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From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: RE: Draft EIR for MOT Date: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 12:26:43 PM

Diana Kitching Environmental Review Coordinator, EIR Unit City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning 200 North Spring Street, City Hall, Room 750 Los Angeles, CA 90012 [email protected] Tel: (213) 978-1351 Fax: (213) 978-1343 Mail Stop 395

>>> "Hamid Jamie Halimi" 1/7/2009 12:24 PM >>> Hi Diana,

I have already mailed you a letter objecting to the MOT expansion but 1 also agree with everything that Richard has stated bellow.

Thanks,

Hamid & Maryam Halimi 9733 Horner Street Los Angeles, CA 90035

-----Original Message----- From: Richard Vitolo [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 11:57 AM To: [email protected] Cc: Scott Diamond Subject: Draft EIR for MOT

Dear Diana, After reviewing the document, I find that it is incomplete, inadequate, and inconsistent. The Draft EIR does not include the proposed expansion of the adjacent property of the Yeshiva University of LA (YULA), formerly the home of the Simon Weisenthal Center. This adjacent property has, until recently, been operated under the auspices of the SWC and has a specific CUP in place. The imact of the proposed expansion of both properties on the surrounding neighborhood must be considered in the same document.

Second, there is misrepresentation in the document of the Museum of Tolerance's function as a "museum", not a "cultural center". There should be no "cultural center" activities under any conditions, not now or in the future. This was a specific issue in the original City Planning Department approval for the MOT when everyone knew, at the time, that such catered events and community event activities would be the long range fundraising tools for the MOT. Those with us with long memories know well what was NOT allowed by the original CUP, ignored or violated regularly by the MOT throughout the years.

At times, the document speaks about current "cultural center" activities while proposing a change in its designation from a "museum" to a "cultural center". This lack of clarity is purposeful and fails to assist anyone trying to determine the true environmental impact of the propsed expansion. In addition, there is a clear effort to separate the MOT form the YULA planning proposals although they have, in the final analysis, used the intervening years to encroach on the entire community by gobbling up adjacent residential zoned properties and expanding to the building on the opposite corner, now known as the SWC. All three of the properties(SWC, MOT,and YULA) at this intersection have had mitigating circumstances approved by the Planning Department to reduce parking spaces required by zoning regs at the time of their building. There is a cumulative effect of these operations which has not been addressed. The YULA and MOT prosed expansions cxannot be separated!

My house is in the adjacent homeowner's association of Beverlywood and it has a direct view of the MOT and the YULA. There will be a direct impact on our home and community if these facilities do not adhere to the original CUP's and minimize their footprint in our neighborhood.

Sincerely, Richard K. and Bozena H. Vitolo 9728 Horner St. Los Angeles, CA 90035 phone 310 284-8042 Comment Letter: Hollander

From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: Museum of Tolerance/Case N0. ENV-2007-2476-EIR Date: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 3:57:28 PM

>>> SELDA HOLLANDER 1/6/2009 3:51 PM >>> January 4, 2009

Dear Ms. Kitching:

I am writing to comment on the museum's Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). This proposed project is so large and so inappropriate for a quiet residential neighborhood, that its significant adverse impacts cannot possibly 1 be mitigated. Moreover, its proposed use as a banquet and conference center has no public benefit whatsoever. Therefore, it should not be built.

There are MANY problems associated with this project as described in the DEIR, including. 2 AESTHETICS: the proposed cultural center building is just too ugly and out of place here. We spend a lot of money and time to keep our neighborhood as nice as possible.

HEIGHT: at 60 feet high, this banquet hall project will loom over our much smaller homes. As you can see, there are a couple of homes that have been built around us that are 2 story high, very large homes for the area, that now block the daylight to my house and my 2 other neighbors. I have lived here for 45 years and now I don't have any privacy if I want to be out in my back yard.

3 Can you imagine what this building will do to our neighborhood, when just a 2-story is blocking the sun and daylight from our one story homes. This area is 99% one story homes.

As a matter of fact, a new ordinance has recently passed that they can no longer build these large homes in our area. Our homes are all very close together.

DENSITY: the catering hall exceeds the Floor Area Ratio allowed by law. 4

PARKING: There is insufficient parking for 1,0000 people to be in the museum and its commercial banquet facility at 5 one time. They will park, as they do now, on our neighborhood streets.

6 TRAFFIC: Traffic is already at gridlock on Pico Blvd. most times of the day. Our streets cannot handle the cars from this project. As it is now, I cannot make a left turn from Castello to Pico without taking a chance of getting hit. Also 6 the busses that are parked for the Museum on Pico block your view..

HOURS OF OPERATION: it just isn't right for a "museum" to operate 17 hrs a day, right next to our homes. 7

NOISE: we are concerned about the noise from the events at the proposed cultural center, and about noise made by people walking and driving early and late in our neighborhood, going to and leaving events at the cultural center. 8

I have enough of that from the cars and people that come to pray for the 10:00PM service till past midnight.

LIGHT AND GLARE: we don't want any light (which I get now from the yeshiva)from the museum shining in our 9 windows or adding any commercial-type illumination on a residential street.

SAFETY: we are concerned about having this terrorist magnet in our midst. I have left my house many times and 10 unable to come home because of bomb threats.

Being that I have resided at 9752 Alcott Street, L.A. 90035, for 45 years,I have seen tremendous changes in our area. With Century City with all the office buildings, condos, apartments on Pico, The Yeshiva School, that started for just a few classes, it has grown into a large school with not enough parking, the traffic, the noise, the praying that goes on all day, and......

NOW HERE COMES THE MUSEUM, AND THEY ARE NOT FINISHED WITH THAT....THEY WANT TO RENT OUT THE MUSEUM OF HOLOCAUST FOR WEDDINGS, BAR - BAS MITZVAHS, CONFERENCES AND OTHER FUNCTIONS FROM 7:00am UNTIL MIDNIGHT. THE BANQUET HALL AND EXHIBITS WOULD BE CLOSED ONLY ON FRIDAY NIGHT!!!

This is extremely hurtful to me and my family. My grandmother had 20 children in Poland. My Father is one of 13. I was born in Poland, but was lucky to leave in 1936. However, my whole family was in concentration camps and died 11 either in the gas chambers or in the camps. When I visit the Museum, I hear the cries of my family. I see all the exhibitions there and cry for them. AND THE MUSEUM WANTS TO TURN THIS PLACE INTO A RECREATIONAL HALL FOR DINNER AND DANCING, AND GOOD TIMES!!!!!!! THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!SHAMEFUL!!!!!DISRESPECTFUL FOR WHAT THE MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE STANDS FOR!!!!

They bus school children all day to teach them about the Holocaust, they leave the Museum and can't comprehend what they have witnessed, and as they leave the Museum they hear an orchestra playing and hundreds of people are partying and drinking there celebrating, etc. etc. What do you think is happening to these students? Do they take the Museum as a sacred place? What have they learned...... One minute its a Holocaust for Millions and the next minute everyone is singing and drinking and dancing in the same place. What is going on here......

Forgive me Ms. Kitching for going on and on, but we are so tired of every few years the Museum and the Yeshiva ask for more and more and more and more...... it never ends...... if we allow this expansion, it wont stop there, they will take over the whole neighborhood. They now also have Roxbury and Pico on the NW corner. They should have started somewhere where they could have all the space they wanted. (Skirball) They started as a postage stamp, now they want the whole city.

Look at the La Cienega and Washington Area, Kaiser started as a tiny hospital, Now, wow...... 11 Look at David Brotman Hospital in Culver City, same thing

UCLA...... Temple Beth Am on La Cienega......

Thanks you for listening. Happy Holidays!!!!

This letter is being sent by,

Selda Hollander, Victor Hollander, Jerry Bass, Ellen Armijo, Michelle Bass, Francine Cohen, Nace Cohen, Diane Sherman Smith

Life on your PC is safer, easier, and more enjoyable with Windows Vista®. See how Comment Letter: Huang

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From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: Date: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 7:57:00 AM

Good morning Lynn,

here are some more,

Diana

>>> Roy Kavin 1/7/2009 7:32 AM >>> Dear Ms. Kitching:

I am writing to comment on the museum's Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR). This proposed project is so large and so inappropriate for a quiet residential neighborhood, that its significant adverse impacts cannot possibly be mitigated. 1 Moreover, its proposed use as a banquet and conference center has no public benefit whatsoever. Therefore, it should not be built.

There are MANY problems associated with this project as described in the DEIR, including. 2 AESTHETICS: the proposed cultural center building is just too ugly and out of place here. We spend a lot of money and time to keep our neighborhood as nice as possible.

HEIGHT: at 60 feet high, this banquet hall project will loom over our much smaller homes. As you can see, there are a couple of homes that have been built around us that are 2 story high, very large homes for the area, that now block the daylight to my house and my 2 other neighbors. I have lived here for 45 years and now I don't have any privacy if I want to be out in my back 3 yard.

Can you imagine what this building will do to our neighborhood, when just a 2-story is blocking the sun and daylight from our one story homes. This area is 99% one story homes. As a matter of fact, a new ordinance has recently passed that they can no longer build these large homes in our area. Our 3 homes are all very close together.

DENSITY: the catering hall exceeds the Floor Area Ratio allowed 4 by law.

PARKING: There is insufficient parking for 1,0000 people to be in the museum and its commercial banquet facility at one time. 5 They will park, as they do now, on our neighborhood streets.

