Politics & Government

City Council Claims Jurisdiction Over Autry Museum Expansion

With vote, the expansion plan has been referred to the arts, parks, health and aging committee.

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday afternoon unanimously approved a motion to claim jurisdiction over the Autry National Center's plan to renovate and expand their museum space on a plot of city land in Griffith Park.

The vote came after the city council heard numerous public comments from community members who claimed they were not properly notified about a May 20  recreation and parks commission board meeting during which the Autry's renovation and expansion plan was approved.

Though the meeting was properly posted on the  recreation and parks commission's website, according to the city attorney's office the meeting's agenda was never e-mailed via the city's early notification system.

Find out what's happening in Highland Park-Mount Washingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

As a result, many of those who spoke during the public comment portion of Tuesday's meeting said they had no idea that the vote on the Autry renovation and expansion would take place during the Friday, May 20 meeting.

With the passage of motion, which was co-authored by Councilmen José Huizar (CD 14) and Ed Reyes (CD 1), the issue will now be heard on Friday morning at 8:45 a.m. by the city council's arts, parks, health and aging committee.

Find out what's happening in Highland Park-Mount Washingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The city council was able to grab the reins of the Autry issue through section 245 of the city charter, which gives the city council permission to claim jurisdiction over any city board decision within five regular council meetings.

Daniel Finely, CEO of the Autry, said now the council will up against a new shot-clock, lest they jeopardize $6.9 million that the Autry received from California’s Prop. 84 Nature Education Facilities (NEF) Program.

Finley said that the Autry needs to have a contract in place to complete the expansion and renovation project by July 1 or risk losing that funding. 

Huizar said that the additional review he requested through the motion should not imperil the Autry's timeline, given that the provisions of section 245 of the city charter require the council to come to a decision on any issue they claim jurisdiction over within 21 days.

Huizar added that his motion was not an attempt to upend the Autry's expansion plan, rather an effort to honor those community members who claimed that they were overlooked by the recreation and parks commission.

"It's very simple. If a group of people as large as the one you've seen today come before this body and they tell you 'we have not been heard' ... that is one of the principles of our democracy, to allow the public to be heard on items for which elected officials vote upon," he said "Whether you are passionate about this issue or not. I have my own opinions about what what direction we should go with this issue. It's very simple today. If you see the number of people who have taken time out of work and their daily lives to come here and say 'city of Los Angeles, councilmembers, give us an opportunity to be heard.' That's the least we could do."


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

More from Highland Park-Mount Washington