The Autry National Center is planning to expand its Griffith Park Campus. Phase 1 will add 79,000 square feet to the existing building and reconfigure the galleries, community room and parking. Phase 2 will add another 50,000 square-foot institute on top of a subterranean parking facility, giving them a total of 129,000 square feet of new space plus a total of 476 parking spaces. However, their current lease with Los Angeles ($1/year) does not allow them to increase their footprint to the extent they propose, and there are reasonable alternatives to the expansion.

I hope that many of you took advantage of the opportunity to see the drawings of the proposed project when they were made available at public meetings in May. The proposed expansion would almost double the Autry’s original footprint in the park. The Autry is a privately owned facility, which charges admission to the public, operating on public land. It would further reduce the open space in the park. The proposed parking area would be the first parking structure in Griffith Park and set an undesirable precedent. The plans call for exhibiting the incredible Southwest Museum collection at the Autry. The Southwest Museum, Los Angeles’ first museum, would no longer be used as a museum.

The draft EIR document is available for review at the Los Feliz Public Library, Atwater Village Library, and Central Library, or online. Caution: it’s nearly 1,000 pages!

Public meeting for comments on the Draft EIR
Tuesday, September 18
6:30 pm
Autry National Center
You should attend to voice your opinions. Live bodies at a meeting make more of an impression than letters. Doing both is even better.

Comments may be submitted in writing by October 1, 2007, either by mail

David Attaway, Environmental Supervisor
Department of Recreation and Parks
1200 W. 7th Street, Suite 700
Los Angeles, CA 90017

or by e-mail:
David.Attaway@lacity.org

or by fax:
213-928-9180

For more info contact David Attaway at 213-928-9130.