What They Said: The 'Friends' Of The Southwest Museum Weigh In

The Arts, Parks, Health and Aging commission took nearly two hours worth of public comments this afternoon in regards to the Autry's proposed $6.6 million expansion of their Griffith Park campus.

For a roundup of the meeting, click .

Here is a sample of what the opponents of the Autry expansion had to say. Check back soon for comments from those who support the expansion plan.

A museum is not a building, a museum is the collection: the researchers, the exhibitors, the people who make it alive. The Southwest Museum is dead right now, the Griffith Park campus is alive, because there are people in it to make it a museum. Regarding this particular item--item 3--i've done over 300 Environmental Impact Reviews for international and national and private organizations. This is subject to piecemealing, public controversy and inadequate project description. -- Clyde Williams, El Sereno resident  

I just want to say that it's really, really sad that the museum is now closed because a lot of the artifacts that were in the Southwest Museum were found in Mount Washington and some of them were found in my house. There's a quarter million artifacts in the museum and for the Autry to come and take that away from us, it's something that really affects us. As a student, I used to go there. I used to love going there. Now it's closed. It's dead. It has really impacted myself and my community and it has ripped something away that really meant a lot to us. --Noah Duran, Mount Washington resident 

The city's general plan is being violated. The city's policy is to protect our historic Southwest Museum. You know this, we know this and the Autry knows this. The purpose of this project is to relocate the Southwest Museum to Griffith Park in direct disregard of this plan and in direct disregard to the board of referred powers referred powers. -- Stan Moore, Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council



There is a tremendous irony in what we are talking about today. The Autry wants to change a part of their structure, which is a warehouse, into a gallery. But since 2006, Autry has changed the Southwest Museum's galleries into a warehouse. This has resulted in substantial structural changes in terms of the display cases and the tables that hold artifacts. As a matter of fact, the historic shelves in the clerical tower, which were done under Lummis' planning have been taken out. So, the fact is, Autry has exacted not only a toll on the collection but a toll on the building. We would like to see the Southwest Museum opened. -- Ann Walnum, Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition