On April 9, 2019, just 13 business days after the release of the Final EIR for LACMA's then $650 Million (now $750 Million) redevelopment project, the L.A. County Supervisors listened to public comments from movie stars Brad Pitt and Diane Keaton, then voted unanimously to approve it.

In doing so, they ignored serious criticism published by the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Review of Books, Curbed LA, Architectural Record, The Art Newspaper and The Architect's Newspaper, hundreds of emails from citizens running 83% against the project and more than 4000 concerned citizens who signed our original petition.

The deciding vote to demolish the historic LACMA campus and bridge Wilshire Boulevard came from 2nd District Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who has since been convicted on public corruption charges.

On October 4, 2023, LACMA’s architect Peter Zumthor gave an interview to the New York Times in which he flatly stated that the new LACMA building is no longer his work, because millions intended for its public facing galleries had instead been diverted to cover unexpected engineering costs due to pylons sinking in the tar. Further, Zumthor stated that this material fact was withheld from the County Supervisors and the public, because Museum Director Michael Govan told him that if LACMA went back for more public money, the project would have been canceled. 

Michael Govan says Peter Zumthor is lying. Angelenos deserve to know the truth. 

We the undersigned believe that the new LACMA building fails to serve the needs of the citizens of Los Angeles County and that it is not too late to do something about it.

We respectfully ask that in light of these disturbing revelations (discussed here), that the Supervisors halt construction of the LACMA project, audit the construction costs and changes necessitated by the engineering problems, and engage in the free and open discussion with the community that the future of our County museum merits.

The LACMA project is using $117.5 Million in taxpayer funds and $300 Million in county bonds, and is being constructed atop a valuable publicly owned Wilshire Boulevard parcel that could be developed as a tower for museum offices, administration, storage, housing, gallery, performance, restaurant and retail space. If the “Zumthor” building that the architect has repudiated is not right for Los Angeles, it’s not too late to change course, change the plan and save our County Museum.