Petition to Oppose the Museum of Tolerance Expansion
PETITION TO THE LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF CITY PLANNING, CITY PLANNING COMMISSION AND CITY COUNCIL, TO DENY THE SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER'S REQUEST FOR A PLAN APPROVAL TO PERMIT CONSTRUCTION OF A 13,500 SQ. FT. "CULTURAL CENTER" AND FUNCTION HALL/BANQUET FACILITY ON THE SITE OF THE MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE MEMORIAL GARDEN.
PETITION TO THE LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF CITY PLANNING, CITY PLANNING COMMISSION AND CITY COUNCIL, TO DENY THE SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER'S REQUEST FOR A PLAN APPROVAL TO PERMIT CONSTRUCTION OF A 13,500 SQ. FT. "CULTURAL CENTER" AND FUNCTION HALL/BANQUET FACILITY ON THE SITE OF THE MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE MEMORIAL GARDEN.
WE, the undersigned, request that the Los Angeles Department of City Planning, City Planning Commission and City Council DENY the Simon Wiesenthal Center's application (City Planning Dept. Case No. VTT-66144, EAF No. ENV-2007-2476-EIR) for a Plan Approval to permit construction of a new cultural center and banquet facility on the site of the Museum of Tolerance Memorial Garden, for the following reasons:
(1) The Memorial Garden should remain as it is - - a place for quiet contemplation and a memorial dedicated to the many millions of victims of the Holocaust and other genocides;
(2) It is a disgrace to the legacy and memory of Simon Wiesenthal to rent out the building that bears his name - - and that is known as the Beit Ha'Shoah (House of the Holocaust) - - for weddings, bar-mitzvahs and other parties and celebrations;
(3) The intended use of the expanded facility for such types of events has no relevance whatsoever to the Simon Wiesenthal Center's mission statement, which is to "promote tolerance and educate the public about the legacy of the Holocaust and the dangers of hate and prejudice";
(4) Construction of such an enormous (48 to 60 feet high, and approx. 105,300 sq. ft., including the proposed 4,000 sq. ft. rooftop garden) commercial facility on land that is zoned R1-1 (for single-family residential use only, with a height limit of 33 feet [or only 25 feet in certain areas]), to stay open until midnight six nights a week, and which is immediately adjacent to (i.e., separated by only 20 feet from) a quiet residential community of modest-size single-family homes, is contrary to the policies and goals of the West Los Angeles Community Plan (e.g., to "preserve existing single-family residential neighborhoods" and to protect such neighborhoods "from new out-of-scale development and other incompatible uses");
(5) The proposed expansion will have very serious and dangerous environmental impacts on the surrounding community, which cannot be mitigated or justified;
(6) The Simon Wiesenthal Center should not be allowed to renege on the express agreement it made in 1986, pursuant to which it was permitted to exceed the 45 foot height limit in order for the Museum to have a fourth story, in exchange for creating the Memorial Garden as a 100 foot-wide buffer to separate the massive (currently 80,000 sq. ft.) Museum building from the adjacent, modest-size single-family homes; and
(7) The stated purpose of the Museum of Tolerance to "reposition the museum as a cultural center," for non-museum uses as a function hall/banquet hall, does not justify granting the extraordinary relief that the Simon Wiesenthal Center is requesting from the City's zoning laws and land use regulations, including a zone change, height district change, amendment to the General Plan, a variance from the Transitional Height Ordinance, and substantial modifications to the current Conditional Use Permit, nor does the expansion and "repositioning" of the Museum as a "cultural center" and function hall/banquet hall provide any benefits which could or would outweigh the unavoidable adverse environmental impacts of the proposed project.
Thank you for your consideration of these concerns.
The Museum of Tolerance is one of this city's greatest assets, with the potential to help remake our society and change the world; it should remain just that, rather than turn into yet another rental venue.
We have faced similar encroachments upon residential neighbors by the Grace Lutheran Evangelical Church in Culver City, CA. Once the encroachments start, they do not stop. The Los Angeles City Council should seriously consider the merits of the matter rather issue an approval based upon political considerations. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, MOT's motivation for the project is to earn revenue "to expand on their mission of educating about racial and religious tolerance." MOT should employ the expected costs of proposed construction project directly to such cause and for associated solicitation efforts. Thus, MOT's cause would be served and its residential neighbors would be left in peace.
This would cause too much disturbance in the neighborhood due to traffic, noise, etc.There is already too much over bulding in this city. It needs to stop.
I am utterly disgusted that a shrine dedicated to the memory of the suffering and attempted destruction of my religion should now become nothing more than a Hollywood party venue. Worse, the devastating effect of hosting late night parties on residents is apparently of no consequence to Councilmember Jack Weiss, who as always favors developers over human rights. What greater insult can this City visit on its own constituents than to allow this over-development to destroy the quality of life in a quiet residential neighborhood. Unless we all unite and oppose this outrage there will be no end to the greed of developers over the rights of residents. I thoroughly and wholeheartedly oppose this expansion and will urge everyone I know to do the same.
I'm handicapped I have a young child and I don't have money to move nor do I want to. I've changed my life because of the bus loads of children that do not have enough teacher to child ratio. It's not the children per say but bus loads of people spilling in the side walk blocking my access to cross a street for me to go around them means at times I've had to walk in the street or go home. I had to change banks because of this. Now my quiet home is going to have people looking for parking when they have a function to go too? Drinking and Dancing on a site that was intended to honor victums of the holocaust. My grandmother survived and is now gone I used to take her there. This IS A SHAME
The Museum of Tolerance should not be expanding directly next to a single family neighborhood. Plus the expansion does not provide any additional parking! This means that our neighborhoods will be flooded with cars seeking parking. Shame on the museum!
The Museum should live by its existing plan and conditional use permit.
Bigger is not always better. While the importance of the center cannot be over emphsized, the quality of life for the residents of the community will be diminished with the expansions. For once, it is important to consider the impact of development on residents versus the potential financial profits for businesses.
As a member of the CD-5 Coalition, I am strongly opposed to the proposed expansion. My wife and I have always financially supported the Museum of Tolerance, but this seems another example of developers, whether commercial or cultural, being allowed to run roughshod over the wishes of the surrounding neighbors. Who wants to live next door to a facility which can have functions that run until midnight whenever it wishes? Only those politicians who are rewarded for their votes. Another sad example of the decline of public accountability in American life.
It is wrong to renege on prior agreements and ignore the impact on a neighborhood. All neighborhoods adjacent to commercial zones will be at risk if this is slammed through the system.
How can a Museum of Tolerance be so intolerant of it's neighbors?
I worked at this place for two years and while I enjoyed my time working at the MOT. I became increasingly disenfranchised with how the organization treated us. Because of this I cannot support an expansion knowing they are not a good organization to work for.
I am the son of two holocaust survivors. This project is an insult.
The quality of our neighborhoods must be preserved and not compromised by the pro-developer interests in City Hall. Development is important to the future of our city but not at the expense of our neighborhoods.
A party room on the floor of a memorial to the 6,000,000 Jews murdered in the Holocast is lilke dancing on graves.
Let the existing memorial remain as testimony to the 6 million who died in the Holacauust.
