Children’s Museum Talks at Standstill

The board chairman for the Los Angeles Children’s Museum said Monday that talks have reached a stalemate over putting the facility next to the North Hollywood subway station.

Other officials, including Los Angeles County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, said they hope a compromise still can be reached, but museum Chairman Doug Ring said talks with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have been “terminated” after the agency’s negotiators rebuffed his request to provide MTA land to the museum in a $1-per-year lease.

MTA spokesman Bill Heard said the agency negotiators could not be reached for comment, but he noted that the MTA board directed the staff to negotiate for two months and the first session was held Friday.

“These are very desirable properties around the subway station, but that doesn’t mean the Children’s Museum wouldn’t be a desirable tenant under a number of conditions,” Heard said.

The Children’s Museum has more than $9 million to build an expanded facility to replace the cramped building it operates downtown, but Ring said there is no money to buy or lease land.

Ring said he will now focus on proposals to build the museum at Hansen Dam in Pacoima, Little Tokyo, near the Orthopedic Hospital in South Los Angeles or at another site in East Los Angeles.