THOUSAND OAKS : City Sale of Museum Building Protested
The president of the Conejo Valley Art Museum on Tuesday criticized the Thousand Oaks City Council for its decision to sell a building that houses the museum.
Maria Dessornes said the museum and its exhibits will be homeless when escrow closes on the building at the end of December. “We really don’t have any space,” she said. “We just haven’t been able to afford it.”
Dessornes said she has collected more than 1,000 signatures from residents asking that the museum remain at the one-story building at 191 Wilbur Road. The museum has been housed in the building rent-free since 1985, but museum officials have always known that its tenancy was temporary, City Manager Grant Brimhall said.
Moreover, he said, the museum was supposed to pay the city for utilities but has never done so.
The Wilbur Road building houses the museum and the Braille Institute. The City Council unanimously agreed to sell the 5,389-square-foot building to Dr. Walter Buckley, a dentist, for $820,000.
The museum, which is now displaying a photography exhibit, is not required to move out until January, Brimhall said.
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