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Say, “Broad…billionaire…2,000 works of art…world class..museum,” and almost everyone says, “Yes!”

Almost everyone.

What could be better? A world class museum…designed by a world class architect to house a world class  collection of  2,000 works of world class contemporary art owned by world  class billionaire Eli Broad and his wife, Edythe…Right here in Santa Monica,

Or Beverly Hills.

Or downtown Los Angeles.

Tuesday night, the City Council reviewed and approved, 5-1, a staff report on the state of the negotiations to date, as well as general principles for the actual agreement – assuming Santa Monica is Broad’s fimal choice.

As  he did at the initial discussion of the Broad proposal last fall, Council member Bobby Shriver voted not to approve the staff’s draft agreement, and posed  a series  of questions that no one, including Deborah Kantor, Broad Foundation lawyer, could answer definitively. .

Broad is expected to choose the winning site in about six months..

The Broad Foundations own the collection and will build, own and operate the museum. Here and now, it wants Santa Monic to rent it 2.5

acres in the Civic Center for

$1 a year for 99 years, pay all the fees, estimated  at nearly $I million, spend $750,000 on site preparation and pay $1 million of the architect’s fees.

Estimating the value of 2.5 acres two blocks  from the beach over 100

years is virtually impossible, but two years ago Hines, a developer, paid an estimated $73 million for six-plus acres

28 blocks from the beach.

Shriver believes that the City should be represented on the museum board. No such provision now exists. He is bothered that the proposed 110,000 square foot museum contains only 30,000 square feet of exhibit space and 80,000 square feet of “offices.”

He also has questions about the collection. Will it remain intact and static through the years, representing a specific period, or will it evolve, reflecting changing tastes, aesthetic shifts, and new forms.

Shriver also suggested that the City consider issuing Requests for Proposals from other musems.

The evening only other smart and  relevant comments were contained in a

letter to the Council from Bruria Finkel, a leading Santa Monica artist and shaker and mover.(See letter below).