Updated: Autry Expansion Hearing 'Not Set in Stone'

Updated: Todd Leitz, communications deputy for councilman Tom LaBonge (CD4), said that an Arts, Parks, Health and Aging Committee special meeting tentatively scheduled for Monday is not yet "set in stone."

Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch spoke to Leitz after being told by concerned community members that they had not yet recieved an agenda for the meeting and had been told by members of LaBonge's office that no meeting had been scheduled.

Leitz said the city attorney's office still needs to be notified about the meeting before it can be officially posted.

"I think we may have been premature in announcing the meeting," he Leitz, who on Thursday said that the meeting had already been scheduled.

However, Letiz said a meeting was still tentatively scheduled to take place sometime before June 21, the date by which the council must act on the Autry Expansion before their jurisdiction runs out.

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Previously: The Autry National Center's proposal to renovate and expand their Griffith Park Museum Space will go back before the Los Angeles City Council Arts, Parks, Health and Aging  Committee on Monday, June 13, at 2 p.m. in room 1060 of City Hall on 200 N. Spring St.

Todd Leitz, communications deputy for councilman Tom LaBonge (CD4), said the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition have filed a California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) challenge in regards to the Autry expansion, which now must be considered by the committee.

"It's being held up by a CEQA challenge from the people from the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition," Leitz said. "It has to be dealt with that way through the arts, parks, health and aging committee."

Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch has made calls to Nicole Possert and Daniel Wright of the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coalition and is awaiting response.

Updated: Possert told Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch that the CEQA challenge was filed not by the Friends of the Southwest Museum Coaltion, but by Wright, acting as a member of the Mount Washington Homeowner's Alliance, and Highland Park resident Charles Fisher.

"The Southwest Museum Coaltion cannot file CEQA challenges because we have members of neighborhood councils as part of our membership," Possert said.

The CEQA Challenge was filed by Fisher and Wright on Monday, May 31 (see attached).

The Autry's $6.6 million expansion effort, which would be paid for through an already awarded state grant, was by the Recreation and Parks Commision last month. However, the city council claimed jurisdiction over the issue when community members claimed they were not properly alerted about the meeting.

For more coverage on the Autry and Southwest Museum issue, follow these links.