No Mitzvahs in My Backyard: Lawsuit Threatened Over Museum of Tolerance

A two year battle, the City Council yesterday approved the Museum of Tolerance's expansion at 9786 West Pico Blvd, according to the Los Angeles Times. The museum's plans to add an events space for bar mitzvahs and weddings, and extend operating hours, have long irked members of the neighborhood, who believe the expansion would "would lower the neighborhood's quality of life through growing traffic, noise, crowds and parking problems," according to a November 2007 Jewish Journal article. Yesterday, Susan Gans, co-chair of HOME (Homeowners Opposed to Museum Expansion), told the Journal she believes that the City Council vote was "really not a land-use or zoning decision...it was entirely a political decision." Additionally, the Homeowers Opposed to Museum Expansion's web site accuses the center of "emphasizing commerce over compassion, entertainment over education, and revelry over remembrance." Gans said her group is considering a lawsuit to stop the project, according to the Jewish Journal.
· City Council approves Museum of Tolerance expansion [JJ]
· Museum of Tolerance expansion approved in contested Westside neighborhood [LA Times]