK at the Gilcrease Museum. This is another museum down on it's luck that deals with western artifacts. I hope they don't get screwed like we have. I have posted more info about Duane King - angel of death - here: Duane King http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7_Q2msR1bU The real battle now begins - DEMERGER from the Autry National Center. Stay involved!
To all you people who only see the politics and not the reality: Just like many museums, the Autry is a struggling non-profit. They have had several rounds of lay-offs in the past year and the remaining staff had to take pay cuts. They are operating on a shoe string, with a very minimal, very dedicated staff trying to keep both sites going. What reasonable institution would make huge additional financial commitments IN PERPETUITY under these circumstances? Would you?!? If you want the Autry and the Southwest to thrive, why not become a member or a donor and put your finances where your mouth is.
I like the Autry museum. They did a lot to support the park but guess you people just aren't happy with anything.
I used to be a member of the Southwest Museum and if I knew that my money would go directly to the Southwest Museum I would become a member again in a heart beat. But my hard earned money would only help the Autry a wealthy institution that is whining and putting blame on others for their actions. The only one to blame is Jackie Autry who is behind all of this. She wants it all for herself.
If they have spent million it has been for their lawyers, lobbyist and to pay favors to those that will sell their propaganda. Latham and Watkins services are not cheap but they are experts in twisting the law in favor of their clients. They are the “Dream Team” for the Autry.
Autry Lies....
Could you please send the link again. I tried it but could not get anything.
http://www.youtube.com/user/AutryLies
If you paste this into your browser it should go to the main page that has the Duane King video and other Autry/Southwest info. Thanks!
OK, it's time to take care of the "in perpetuity" myth.
Non-profits like the Autry must be operated in trust for the public interest. These institutions are intended to outlive individual donors and carry on with the institutional purpose to which assets of the donors are dedicated.
Even when a trust agreement, donor contract, or other contract includes an indefinite obligation to carry out a fiduciary duty, the duty can be modified or re-dedicated to a different purpose if at a time in the future, the purpose becomes impossible to carry out.
When that happens, a non-profit can apply to the local court to change the purpose. Autry's own expert study shows that the operation of the Southwest Museum would be within norms of the museum industry. Therefore, at the present time, it could make the museum a success if it had the interest and will to do so.
If the Museum operations fell off despite documented and sincere efforts at successful operation, then the Autry, despite the "in perpetuity" commitment, could apply for relief. It would have to prove with objective evidence that continued operation of the Southwest Museum was not feasible.
But the Autry just does not give a damn. They like their museum in Griffith Park which is not surrounded by a diverse and multi-cultural community like Mount Washington/Highland Park. John Gray's claims that the Southwest Museum is not economically feasible is a lie and it is a lie based upon the racially tinged "discomfort" of his board members with the Highland Park area.
If they cannot be brought around, the Autry will have to be removed as trustees of the assets of the Southwest Museum. The collection and the building. Their hissy fit and stubborn refusal to even sit down at a table and talk heightens the alarm in the philanthropic community that Autry is not an worthy trustee of such important artifacts of our regional history.
Congratulations to all those in Highland Park and elsewhere that worked so hard for this victory!!
Congratulations you deserve it!!!
Yes, congratulations Friends of the Southwest, for shooting yourselves in the foot. Hope you're happy that the Autry now cannot move the SW collections into decent storage space so that they can reopen the galleries in Mt. Washington, now used to store the collections which were saved from the crumbling tower. Congratulations for making sure the SW Museum must remain a mostly non-public storage space for a lot longer.
to anonymous 5:25pm
How dare you imply with your comment that the Autry's stance is racially motivated. Have you seen the exhibitions there? Have you been to any of the programs there? Do you know anyone who works there? If so, you would know better than to try to throw down the race card.
Shame on you!
Isn't it sad that the councilman and the coalition (I can't call them "Friends" of the Southwest) by their own admission got 90% of what they asked for and still aren't happy, and have to blame the Autry for not negotiating in good faith. As far as I can see, the Southwest museum building and the collection are being cared for better than ever. The recent "behind the scene" tour and Caracol tower celebration are proof of that to me.
Spin from a "Southwest Society" member.
The Caracol Tower "restoration" is far from complete if you actually bothered to look. The reason is that Autry lied to the Southwest Museum about its endowment in order to get its hands on the collection and building. It does not have the $100 endowment that it claimed it had.
As a result, the celebration of the "restoration" of the tower marks the end of ALL of the money Autry currently got from others to do any restoration of the museum building. The restoration of the tower was $934,000 from FEMA given to the Board of the Southwest Museum after the Northridge Quake, and a matching $934,000 from the State of California for partial rehabilitation of the Caracol tower.
Had you looked carefully, you would have noticed that none of the reinforcement of the door and window openings recommended by engineers has been done. Also, none of the doors or windows on the tower or anywhere else in the building have been replaced with airtight and historically appropriate windows. As a result, some people in the preservation community who visited the Caracol tower were shocked to find aluminum windows from the 1970's still marring the historic structure. They asked: why is there a celebration for this when the work is not nearly complete?
