Dear fellow LACMA Lover,
Thank you for joining more than 4175 concerned citizens who have signed the petition urging the Los Angeles County Supervisors to reconsider their approval of the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for LACMA's redevelopment plan.
Although the museum’s historic buildings have been demolished and cranes brought back to the site to at least give the impression that the stalled, underfunded project is moving forward, we would be remiss not to share with you that today Mark Ridley-Thomas, the sitting Los Angeles City Councilman who as a member of the Los Angeles County Supervisors was 20% of the unanimous vote to destroy our treasured community museum, was indicted by the DOJ on public corruption charges brought by a Grand Jury.
The story about the charges is still unfolding, but we know that they concern USC laundering money to create an unearned professorship for Ridley-Thomas’ scandal-plagued son Sebastian. Perhaps as the investigation into wrongdoing by this powerful politician continues, we will learn that special favors were also offered in return for his devastating vote to demolish LACMA.
It certainly casts a shadow over this unpopular decision, and all of the votes that Ridley-Thomas cast in his long career. (And we're laughing tonight about the time we had MRT stuck in an elevator at the Los Angeles Athletic Club and Richard said, "Oh, it's the preservation Supervisor!" and both he and his wife looked completely terrified at what we might do or say next.)
Although William Pereira’s historic LACMA campus no longer exists, the museum remains a public institution which has the potential to serve our community in ways far greater than it has under this leadership. We will keep watching, and keep fighting, for a better future.
Please keep sharing the petition link (http://chng.it/PBQw6hhzdX) with your friends who love LACMA and want it to remain at the heart of our city's culture and community. And stay tuned for updates as we have them.
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim Cooper & Richard Schave
The LACMA Lovers League