This is all that Autry has done: Fix a leak in the roof of the Caracol Tower some 6 years after taking charge of the building (not the mark of a responsible fiduciary to wait so long to fix a roof leak), stripped the exterior plaster from the tower (it was beyond its useful life), caulked cracks with epoxy, devised an attachment between the tower and main building to prevent future earthquake damage, replaster, and paint the exterior.
So, yes, the exterior looks good. But the windows and doors have remained inappropriate and Autry did not bother to replaster the interior of the tower. It just left the peeling paint and gouges of the concrete interior. Reason: the Autry has no money. The Autry never had the endowment it represented it had.
When Autry claims "it" has spent $7 million on the Southwest Museum, the figure includes the nearly $2 million from FEMA and the State of California. Additionally, the Autry redirected nearly $3 million of gifts and pledges for a new collection storage building on Mount Washington (raised by the former Southwest Museum Board of Directors) to conservation of the Southwest's collection. Finally, the remaining $2 million of other monies were also obtained from other foundations and private donors. It would not be a surprise to find out that Autry has spent NONE of its pre-merger funds on the Southwest.
It has all come from other sources, but John Gray keeps representing to the press that "Autry" made these investments. It is phrased this way to make people believe Autry has made some big commitment to the Southwest. The Autry has not. It has only performed work that it could afford to do based upon the generosity of others. If you ask John Gray for a breakdown of how much has been spent on the collection (which Autry wants to take away) and how much has been spent on the building, the overwhelming majority is on the collection.
So when someone claims that the community got 90% of what they sought: that is an outright lie. It is Autry spinners trying to create sympathy for an institution who made promises IT KNEW it did not have the money to keep. It is the Autry that has acted without integrity. The community has merely kept focused on the promises made in the merger -- most of which remain completely unfulfilled.
If the Autry could get donors to redirect money from the Southwest Museum's collections storage building, why couldn't Autry get donors to redirect money from the failed expansion project to complete the rehabilitation of the Southwest Museum?
Remove the Autry board from fiduciary control of the SW!
GREAT NEWS! SEE YOU CAN MAKE A DIFFERANCE IF YOUR WILLING TO TRY. WE NEED MORE OF THIS IN THIS CITY, YOUR RIGHTS MATTER. THIS WILL WORK OUT IN A POSITVE WAY AS LONG AS THESE BUREAUCRATS LISTEN AND REACT TO THE STACKHOLDERS ON THESE ISSUES OF DEVELOPMENT. WE NEED THE POWER THROUGH AN ORDINANCE TO PROHIBIT THESE EXPANSIONS WITHOUT COMMUNITY APPROVAL (VOTE) IT'S THE ONLY REAL PROTECTION IN THE FUTURE.
If you read the documents, both sides agree that most fully functioning museums only generate 30-50% of their operating funds on site, and all the rest comes from donors, grants, and other money that the institutions chase. Why is it that the money that the Autry chased, got, and spent on the Southwest site is not seen as money the Autry spent? It could have been spent on the Griffith Park site, or exhibition rentals, or curatorial research or any number of worthy things that the Autry needs that don't impact the Southwest site so directly. But instead, the Autry put SO MANY things on hold in order to focus on the Mt. Washington site. But somehow raised funds don't count? Only money that was in the bank at the time of the merger counts??
Councilman Huizar is the one who says that he and the Autry opposition got 90% of what they asked for... check the records.
I think it's fabulous that the Autry is celebrating each step of the process of restoring the Southwest Museum, and think it's really great that they are doing so publicly and inviting the neighborhood and community at large to celebrate with them and see the progress first hand. I hope they have another celebration when the new elevators are put in- and another one when they get the tower interior done, and another one when they recarpet the library. I'm going to cheer on every small step of the way to the grand opening of the first exhibition there.
Congratulations to those that fought so hard for this wonderful victory.
Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!
This is tragically sad, all around. I saw an unsafe, crumbling historic buiding with a collection inside that was literally rotting. I saw another institution that sought to save the collection -- for us all -- and which behaved as a responsible steward (a museum is a public institution, whether it is Southwest or Autry!) working to preserve the collection while also salvaging and working on a creative way to save the Southwest Museum building. I am shocked at community activism that lost sight of what was important, or saw as important something that still doesn't make sense to me. The Southwest Museum is in a neighborhood that doesn't accomodate expansive access. It was a failing institution with not enough community support and an at-risk collection! There are wonderful, related, community-serving uses of the building that people have had in mind(explored with community input). I am sorry that the the Autry - in Griffth Park - already surrounded by freeways and parking -- will not expand to do the collection justice, all the while working in tandum to renovate and preserve, for cultural use, the Southwest Museum. I don't get it.
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