TRAFFIC: Traffic is already at gridlock on Pico Blvd. most times of the day. Our streets cannot handle the cars from this 6 project. As it is now, I cannot make a left turn from Castello to Pico without taking a chance of getting hit. Also the busses that are parked for the Museum on Pico block your view..

HOURS OF OPERATION: it just isn't right for a "museum" to 7 operate 17 hrs a day, right next to our homes.

NOISE: we are concerned about the noise from the events at the proposed cultural center, and about noise made by people walking and driving early and late in our neighborhood, going to 8 and leaving events at the cultural center.

I have enough of that from the cars and people that come to pray for the 10:00PM service till past midnight.

LIGHT AND GLARE: we don't want any light (which I get now 9 from the yeshiva)from the museum shining in our windows or adding any commercial-type illumination on a residential street.

SAFETY: we are concerned about having this terrorist magnet in our midst. I have left my house many times and unable to 10 come home because of bomb threats.

Being that I have resided at 9752 Alcott Street, L.A. 90035, for 45 years,I have seen tremendous changes in our area. With 11 Century City with all the office buildings, condos, apartments on Pico, The Yeshiva School, that started for just a few classes, it has grown into a large school with not enough parking, the traffic, the noise, the praying that goes on all day, and......

NOW HERE COMES THE MUSEUM, AND THEY ARE NOT FINISHED WITH THAT....THEY WANT TO RENT OUT THE MUSEUM OF HOLOCAUST FOR WEDDINGS, BAR - BAS MITZVAHS, CONFERENCES AND OTHER FUNCTIONS FROM 7:00am UNTIL MIDNIGHT. THE BANQUET HALL AND EXHIBITS WOULD BE CLOSED ONLY ON FRIDAY NIGHT!!!

This is extremely hurtful to me and my family. My grandmother had 20 children in Poland. My Father is one of 13. I was born in Poland, but was lucky to leave in 1936. However, my whole family was in concentration camps and died either in the gas chambers or in the camps. When I visit the Museum, I hear the cries of my family. I see all the exhibitions there and cry for them. AND THE MUSEUM WANTS TO TURN THIS PLACE INTO A RECREATIONAL HALL FOR DINNER AND DANCING, AND GOOD TIMES!!!!!!! THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS!!!!!SHAMEFUL!!!!!DISRESPECTFUL FOR WHAT THE MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE STANDS FOR!!!! 11

They bus school children all day to teach them about the Holocaust, they leave the Museum and can't comprehend what they have witnessed, and as they leave the Museum they hear an orchestra playing and hundreds of people are partying and drinking there celebrating, etc. etc. What do you think is happening to these students? Do they take the Museum as a sacred place? What have they learned...... One minute its a Holocaust for Millions and the next minute everyone is singing and drinking and dancing in the same place. What is going on here......

Forgive me Ms. Kitching for going on and on, but we are so tired of every few years the Museum and the Yeshiva ask for more and more and more and more...... it never ends...... if we allow this expansion, it wont stop there, they will take over the whole neighborhood. They now also have Roxbury and Pico on the NW corner. They should have started somewhere where they could have all the space they wanted. (Skirball) They started as a postage stamp, now they want the whole city. Look at the La Cienega and Washington Area, Kaiser started as a tiny hospital, Now, wow......

Look at David Brotman Hospital in Culver City, same thing 11

UCLA...... Temple Beth Am on La Cienega......

Thanks you for listening. Happy Holidays!!!!

This letter is being sent by,

Roy and Diane Kavin Comment Letter: Karkshour 1

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From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: Museum of Tolerance Exspandsion Date: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 7:22:45 AM

>>> 12/27/2008 8:03 PM >>> Dear Ms. Kitching:

I live at 1444 Roxbury Drive since 1998. I am totally disabled and I am home most of the time. I do not agree 1 with the expansion of the Museum. This neighood is a very quiet safe area after 6: pm. At this time we have street parking for two hours without a permit. People park in front of my house for hours. They throw their trash on my garden and their water bottles. If I have people over to visit there is no street parking for my guest. Just think when the museum expands where will all these people walk and park? When it is trash 2 days now they move my trash cans before they are empty and make room for their cars. Just think on Friday when its trash day where will all these cars going to park?. When I want to pull out of my driveway on to Roxbury Drive I can not do this between the hours of 7:30AM until 10: AM. Cars are going down Cashio onto Roxbury from Beverlywood and National area and they do no! t let up. I do think there are some compromises we can accomplish. I do not think the Museum needs to have a hall for WEDDINGS AND BAR MITVAHS.We llive in an area of Temples and Hotels and Country Clubs that can accomplish this. I have 3 attending the meetings that the Museum has had and they said there will not be any music. I find this very hard to believe since I am Jewish and a wedding or a Bar Mitzvah always has music. I also think the hours of the museum do not need to be opened to 12pm. This is a neighborhood. If this was your home would you accept this? I do not know any Museum's staying open until 12PM. I love my home and I feel safe here. At times when there are Terrorist acts upon the world happening the Museum always have newscasters and 4 there heavy equipment up and down our street. There are police cars parked to protect the Museum. I some times think heaven forbid if a Terrorist w! anted to hit a property it would be the Museum of Tolerance. If they e xpand and build this additional square footage and enlarge it just calls more attention to Terrorist. Please do not let the Museum take over the neighborhood. Traffic is already a nightmare on Pico there is 5 know more room for anymore cars. Please reconsider this Expansion. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Cynthia Sirota

Listen to 350+ music, sports, & news radio stations – including songs for the holidays – FREE while you browse. Start Listening Now! Comment Letter: Snyder

From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: Museum of Tolerance Expansion/Case No. ENV-2007-2476-EIR Date: Monday, January 05, 2009 8:46:35 AM

MOT DEIR comments

Diana Kitching Environmental Review Coordinator, EIR Unit City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning 200 North Spring Street, City Hall, Room 750 Los Angeles, CA 90012 [email protected] Tel: (213) 978-1351 Fax: (213) 978-1343 Mail Stop 395

>>> "Joyce Snyder" 1/4/2009 5:41 PM >>> Diana KitchingJanuary 3, 2009 Dept. City Planning, EIR Unit 200 N Spring Street, Room 750 Los Angeles, CA 90012

Re: Museum of Tolerance Expansion/ Case No. ENV-2007-2476-EIR

Dear Ms. Kitching,

This proposed project is so large and so inappropriate for our quiet neighborhood of one family homes, that it would be an outrage to build it.. Its proposed use as a banquet hall has no public benefit whatsoever.

The Memorial Garden on Roxbury Drive is on 3 R-1 lots 1 (1414-1420-1424). We have a promise in the form of a CONDITIONAL USE PERMIT that this precious garden will remain there always. A place to reflect and remember the HOLOCAUST and the ARMENIAN GENOCIDE.

PLEASE DON'T AMEND THE C U P ! You know the results of the EIR. The added noise , traffic, air quality…none of is good for the quality of life we are currently 2 enjoying on the 1400 block of Roxbury Drive.

Thanks for listening.

Joyce SnyderMatthew L. Keys 1495 Roxbury Drive1495 Roxbury Drive Los Angeles, CA 90035-2814Los Angeles, CA 90035-2814vcbn Comment Letter: Speir

From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: Case # ENV-2007-2476-EIR Comments Date: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 7:23:51 AM Attachments: Diana Kitching.doc

>>> "Ira S." 12/29/2008 7:57 PM >>> Diana Kitching- Dept of City Planning 200 N. Spring Street, Rm 750 Los Angeles, CA 90012

Re: Case # ENV-2007-2476- EIR December 27, 2008

Ms Kitching,

I wish to comment on the Museum of Tolerance Expansion DEIR.

I have been a local resident for the past 9 years and I believe that my family and I will be adversely impacted by the proposed expansion of the Museum. Please note that I am truly a “local resident”, living only one block east of the Museum site. 1 In the past I have been supportive of the Museum and all of its programs even though our neighborhood often bears the brunt of increased visitor traffic. I have reviewed the project plans as well as the Draft EIR and I am concerned that this project is much too large for our quiet residential neighborhood.

My main concerns are as follows:

Increased traffic on Pico and nearby streets. Our street (Saturn) is currently innundated with overflow traffic from both the Yeshiva and the Museum. Other nearby streets Alcott, Horner, Cashio, and Castello 2 are similarly affected. This will only increase if the Museum substantially expands their size, occupancy and hours of operation.

Noise. If the Museum expands its operations and becomes a “cultural 3 center”, it will inevitably lead to a huge increase in noise pollution in our quiet, residential neighborhood. Expansion of the 3 Museum hours to 7AM-Midnite will create waves of noisy visitors attempting to park in front of our homes.

Security. An increase in size and scope of the Museum will certainly mean increased security threats to the facility. Reccent world events show that Jewish organizations are often targeted. I am not convinced 4 that the Museum can provide effective measures to protect a larger building with expanded hours.

Thank you for your consideration of my comments. I invite you to visit our neighborhood to experience a vanishing Los Angeles scene; on the blocks bordering the Museum site, you’ll see young children playing on quiet, safe streets. You might be surprised to find that 5 there are 10 kids under the age of 14 living on our street alone. This expansion project in its present form would effectively destroy this peaceful neighborhood. Our neighborhood should be protected and preserved as originally intended by city planners .

Sincerely,

Ira Speir 9722 Saturn Street Los Angeles, CA 90035 Comment Letter: Stern

From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: Comments to the Museum of Tolerance Project DraftEnviornmental Impact Report, Case No. Env- 2007-2476-EIR Date: Wednesday, December 24, 2008 7:19:36 AM comment on the museum of tolerance

Diana Kitching Environmental Review Coordinator, EIR Unit City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning 200 North Spring Street, City Hall, Room 750 Los Angeles, CA 90012 [email protected] Tel: (213) 978-1351 Fax: (213) 978-1343 Mail Stop 395

>>> "Marilyn Stern" 12/23/2008 10:15 PM >>>

Ms. Diana Kitching Environmental Review Coordinator, EIR Unit City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning 200 North Spring Street, Room 750 Los Angeles, Ca 90012 Email: [email protected]

December 23, 2008

RE: Comments to the Museum of Tolerance Project Draft Environmental Impact Report, Case No. Env-2007-2476-EIR

Dear Ms. Kitching,

I live at 9757 Cashio Street, which runs parallel to Pico Blvd., where the Museum of Tolerance is located, and which is one block south of the MOT. I have lived at this address for 39 years. 1 I have reviewed strategic points in the DEIR, which is very long--much too long for me to be able to read in its entirety during the busy holiday season. Thus, I have tried to underline and now to respond to issues that are of particular concern.

The property addresses at 1414, 1420 and 1424 South Roxbury are zoned for residential, single 2 family use. The area is now used for a memorial garden by the MOT; although there have been public events at the space (some of which were held in violation of the conditions of the CUP), it is now being considered for commercial and institutional use, which does not belong in an area of single family homes. There are no multiple family homes on Roxbury, Cashio, Castello, Saturn, Alcott, Horner or Beverwil streets.

The plan to add 20,809 sq. ft. in the area described above, for a four story structure and rooftop with mechanical equipment, is way beyond what we as neighbors should have to tolerate. The building is to be used for seminars, conventions, blockbuster exhibits (MOT’s own 2 terminology), academic conferences, concerts, banquets, receptions, classes and student classes, accommodating up to 800 people with hours of operation from 7 a.m. to midnight, except for Friday when the space will close at sundown and on Saturday when the space will open at sundown and stay open again until midnight. The plan is for valet service until 1 a.m. The HVAC systems will also run until 1 a.m.

The grouping of mass numbers of people both inside at the events and then the outside assembly of people in the expected numbers (e.g., waiting for valets to deliver their cars, or waiting in line to go through a security search) will cause noise at levels unacceptable to the neighborhood. In addition, the traffic from the cars needed to move this amount of people in 3 and out of this site is again unacceptable. The streets are overcrowded as is.

We should not be forced to endure any noise that disturbs the peace and quiet we are entitled to enjoy in our homes and gardens; we have a right to this peace as homeowners and taxpayers in 4 these residential properties. We bought homes in a particular area with a given residential zoning and now we are being told that the zoning will change. This will significantly impact our lives and our families forever. 5 In addition, where will they park all the cars? I noticed they are asking for reduced on –site parking. The MOT wants to take every advantage and change all existing permits to be sure they can develop whatever they wish on the properties, i.e. 1414, 1420, 1424 Roxbury; they want to do the same for the MOT property at 9786 Pico Blvd, which they hope to make into institutional zoning. They want to be sure they can do whatever they want whenever they want,6 without any regard to the neighborhood and the zoning laws that all of us (including the MOT) bought into.

Regarding the 9786 Pico Blvd. property, the MOT is planning to annex as part of their property, 7,153 sq. ft. from the building at 9760 West Pico Blvd. which was supposed to be part of the YULA Boys School and is in the 9760 building, but is now being transferred to be owned by the 9786 building, the MOT. Since when can a portion of a building/airspace in a separate building be purchased separately by the 9786 building; the MOT did not annex the whole 7 building to use for their needs but 7,153 sq. ft. of 9760. The remainder of 9760 is the YULA Boys School; the school is also planning a development; why is the DEIR for the YULA/9760 building and MOT/9786 building not filed together, so that we as neighbors can look at the entire planned development at 9786 and 9760 and its cumulative impact on our neighborhood? 8 They mention shared parking at 1399 S. Roxbury Dr., but this is an office building which is leased out to UCLA Health Care and Roxbury Pharmacy; therefore, there is very little parking available during the weekdays. Where will all the cars park when there are conventions, seminars, schools, banquets, receptions, et al using the MOT property on weekdays? There is 8 currently not enough parking, even on the weekends. Five hundred to eight hundred people will increase the quantity of cars substantially at all times; where will the cars go? Pico Boulevard is already a high volume commercial and traffic corridor.

Besides the quantity of cars, there will be an increase of traffic to already unbearable numbers during morning and evening rush hours. The aesthetics of the building, its design, will cast a 9 shadow over much of Roxbury Drive that runs along the MOT property until late in the morning. We do not want to live in darkness. The air quality will become worse with the emissions from the demolition and construction. When the building is in operation, there will be increased emissions from the various machinery and equipment of the building. There will also 10 be odors emitted into the air from the food preparation/catering for the large quantity of people expected and on a daily basis, there will be odors from the food preparation for people eating in the proposed café. Roxbury Drive is NOT a commercial street, and we do not want it to become a commercial street. We do not want to live with the unhealthful emissions and unpleasant odors day in and day out.

The proposed museum store on the Roxbury residential street is also a commercial endeavor. The proposed “water feature” on the south end of the property is terrible; I personally hate waterfall sounds when trying to sleep; it is unfair to do that to the neighbors. The neighbors did not ask for this extravaganza and they were not told the zoning would change when they purchased their homes. All of us purchased our homes in reasonable reliance on the fact that we were buying property in a residential neighborhood. 11 The initial permit in 1986 was for a Museum of Tolerance; now, it is to be a pre-eminent “cultural center” as stated in the DEIR by the MOT. There are many spaces on the Westside for all these events, i.e. hotels, UCLA, art museums, et al. All are in commercial zoned areas, not in residential zoned single family residential streets. The limit is 33’ tall in the residential zoning unless there are other tall buildings; there are none in the R-1 properties. Their plan is for 68’ on the East side of the proposed development.

Why did the Museum of Tolerance showcase on NBC, Saturday, December 20, 2008, on its special with Fritz Coleman, a boy from Schindler’s list? In the program, the Museum was depicted as a place of remembrance and solemnity; however, that is clearly not what they have had in mind for the last few years. Why do they misrepresent what they really stand for and 12 hope to create a commercial endeavor for revenue only; they do not want to be a Museum of Tolerance and reflect on the memory of loss from genocide.

I urge the City Planning Department, the City Planning Commission and ultimately the City Council to reject their request and permits for development.

Sincerely,

Marilyn Stern 9757 Cashio Street Los Angeles, Ca. 90035

This message is intended solely for the use of the addressee(s) and is intended to be privileged and confidential. If you have received this message in error, please immediately notify the sender and delete all copies of this email message along with all attachments. Thank you.

No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.552 / Virus Database: 270.10.0/1862 - Release Date: 12/23/2008 12:08 PM Comment Letter: Vitolo

From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: Draft EIR for MOT Date: Wednesday, January 07, 2009 12:26:24 PM

Diana Kitching Environmental Review Coordinator, EIR Unit City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning 200 North Spring Street, City Hall, Room 750 Los Angeles, CA 90012 [email protected] Tel: (213) 978-1351 Fax: (213) 978-1343 Mail Stop 395

>>> Richard Vitolo 1/7/2009 11:56 AM >>> Dear Diana, After reviewing the document, I find that it is incomplete, inadequate, and inconsistent. The Draft EIR does not include the proposed expansion of the adjacent property of the Yeshiva University of LA (YULA), formerly the home of the Simon Weisenthal Center. This adjacent property has, until recently, been operated under the 1 auspices of the SWC and has a specific CUP in place. The imact of the proposed expansion of both properties on the surrounding neighborhood must be considered in the same document.

Second, there is misrepresentation in the document of the Museum of Tolerance's function as a "museum", not a "cultural center". There should be no "cultural center" activities under any conditions, not now or in the future. This was a specific issue in the original City Planning Department approval for the MOT when 2 everyone knew, at the time, that such catered events and community event activities would be the long range fundraising tools for the MOT. Those with us with long memories know well what was NOT allowed by the original CUP, ignored or violated regularly by the MOT throughout the years.

At times, the document speaks about current "cultural center" activities while proposing a change in its designation from a "museum" to a "cultural center". This lack of clarity is purposeful and fails to assist anyone trying to determine the true environmental impact of the propsed expansion. In addition, there is a 3 clear effort to separate the MOT form the YULA planning proposals although they have, in the final analysis, used the intervening years to encroach on the entire community by gobbling up adjacent residential zoned properties and expanding to the building on the opposite corner, now known as the SWC. All three of the properties(SWC, MOT,and YULA) at this intersection have had mitigating circumstances approved by the

Planning Department to reduce parking spaces required by zoning regs at the time of their building. There is 3 a cumulative effect of these operations which has not been addressed. The YULA and MOT prosed expansions cxannot be separated!

My house is in the adjacent homeowner's association of Beverlywood and it has a direct view of the MOT and 4 the YULA. There will be a direct impact on our home and community if these facilities do not adhere to the original CUP's and minimize their footprint in our neighborhood.

Sincerely, Richard K. and Bozena H. Vitolo 9728 Horner St. Los Angeles, CA 90035 phone 310 284-8042 Comment Letter: Weger

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11 Comment Letter: Weiss

Carol and Jordan Weis Carol and Jordan Weiss 1451 Beverwil Drive Los Angeles, CA 90035

December 30, 2008

Ms. Diana Kitching Department of City Planning Environmental Review Section 200 N. Spring Street, Room 750 Los Angeles, CA 90012

Re: EAF NO: ENV-2007-2476-DEIR Museum of Tolerance Project Draft Environmental Impact Report

Dear Ms. Kitching:

We are writing to state our opposition to the proposed expansion of the Museum of Tolerance (sometimes referred to herein as the “Museum” or the “MOT”) as detailed in its Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) released November 24, 2008. We urge that the City exercise its authority to reject this project. Our objections are delineated, in part, below. We also agree with the comments 1 submitted in opposition to the project by our neighbors.

E. Hazards and Hazardous Materials

See discussion of Section H. Public Services, which discussion we incorporate by reference.

H. Public Services

In Section IV. H 2. the DEIR addresses the Public Services impact on Police and Fire Protection that would occur due to the proposed project. The analysis is inadequate, misleading and inaccurate and the Applicant needs to properly and more fully address these impacts. We also believe that because of the severity 2 of consequences to people and property, discussed in detail below, the Applicant cannot adequately mitigate these risks and their project request should be denied. See L.A. CEQA Thresholds Guide, F.2, entitled “Determination of Significance.”

1 The Applicant relies heavily on a self-risk assessment conducted by Cannon Street (“Cannon”) using the FBI’s Terrorism threat Vulnerability Self-Assessment Tool (Addendum A to DEIR) to determine the vulnerability of the Museum to terrorist attacks. Whether by oversight, mistake or purposely, the terrorism analysis submitted by the Applicant appears to be a self-assessment for the MOT as it was intended to exist under its original conditional use permit, many years ago, not for the MOT as it exists in today’s troubled world, nor for the proposed project. Its subject bears little resemblance to the project which is being proposed by the DEIR. For example, the study seems to assume that there will be no large social events held at the MOT [self-assessment item 5], assumes that the organization is not important to the community [self-assessment item 8], assumes that the social, economic and psychological impact of terrorist impact against the MOT would be insignificant, and that the MOT is not that well-known and not notorious at all. It also ignores the increased Muslim animosity towards the Wiesenthal Center and Rabbi Marvin Hier due to the controversial project the museum is building in Jerusalem and the high-profile nature of the building and the SWC. If one didn’t know better we would think Addendum A was considering the impact of a small folk-art craft and art museum, or an elementary school show-and-tell, instead of an organization which deals with some of the most troubling events of our century. These and other significant material defects are delineated in detail below.

Out of 4 risk levels, Cannon arrived at a 62 indicating the lowest risk level. Step- by-step below we compare Cannon’s assessment with a quite conservative 2 assessment of the proposed project. Rather than an anemic 62, taking a conservative approach and giving the Applicant the benefit of all doubts, arrives at the 3 rd level of risk of High Caution . The Applicant needs to more accurately address its terrorist profile and discuss how it will, if it can, mitigate these increased risks without changing the residential character of the surrounding neighborhood. We believe such risks cannot be adequately mitigated, and the project request should be denied.

The cumulative affect of all of the Applicant’s incorrect assumptions and negligent omissions is that no cogent terrorism analysis has been submitted for the proposed project. More troubling it demonstrates a complete lack of self- awareness on the part of the SWC and the MOT. If an organization is unaware of its potential to be a terrorist target, it will relax its diligence and thereby enhance the likelihood of a grievous incident. We sincerely hope this Addendum was a negligent oversight by the SWC and the MOT; otherwise we and the City have even more reasons to be concerned than expressed below.

The DEIR’s Complete Failure to Deal with Enhanced Terrorism Threats Caused by the proposed Project Gives Rise to a Presumption That Such Threats Exist, are Significant and Cannot Reasonably be Mitigated, and Renders the DEIR Defective Per Se

2 The DEIR is defective per se for failure to acknowledge and address the environmental threats and impacts of a terrorist Incident. San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace v. Nuclear Regulatory Commission , 449 F.3d 1016 (9 th Cir. 2006); No Oil, Inc. v. City of Los Angeles , 3 Cal.3d 68, at 86 fn. 21 (Cal. 1974) (NEPA cases are persuasive where interpreting CEQA). 1

1 San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace concerned the licensing of a spent fuel storage facility at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in California. As the Ninth Circuit recounted, 'the NRC declared categorically that NEPA does not require consideration of the environmental effects of potential terrorist attacks.' The NRC listed four reasons for this conclusion. The court disagreed with each one.

The NRC first said that the possibility of a terrorist attack is too remote and speculative. The court found this inconsistent with the federal government's intensive efforts, especially since 9/11, to prevent exactly this kind of attack.

Second, the NRC said that because the risk of a terrorist attack cannot be determined, the analysis is likely to be meaningless. The 2 court found that “[t]he numeric probability of a specific attack is not required in order to assess likely modes of attack, weapons, and vulnerabilities at a facility, and the possible impact of each of these on the physical environment, including the assessment of various release scenarios.”

Third, the NRC said that NEPA does not require a “worst-case” analysis. The NEPA regulations of the Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) had specified such an analysis until 1986, when CEQ mandated instead “a summary of existing credible scientific evidence which is relevant to evaluating the reasonably foreseeable significant environmental impacts on the human environment, and... the agency's evaluation of such impacts based upon theoretical approaches or research methods generally accepted in the scientific community.” ] The U.S. Supreme Court upheld that regulatory change.

The Ninth Circuit said that the NRC “wrongly labels a terrorist attack the worst-case scenario because of the low or indeterminate probability of such an attack....Petitioners do not seek to require the

3 Perhaps no organization is the United States is more familiar with domestic terrorism threats than the Simon Wiesenthal Center. In fact, Rabbi Hier has called for a special meeting of the United Nations to deal with terrorism. He has called Islamic terror the great crime of the 21 st century, “which threatens us all.” He told the Jewish Weekly in April 16, 2008, “while I am optimistic by nature, and theologically, the bottom line is there should be alarm because it could happen here. ” And it is reasonable for him to feel so threatened. The Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance constitute one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations on the planet, with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO (recognized nongovernmental organization) at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS and the Council of Europe.

Regrettably the SWC and MOT also constitute also one of the more inflammatory organizations on the planet, most recently angering thousands of Muslims by its decision to build a new MOT directly on top of a centuries old Muslim cemetery whose ownership is claimed by Islamic authorities, arousing clerics and nationals alike, and causing hundreds of Muslims to march through the streets of Jerusalem in protest. 2

2 NRC to analyze the most extreme (i.e., the 'worst') possible environmental impacts of a terrorist attack. Instead, they seek an analysis of the range of environmental impacts likely to result in the event of a terrorist attack on the Storage Installation.”

Finally, the NRC said that NEPA's public process is not an appropriate forum for sensitive security issues. The court said that the results of NEPA analysis of such matters may have to be withheld from the public (as often happens with NEPA review of military installations), but that is no reason not to perform the analysis for the benefit of government decision-makers.

The Ninth Circuit therefore held that the NRC's environmental assessment failed to comply with NEPA, and it remanded the matter to NRC for further proceedings.

2 The text below is a letter calling for a stop to the project of the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem. The letter below was sent to the 3 Simon Wiesenthal Centre, the Jerusalem Municipality and the Israeli Government.

4 ------MUSEUM OF TOLERANCE –Jerusalem – PETITION 23 November 2008

A recent judgment by Israel's Supreme Court will allow the construction of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre's “Museum of Tolerance”, designed by renowned US architect Frank O. Gehry, over a Muslim heritage cemetery of great historical importance in the centre of Jerusalem. It is a blow to peaceful co-existence in an already divided city.

This project, started in 2006, had been frozen due to public outcry and legal challenge, most especially from Muslim religious leaders and the Israeli Islamic movement with the backing of orthodox Jews concerned about disturbing graves. The site in Mamilla, near Jerusalem's Independence Park, is on disputed burial land taken over by the Israel’s Land Administration in 1948, whose ownership is claimed by the Islamic authorities. 3 To pursue this divisive project that will include "two museums, a library-education center, a conference centre and a 500-seat performing arts theatre, would seem highly insensitive, a statement of Israel's hegemony over the Palestinians, rather than any expression of 'tolerance'. All the architecture in the world cannot engender harmony on the basis of trampling over people’s rights and history. It is inflaming passions in an already combustible Middle East, and will push any peace accord further off the horizon.

Architects & Planners for Justice in Palestine calls on the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, the Jerusalem municipality and the Israeli authorities not to allow this architectural time-bomb to proceed.

Charles Jencks, Architect & Historian Sir Richard MacCormack, RIBA Will Alsop, RIBA Neave Brown, RIBA Eva Jiricna, RIBA

5 Abe Hayeem, RIBA, Chair APJP Haifa Hammami, Architect, Secretary APJP Hans Haenlein, RIBA Cezary Bednarski, RIBA Suad Amiry, Architect, RIWAQ, Ramallah Kate Mackintosh,RIBA Shmuel Groag, Architect, Jerusalem Beatriz Maturana, Architects for Peace, Australia Louis Hellman, RIBA, Cartoonist Jake Brown, RIBA Walter Hain, RIBA Ian Martin, Writer Mike Gwilliam, MRTPI Dr. Jim Berrow, Architectural Historian Anil Korotane, Foundation for Achieving Seamless Territory (FAST) Martin O’Shea, RIBA Isabel Camacho Garcia, Architect, Spain Karin Pally, Planner, LA Zahira Nazer, Architect, Urban Planner 3 Fahmi Salameh, Architect, Palestine

John Murray, Architect,UK John van Rooyen, RIBA John Lynes, Engineer, CPT Hebron Dena Qaddumi, Architect, NY David Berridge, RIBA Malcom Hecks, RIBA, France Gail Waldman, RIBA David Berridge, RIBA Mustafa Chaudhary, Architectural Designer,UK Ahmad Barclay, Environmental Designer,UK Kelvin Bland, RIBA Faisal Khan, RIBA John Hodge, RIBA Asif Khan, MRTPI Nicholas Wood, RIBA Sara Wood, Classicist

6 Officials at the Jewish Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles forcefully and on a regular basis condemn terrorism, most recently condemning the bloody terrorist attacks in Mumbai, India's financial capital, in which at least 14 3 people were killed, including two Americans, and more than 300 injured. The attack included attacks on the local Chabad organization.

SWC has also urged that Hamas be declared a terrorist organization in the Americas, and that its members be barred from the hemisphere unless and until it recognizes the right to exist of the State of Israel, abandons its terrorist violence, drop its anti -Semitic charter and commits to a peace process with the Jewish state.

If nothing else, Rabbi Marvin Hier has made clear that the SWC and the MOT are more than mildly concerned with terrorist threats.

CEQA requires consideration of terrorism scenarios. Why then has the DEIR proceeded as if there are no such threats, as if they are a figment of Rabbi Hier’s imagination? 4 SWC and MOT should be compelled to release all internal terrorism studies, papers, reports, memoranda, summaries of incidents and other documentation held by the Center which might shed light on its terrorist risk profile, and to submit their plans for dealing with terrorist attacks, site -security and admission of large crowds and numbers of vehicles.

Moreover, and overriding, a determination of significance is mandatory due to the severe impact that a terrorist event would have to people and property. L.A. CEQA Thresholds Guide, F.2, entitled “Determination of Significance.” Subsection F.2. requires that the City take into consideration the severity of consequences to people or property as a result of a potential accidental release of a hazard substance or potential explosion which may cause exposure to hazardous materials or a health hazard.

The FBI reports that the bomb has become the principal weapon of the terrorist. The bomb is one of the most widely -used terrorist weapons, accounting for over one-half of all terror -related incidents. Bombs can be constructed to resemble many ordinary objects, and explosives designed as letters and packages offer stealthy attack options with deep penetration capabilities. Since the turn of the

Wade Sowman, Planner, UK Steve Fox, Architect, BVI Yael Gordon, Architect, BVI 3 cont from Posted on Sunday, November 2 3, 2008 at 08:18PM | prev. page

7 century, the world has also witnessed a series of deadly and devastating suicide bombings. These attacks occur most often in conflict zones, such as Iraq and Israel/Palestinian territories. However, recent attacks in Turkey, Morocco, the United Kingdom, Algeria, and Indonesia show that the threat exists worldwide and has grown in popularity in recent years. Recent attacks have forced governments, the private sector, and individuals to adjust their security strategies to counter the growing threat of suicide bombings. The relative ease and low cost with which a suicide bombing can be staged and executed makes it unlikely that terrorists will cease using this manner of attack anytime in the near future. As the risk of such attacks increases outside of conflict zones, it is essential for businesses and public attractions to plan their response against the threat of suicide bombings. What is the MOT’s plan?

Even a minor terrorist incident (causing explosion) would:

a. Create a significant hazard to the public or the environment through reasonably foreseeable upset and accident conditions involving the release of hazardous materials into the environment; and,

b. Emit hazardous emissions or handle hazardous or acutely hazardous materials, substances, or waste within one-quarter mile of an existing or proposed school? (There is a school next door.).

Each of which criterion mandate a finding of significance. 4

The MOT is what is known as a “soft target.” The recent bombings of three hotels in Amman, Jordan, train stations in London, and a shopping mall in Netanya, Israel, highlight the increasing trend of terrorist groups pursuing “soft” targets, where security is usually minimal, and the probability of civilian casualties is high. Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) became increasingly concerned over potential attacks against soft targets, including museums. At the center of the museum concern is how to tighten security. Furthermore, most security measures at museums have traditionally focused on countering theft and vandals, not terrorists. However, the post 9/11 environment has encouraged greater awareness of the need to establish effective counterterrorism measures for soft targets. Striking the MOT would not only provide an effective symbolic victory for terrorists, but would also inflict serious damage to the local economy and the safety of our residential neighborhood. Until proved otherwise, it should be presumed that the MOT is ill - equipped to deal with terrorist activity. The bottom line is that while an attack by local or foreign Islamic terrorists on the MOT hardly is inevitable, it cannot be ruled out.

Recent Soft Target Activity:

8 1. On December 25th five people were killed in a night club in the southern city of Juliaca, Peru when a tear gas grenade was detonated inside the venue. The grenade was reportedly set off in the middle of the room, asphyxiating three women and two men, and injuring seven other people. Police say there were as many as 1,200 people in the 800-person capacity club, and that the gas had become lethal in such an enclosed space. 2. On December 25th a bomb exploded at a real estate agency and another explosive device was defused at a European sports rehabilitation center in south-western France. The explosion occurred in the town of Anglet. Meanwhile, in Carbreton, some 20km (12.5 miles) away, another explosive device was discovered, comprised of a water bottle filled with flammable liquid and a detonator. 3. On December 25th a suicide bomber rammed an explosives-laden vehicle into a popular restaurant in Baghdad's Shula neighborhood, killing four people and wounding 25 others. 4. On December 24th a gunman opened fire outside a casino in Stockholm and wounded three people, according to police. Initial reports indicate the man pulled out the gun and began shooting after being denied entrance to the casino. Three people, including a casino security guard and two guests, were injured and taken to the hospital. 5. On December 24th a man was seriously injured in an explosion in southwest China's Yunnan Province, according to police. The blast took place at a Western coffee bar near Yunnan University, located in 4 Kunming. 6. On December 23rd The U.S. Embassy in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan was placed on high alert when a package containing suspicious white powder was uncovered at the scene. Although the package was inspected for biological and chemical toxins, no dangerous substances were found in the package. Some 20 U.S. Embassies around the world have received envelopes containing white powder since December 8th. 7. On December 23rd Indian police claimed they thwarted a suicide attack in Indian-controlled Kashmir with the arrests of three suspected members of Jaish-e-Mohammed. The men were detained on December 21st in Jammu, a predominantly Hindu city in Jammu-Kashmir, after apparently entering the country illegally from Bangladesh and checking into a hotel, where police said they were waiting to receive arms and explosives. Police claim the three men "had received specialized training in suicide attacks and driving explosive-laden vehicles." 8. On December 22nd a suicide bomber detonated an explosives vest as he was being driven along a crowded road in Ghazni, Afghanistan killing three civilians and wounding five others. Dozens of shops in the area were severely damaged from the blast's shockwave. 9. On December 22nd an unknown number of Pakistani Taliban militants raided a private school on Peshawar's Warsak Road at approximately 4am, tying up the security guards and holding them hostage while

9 stripping them of their mobile phones and setting three private buses ablaze. The attackers planted a timed explosive in the school’s primary administrative building, causing extensive damage to the facility before

10. On December 20th a suicide bomber disguised as a doctor blew himself up in a hospital in Khost, Afghanistan. 11. On or about December 20 (Sunday closest to December 20th a bomb hidden inside a McDonald’s restaurant detonated in central St. Petersburg. 12. On December 19th authorities in Fort St. John, British Colum bia were investigating fresh attacks on natural gas well sites. In the past several months, the pipelines in the area have been the site of several small bombings. 13. On December 19th Rioting youths attacked the French Institute in Athens,

14. An explosive device detonated in Baydh abo on Decem ber 19th, killing one soldier and injuring 20 others, including 16 civilians. The device reportedly detonated as a rush of civilians, including many businessmen, walked by

15. On December 18th a radio station owned by opposition Senator Guido Guardia was bombed in Santa Cruz, Bolivia . 16. On December 17, 2008 explosi ves were found in the exclusive Printemps department store in central Paris. They were planted by Islamic 4 extremists. 17. On December 16, 2008 eight foreign Isla mic extremists were arrested at a mosque near Abuja, Nigeria. The US Embassy warned that American and other Western interests are at risk of terrori st attack. 18. On December 16, 2008, 30 masked youths threw Molotov cocktails and stones at the riot police headqua rters in Athens, heavily damaging several cars and a police bus. Elsewhere in the capital, students blocked streets and dozens of youngsters protested outside the main court, with some of them hurling objects at policemen . 19. On December 16, 2008, a bomb was exploded at a bank in Woodburn,

20. On Dece mber 15, 2008, in Bangla desh parliamentary elections. The arrest of members of the Jam aat ul-Mujahideen (JUM – Group of Religious Fighters) took place in the town of Nilphamari. Propaganda materials calling for the establi shment of an Islami c state were seized. JUM and the allied Jagrata Muslim Jamata Bangladesh (JM JB) were involved in a major bombing campaign in the second half of 2005 that killed 38 people and wounded more than 150. 21. On December 12, 2008, the US embassy in Yemen placed western hotels

limits to embassy personnel and visitors. It also advi sed American citizens to exerci se caution. American interests in Yemen have been on

10 edge since a sophisticated 17 September attack on the US Embassy in Sanaa. The assailants wore army uniforms and painted their vehicles in military style with the apparent aim of bluffing their way past outer security checkpoints and getting close enough to the facility to breach its walls and kill Americans. The plan failed because local guards refused to open the embassy gate, triggering a shootout and the detonation—outside the perimeter—of two suicide car-bombs. Sixteen people were killed, including six assailants, six local security personnel and four bystanders. 22. On December 12, 2008, 14 militant were arrested by Belgian police charged with membership in a terrorist group. Three of those charged recently returned from terrorist training camps along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. On December 12, 2008, Pakistan authorities overnight arrested scores of activists of Jamaat-ud-Dawa (JuD – Group of the Call), a charity associated with Lashkar-e-Tayyaba (LeT – Army of the Pure), which staged the 26-29 November Mumbai massacre.

In other words soft targets are attacked almost daily throughout the civilized world. Take the United States:

Two Egyptian students at the University of South Florida, Ahmed Mohamed, 24, and Yousef Megahed, 21, were indicted on August 31, 2007 by a federal grand jury in Tampa on charges of transporting explosive materials across state lines. Mohamed also was charged with 4 distributing information relating to explosives, a terrorism charge that carries a possible maximum 20-year prison sentence.

Federal officials on June 2, 2007 charged four Muslims from Guyana and Trinidad with organizing a plot to blow up a fuel pipeline to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport.

On May 8, 2007, federal officials arrested six Islamic militants on charges they plotted to attack soldiers at New Jersey’s Fort Dix army base with rocket-propelled grenades and assault rifles. Four of the suspects were ethnic Albanians born in Yugoslavia. One was from Turkey and one from Jordan. Several were residents of Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Three of the ethnic Albanians were in the United States illegally. The suspects had watched jihadist videos and practiced firing weapons. One had used his job as a pizza deliveryman to scout Fort Dix. They also had conducted surveillances of other military installations in the area.

Yet another domestic threat was rolled up in Atlanta in March and April 2006, apparently as a result of contacts made by the principals with a counterpart cell in Ontario that had come to the attention of Canadian authorities. Indeed, the two American principals, Pakistani-born Syed

11 Haris Ahmed, 21, a student at Georgia Tech, and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee, 19, whose parents came from Bangladesh, had traveled to Canada in 2005 to meet with their counterparts. The two reportedly had made casing videos of American landmarks, including the Capitol, and had generated instructions for constructing car-bombs and explosives vests.

Nawid Haq, a 30-year-old American-born Muslim, forced his way into the offices of the Greater Seattle Jewish Federation on July 28, 2006 and shot seven women, one of them fatally. Reportedly, Haq, got past the reasonably robust access controls by taking a 13-year-old girl hostage

In another incident, Mohammed Reza Taheri-azar, 22, who earned a B.A. from the University of North Carolina in December, on March 3, 2006, drove a rented SUV into a crowd of students at “The Pit,” a popular student gathering spot on the university’s Chapel Hill campus, injuring nine people. Taheri-azar was born in Iran but grew up in Charlotte and obtained US citizenship. He was quoted as saying that he staged the attack to punish the United States and avenge the deaths of Muslims around the world, and that he intended to kill his victims. . 4

Last we note that the MOT is next door and annexed to a Yeshiva (Jewish religious school). On March 6, 2008 an Arab terrorist infiltrated Jerusalem's Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva and murdered eight Jews. At least 10 students were wounded, including five in serious to critical condition. (we can supply pictures at the City’s request).

In the extant environment, the City should affirmatively oppose the hosting of social events at a Jewish museum which challenges terrorists on a daily basis. It is untenable to for the City to even contemplate changes to the existing uses of the facility to attract larger crowds and the hosting of large social events which enhance the threats to the surrounding neighborhoods and the attendees at events. In this regard it should be noted by the City that the MOT is building a duplicate facility in Jerusalem on top of a claimed Muslim cemetery; many Islamic terrorist groups claim Jerusalem as their rightful capital and vow to eliminate the Jewish presence there. Given such thinking an attack on the MOT in Los Angeles would fulfill their fanatical visions as much as an attack on the MOT in Jerusalem would fulfill such visions.

Neighbors have reported sighting men with rifles and guns on the MOT roof (sharpshooters?) when dignitaries have been invited. We live in a residential neighborhood, not a war zone! The MOT chose to locate in our quiet, almost

12 soporific, residential neighborhood—and they agreed to conditions; if it now wishes to disavow those conditions, the solution is to move. The city would set a dangerous, no pun intended, precedent by acceding to even the least of its demands; the City should instead demand that the MOT and SWC adhere to the conditions which were imposed upon in exchange for its permitted uses of the property.

The following are some of the groups which appear to present threats to the Wiesenthal Center, the MOT and the project:

Abu Nidal Organization (ANO)

Technically known as the Fatah Revolutionary Council (FRC).The movement is most notorious for its murderous December 1985 assaults on airports in Rome and Vienna that left 16 dead and 60 wounded, as well as the 1986 hijacking of Pan Am Flight 73 in Karachi that left 17 dead. In total, FRC has been responsible for more than 900 casualties. The ANO has operated under a number of aliases including: Arab Revolutionary Brigades (ARB); Black June; Black September; and the Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims (ROSM).

Al-Qaida (The Base) (also known as the Usama bin Ladin network)

Al-Qaida, founded and largely funded by Usama bin Ladin, the exiled scion of a Saudi Arabian construction tycoon, began as a military organization of self-styled 4 Muslim holy warriors combating Soviet forces in Afghanistan. Following the end of that decade-long civil war in 1992, however, bin Ladin and his followers shifted the focus of their hatred toward the West in general and the United States in particular.

Ansar al-Sunna (Supporters of Tradition)

Ansar al-Sunna (AS) emerged in 2003 from the merger of several radical Kurdish Islamist groups in Iraq’s north, including Ansar al-Islam. Ansar al-Sunna aims to establish an independent Islamic state in Iraq; it has declared a jihad against the secular Iraqi establishment. To that end, it seeks the expulsion of US forces from Iraq and frequently targets the Iraqi government and military forces.

AS maintains strong ties with al-Qaida, as it received financial backing from Usama bin Ladin in 2001, and even had some of its members train in his Afghan camps. By the time of the US invasion of Iraq in March 2003, its ranks had been augmented by foreign jihadists, and it worked closely with the al-Qaida Organization for Holy War in Iraq (QJI). It boasted some 700 members and controlled a sliver of northeastern Iraq on the Iranian border with Taliban-like zeal. Pressure from US forces subsequently has depleted its ranks by nearly half and driven the core of the group into the mountainous Iranian border.

13 AS is believed to have been behind some of the post-war attacks on US forces, including a 21 December 2004 attack on a US military dining facility. It uses suicide bombings, including car-bombings, to attack its targets. It is responsible for more than 800 deaths in Iraq since 2003.

The group’s leader, Mullah Krekar, currently resides in Norway. He continues to evade attempts to extradite him to either Iraq or Guantanamo Bay to face charges of organizing terror activities.

Esbat al-Ansar (League of Partisans)

Esbat al-Ansar, an al-Qaida affiliate in Lebanon, was formed in the 1990s with the aim of overthrowing the Lebanese government and replacing it with a "pure" Islamic state. In January 2000, the group staged an uprising in a forested area outside the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli that took a week for security forces to put down and claimed nearly 50 lives.

From the spring of 2002 until the spring of 2003, Esbat authored seven bomb attacks against US-linked fast food restaurants in greater Beirut and Tripoli, and in June 2003, it undertook a rocket attack that reduced to ashes a Beirut television station owned by Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. No casualties resulted, but Esbat also is the chief suspect in two fatal attacks targeting Christian missionaries in Lebanon. In November 2002 an American woman working at a clinic in Sidon run by an American church group was shot to death by a lone 4 assailant, and in May 2003 a Jordanian Christian friend of a Dutch-German missionary couple was killed when he handled a package-bomb that had been left outside their Tripoli home.

The Lebanese government has declared Esbat’s eradication a national security priority. Dozens of members have been arrested, but many more still are still at large, and Western targets remain squarely in their sights

Fatah al-Islam (FI)

The Fatah al-Islam (FI) Palestinian jihadist group emerged in 2006 as a strongly breakaway faction of Damascus-based Fatah Uprising, which itself is a splinter of the late Yasir Arafat’s Fatah movement. Both breakaway factions are widely seen as creations of Syrian intelligence, though Damascus has denied the connection and contends that FI is a branch of al-Qaida. While there is, indeed, considerable evidence that FI leader Shakir al-Abssi was an associate of the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founder of the al-Qaida Organization for Holy War in Iraq (QJI), there are also strong indications of the movement’s ties to Damascus.

14 FI has been blamed by Lebanese authorities for several bombings in Beirut. There was intense fighting in May 2007 between FI and the Lebanese army in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp outside Tripoli, Lebanon, the group’s stronghold

Gracchus Babeuf (GB)

Gracchus Babeuf, a loosely knit grouping of leftist students that takes its name from an 18th century French revolutionary, has set off a number of crude bombs in Paris since the eruption of the Gulf crisis. Targets included in 1990 the European University of America, a private, California-based extension program, school, a Shell gasoline station and the mobile transmitter of a radio station broadcasting to French military forces in the Gulf.

Hizbollah (Party of God)

Hizbollah, a Lebanon-based Shia terrorist complex, has been responsible for some of the most notorious terrorist attacks in recent history. Hizbollah first gained worldwide attention with three devastating 1983 suicide car-bombings in Beirut -- at the U.S. Embassy and U.S. and French military barracks -- that took 346 lives. Hizbollah operatives in Beirut also murdered American University President Malcom Kerr in 1984, British citizen Dennis Hill in 1985, and French military attache Christian Goutierre in 1986. And the complex has been 4 responsible for kidnapping most, if not all, of the Westerners taken hostage in Lebanon in recent years.

Hizbollah's reach is by no means confined to Lebanon, however. It has hijacked airliners departing Dubai, Athens and Bangkok and is suspected in the September 1989 in-flight bombing of a UTA jet flying to Paris from N'Djamena, Chad. The complex also is blamed for numerous bombings and assassination operations in the Middle East, Asia and Europe against Saudi targets and, more recently, Jewish figures.

Jemaah Islamiyah (JI – Islamic Group)

Jemaah Islamiyah (JI – Islamic Group) – A murky terrorist network that seeks to create an Islamic caliphate in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the southern Philippines, JI publicly emerged in January 2002 when Singapore and Malaysia announced the arrests of members of the group who were plotting truck-bomb attacks against the US and other foreign embassies in the city-state. That plot had the backing of al-Qaida, which also is believed to have helped JI elements coordinate the 12 October 2002 bombing of a nightclub district on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed at least 180 people and injured about 300, most of them young foreign tourists.

15 Salafist (Authentic) Group for Preaching and Combat (French abbr: GSPC)

GSPC was a splinter of Algeria’s Armed Islamic Group (French abbr: GIA), overtaking the preceding organization in terms of operational strength in 1998. GSPC declared it would shift away from the GIA’s focus on village massacres and concentrate instead on assassinations and headline-grabbing terrorist attacks.

GSPC sought to topple the Algerian government and establish an Islamic regime. To that end, GSPC targeted the Algerian government establishment.

In 2007, GSPC adopted the name al-Qaida Organization of the Islamic Maghreb (QIM), signaling closer affiliation with al-Qaida. GSPC adopted al-Qaida sympathies as early as 2003, when Nabil Sahraoui (aka Abu Ibrahim Mustafa) deposed Hassan Hatib (aka Abou Hamza) as head of the organization.

Tamimi Faction

The TAMIMI Faction is one of two main factions of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a fundamentalist Palestinian organization with close ties to Yasir ARAFAT's FATAH and a strong propensity for terrorism.

Led by PIJ's most influential cleric, Sheikh Assad al-TAMIMI, it has substantial numbers of adherents in the occupied territories, Jordan and Lebanon. TAMIMI, 4 originally from Hebron, now resides in Amman, Jordan, where he is influential in Palestinian fundamentalist circles. Though an orthodox Sunni, as are virtually all Palestinian fundamentalists, he holds that Shiism is a legitimate branch of Islam and maintains particularly close relations with Iran.

The Tamimi Faction was responsible for a February 1990 attack on a tourist bus in Egypt in which 10 Israelis perished

Force Seventeen

Originally organized as a special FATAH unit to protect leader Yasir ARAFAT in the early 1970s, Force Seventeen has been used since 1985 to conduct terrorist operations, a fig leaf that has enabled FATAH to deny that it engages in international terrorist activities.

A small group of probably less than 50 individuals drawn from FATAH's membership, Force Seventeen has been used to attack Israeli and Jewish targets in Western Europe, North Africa and in Jerusalem and the West Bank

Hamas (Zeal)

16 The Hamas Islamic Resistance Movement is a fundamentalist Palestinian movement that has done its best to undermine the Israeli-Palestinian peace process with suicide-bombings in Israel proper, mostly against the public bus system, malls, restaurants and markets. It stages these operations through its military wing, the Izz-el-Din al-Qassam Brigades. Hamas has threatened to strike targets overseas.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ)

Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a fundamentalist Palestinian organization with a strong propensity for terrorism, once had close ties to Yasir Arafat's Fatah movement and, in fact, may have been backed by Fatah as a fundamentalist alternative to the Hamas Islamic Resistance Movement. The group broke with Arafat after the PLO chief's 13 September 1993 peace agreement with Israel and has dedicated itself to scuttling the pact through terrorism. PIJ over the years has successfully staged several suicide bombings in Israel proper.

Saiqa (Thunderbolt)

Ostensibly a Palestinian nationalist movement, Saiqa is actually a creature of the Syrian government. Though it is part of the Palestine National Salvation Front (PNSF), legitimate Palestinian organizations ignore it for the most part, and Saiqa mainly functions as a terrorist instrument of Syrian foreign policy. It claims 2,000 members, but Saiqa's intimate relationship with the Syrian army makes it 4 difficult to define "membership" in the group.

Saiqa's sporadic, ad hoc attacks have prevented the group from becoming identified with any single operational methodology or distinctive pattern. Its debut was a 1971 mass hostage-taking of a trainload of Soviet Jews traveling through Austria en route to resettlement in Israel. Since then it has struck, often with bombings, at Jewish and Israeli targets throughout Western Europe and the Middle East.

Yemen Soldiers Brigade (YSB)

The Yemen Soldiers Brigade, a self-described al-Qaida affiliate, carries out operations against Western targets and the Yemeni government. YSB executes mortar attacks, shootings and car-bombings, in addition to planting crude bombs.

As previously mentioned, we analyze step-by-step below Cannon’s ratings for the FBI’s Terrorism Vulnerability Self-Assessment Checklist. Each item is measured on a scale of 1 to 20 with 1 being lowest vulnerability and 20 being High Vulnerability. Given the flaws in and inadequacy of Cannon’s assessment, its analysis of terrorist risk is tantamount to no analysis at all, and should therefore be disregarded.

17 The Cannon Street Self-Assessment

1.Potential Terrorist Intentions - as discussed in detail previously, there are terrorist organizations with capability to target the MOT and there has been historical interest in targeting Los Angeles.

Cannon rating --- 5 Neighborhood rating --- 12

2. Specific Targeting – This question reflects the organization’s public visibility and nature of the organization’s activity. As previously discussed, the MOT and Rabbi Hier in particular have a high negative profile in many quarters, most recently because of the controversy created by Rabbi Hier’s project in Jerusalem that will be built on an old Muslim cemetery.

Cannon rating --- 8 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 18

3.Visibility of Your Facility within the Community - This question considers whether you regularly receive media attention, is your organization nationally prominent, is your location known. The MOT frequently hosts high profile politicians and public figures and often has media trucks parked outside the building. Rabbi Hier himself was rated the #1 most influential Jew in the country by Newsweek and the MOT promotes itself heavily. The number given by Cannon is unrealistically low. 4 Cannon rating --- 9 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 18

4. On-Site Hazards

Cannon rating --- 1 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 1

5. Population of Site, Facility or Activity - This question considers how many people are normally present and whether you hold events at your site that attracts large crowds. One of the major purposes of the project is to be able to accommodate and attract larger crowds. The MOT wants to be able to accommodate functions of 800-1000 people on a regular basis as well as attract more visitors on a daily basis. Cannon’s assigning only a #6 flies in the face of the motivation behind the proposed project.

Cannon rating --- 6 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 14

6. Potential For Mass Casualties - How many people live or work within a mile of your site. The project is in a fairly dense residential/commercial area with apartments, condominiums, office buildings, hotels and commercial uses. Century city is also approximately one mile away. Despite this density, Cannon assigns the lowest rating of 1.

18 Cannon rating --- 1 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 15

7. Security Environments and Overall Vulnerability - Issues to be considered are the parking delivery area, do you conduct vehicle searches, are there on-site food facilities, are you assets recognized as a symbol, etc.

In several places in this section of the EIR, the vehicle searches of the vehicles before entering the facility is noted. Neighborhood observers, who frequently walk by the facility, have observed that these searches appear rather perfunctory. Unlike other typical vehicle inspection stops, the attendants do not have the mirror on a stick to inspect the underside of the vehicle. This seems a typical procedure, yet it is not done. Also, the deliveries take place underground in the parking facility. This seems to increase significantly the vulnerability of the project and the attached school. Applicant also wants to add significantly larger food facilities on-site, another issue for this question. By having more frequent social functions and sponsored outdoor events, more questionable vehicles will be entering the underground parking and delivery area, increasing the vulnerability of the structure to outside attacks.

Cannon rating --- 5 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 14

8. Critical Products or Services - Issues to consider for this question are how important is the organization to the community or government or social services. Also to consider is what would be the social, economic or psychological 4 ramifications of a terrorist attack against your organization.

Although we agree the MOT is not vital to social services, the psychological ramifications of a terrorist attack would be enormous on many levels. When the Jewish Community Center in the Valley was attacked by a single gunman, the waves of fear and panic throughout the city were enormous. For an organized terrorist organization to hit an organization that promotes tolerance, frequently speaks out against terrorist attacks and is Jewish in origin would have an enormous negative effect on both the local and worldwide Jewish community. Further, since the building is in a residential area, similar to the Chabad building in Mumbai, further fear and damage results to the nearby residents. Cannon Street inexplicably ignores the issue discussed above because it again gives the lowest possible score of 1 on this question.

Cannon rating --- 1 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 18

9. High Risk Personnel - The most visible face and voice of the MOT is Rabbi Hier. As mentioned, he was recently ranked the #1 most influential Jew in the United States by Newsweek magazine . His general stance against terror and intolerance would make him a target, but given the huge firestorm he has created in Jerusalem by his site selection for a new MOT, makes him an increased target of hate among certain populations with a history of violence.

19 Cannon rating --- 5 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 17

10. Organization Communications - Addresses whether there are crisis response teams, if local responders participate, how are the communication networks, are there public address systems, etc.

Cannon rating --- 3 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 6

11. Security and Response - Are your security forces adequate, are there trained disaster response teams, are local enforcement forces adequate and able to respond rapidly.

On page 13 of Section IV. H. 2 the EIR already discusses that the average response time to emergency calls in West Los Angeles does not meet the LAPD preferred response time. The site already is in an area that has slow response time and the response time will only increase due to the Police Department’s plan to reduce the number of officers in West Los Angeles and deploy them to other parts of the city. Therefore, this issue needs a higher rating.

Cannon rating --- 3 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 10

12. Policies, Procedures and Plans –Addresses whether your employees are familiar with the plan and if you have conducted crisis drills. The EIR never addresses the background of the security personnel and if they are the typical 4 low skill, minimum wage type security personnel frequently hired for this type of work.

Cannon rating --- 1 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 5

13. Security Equipment

Cannon rating --- 4 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 4

14. Computer security and Cyber Terrorism

Cannon rating --- 1 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 1

15. Suspicious Mail and Packages - Is your mail opened in a secure, isolated area, do you have a secure location to hold suspicious deliveries, etc.

The topic of examining incoming mail and packages is not addressed in the EIR and needs to be. We know that the MOT has previously used the empty single- family home adjacent to the project to screen mail. Only after they received repeated complaints that this hazardous activity should not be taking place in a

20 residential area, did they stop checking the mail in the adjacent home. This opens up the question of where the mail is being examined now – and, the fact that at one time they felt it necessary to check the mail offsite for potential hazards. Explosives and incendiary devices can be engineered without special tools, are difficult to detect, and the knowledge to build them can be found in bookstores, libraries, periodicals, and is widely available on the Internet. Bombs can be constructed to resemble many ordinary objects, and explosives designed as letters and packages offer stealthy attack options with deep penetration capabilities. Mail is routinely opened without particular caution or suspicion, and can be sent without a return address. Terrorists have demonstrated an increased capacity for hiding explosive devices in parcels, utilizing clothespin switches and electronic sensors that are triggered during handling.

Cannon rating --- 2 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 14

16. Telephone, Bomb and Other Types of Threats

In the history of the project, the neighbors can remember several threats/potential bomb situations whereby traffic was stopped and people were advised to remain in their homes. This historical information is not even mentioned. We need more information about past situations. Further, as discussed above, Rabbi Hier’s proposals for a MOT in Jerusalem has increased the likelihood of these threats. It is incredulous that the Applicant gives a low rating of 2. 4

Cannon rating --- 2 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 15

17. Employee Health and the Potential for Bio-Terrorism

Cannon rating --- 6 NEIGHBORHOOD rating --- 6

Using conservative numbers, the Neighborhood’s more reflective self- assessment takes into account the high exposure of the MOT, its highly visible Director and the increased hostility towards the organization given its activities in Jerusalem, results in a score of 188 and not the absurdly low 62 given by the Applicant. This indicates the Terrorism Vulnerability is not “Low Risk” but rather “High Caution.” A revised EIR needs to more accurately address historical and current risks, whether such risks can be mitigated, and how the applicant proposes to mitigate those risks without changing the residential character of the surrounding neighborhood.

On page IV. H-15, the Applicant then incorporates this totally inadequate, inaccurate Terrorist Self-Assessment into their overall risk assessment when they state “The Museum has a low probability of terrorist attack.”

21 First, they refer to the proposed project as “The Museum.” This may be an accurate description of the current facility, but the requested revisions totally change the character, use, size and scale of the facility making this characterization flat-out wrong. The new project as stated by the applicant will become a “Cultural Center” -- not just a museum--and will specifically be expanded to provide for outside rental of the facilities to accommodate parties/functions of up to 800 people. Applicant’s assessment does not even attempt to reflect the changed use of the proposed facility.

The next bullet point inaccurately states that the “Site is low profile and not prominent.” This description contradicts Applicant’s own statement on page IV H-20 in the Public Services section where it touts that the “Building expansion would build out to the sidewalk, creating a solid barrier-like effect and the façade would be textured cement to heights of over sixty feet.” The Applicant would like to have it both ways – saying that the project has a low site profile so it will not be a target – yet, on the other hand describing the project as big and massive and secure, so as to reduce the risk of an attack. We note here that the larger size and scale of the World Trade Center did not act as a deterrent to terrorist attack, rather the opposite. The Applicant must decide which the accurate description is, or, better yet, simply tell the truth: They are in fact building a target. They might as well paint a red bull’s-eye on the roof. The building has prominent visibility on its corner location on a busy street and will only become more visible if the expansion is built and it further towers over its adjoining residential areas and is built out to the sidewalk. 4

The next bullet point on page 15 states the site has little market prominence. This statement is also inaccurate. The MOT has had many prominent politicians and public figures speak at the site. Jack Weiss at a hearing about the project commented how if there is any type of disturbance in the City or country, it is at the MOT that a meeting is often organized. On page 16 another bullet point notes there are “no high-risk occupants at the Museum.” Through the high visibility of the head of the MOT, Rabbi Hier, who has been ranked as the #1 most influential Jew in the United States by Newsweek, it is clear there are high- risk occupants at the Museum. The statement is not simply negligent; it is a lie. Rabbi Hier has been observed walking in the neighborhood accompanied by security personnel – if he was not a high-profile individual, he would not need such armed body guards.

The EIR thus completely fails to address the high risk profile of the project. The risk has increased from the time the project was built due to the high profile of Rabbi Hier and his and the Museum’s controversial activities in Jerusalem. Also, as set forth above, terrorist groups have increased their targeting of soft targets, particularly Jewish ones. Finally, with the proposed changed usage of the building to accommodate large functions, the attractiveness of the sight as a target is increased because it will be easier to inflict harm on an increased number of casualties given the ability to accommodate more people with the

22 proposed expansion. Last, the Applicant wants to lease the property out to third- parties, a use that is strictly prohibited under the current CUP, in large part due to 4 the reduced ability to police third-party events.

OTHER INACURATE, INADEQUATE STATEMENTS IN SECTION IV Public Services :

On page 8, the EIR discusses the long-term impact to Fire Services for the project. It makes the incorrect assertion that the proposed project will not introduce any new employees to the Community Plan area, so will not create any additional fire service burdens. One of the primary motivations of the project is to expand so as to accommodate more frequent and larger functions up to 800 people. A dinner this large requires a huge amount of waiters, busboys, chefs, line-cooks, dish washers, etc. Assuming 80 tables of 10, each table would need at least one wait person per table and other people required to serve, clear, clean, cook etc. This would mean an additional 100 -120 employees or third party contractors per event. This would impose an additional burden on all services, including parking, and this is not addressed anywhere in the report. This is not 5 an insignificant number of increased temporary workers. On page 17 the EIR addresses additional potential impacts to police service and again repeats that the proposed project would not require additional employees.

On page 10 of the Fire Department section, the report states “the only potential increase in demand for fire services would be due to the new building area added to the Museum.” This statement repeats the inadequate analysis in this section by ignoring the changed uses that would occur if the proposed project is built. The project would no longer be a “Museum”; instead it would become a cultural center which means larger groups and outside groups could rent the site. The impacts resulting from this changed use is not addressed by the Applicant.

A footnote on page 17 inaccurately summarizes Appendix M–which shows a table of current Museum attendance over a one month period in May of 2008. It states that the average number of Museum visitors is 1000 . The report neglects to clarify that this is a monthly total. The average weekly number of visitors that month was 500 -800. On a weekly basis, if there was only 1 large event held for 800 people, this would double the amount of visitors in 1 week alone and not 6 result in the 30% increase stated in this footnote. Therefore, the increased usage of the proposed project is materially understated throughout the DEIR. The applicant needs to better quantify the increased number of attendees, including temporary hires to service the functions, and include event attendees and then re-do all of the analysis reflecting the revised numbers and how they will mitigate the burdens created.

On page H-18, the report mentions the additional nighttime security lighting will reduce the demand for police services. However, how will they mitigate the light 7 pollution created by all this additional lighting on the residential Roxbury Avenue?

23 On page H-20, the report refers again to the Security Survey and inaccurately repeats the statement that the proposed project will not present a greater risk of terrorist attacks or criminal attacks. The EIR ignores the fact that there will be a larger number of late night events with people needing to park on the surrounding streets due to the dearth of on-site parking and inconvenience of waiting for security checks. More street criminals will be attracted to the area 8 because of the increased level of late night foot traffic by people with jewels, furs and money. No mitigation of this impact is discussed. The MOT was supposed to provide neighborhood patrols as part of its current CUP – this was never provided and is one of a long list of violations to the current CUP that have never been enforced.

In summary, as previously stated, The Applicant needs to more accurately address its risk profile and discuss how it will, if it can, mitigate the increased risks it would create without changing the residential character of the surrounding 9 neighborhood. We believe such risks cannot be adequately mitigated, and the project request should be denied.

Respectfully,

Carol and Jordan Weiss

24 Daily Risk Briefing - December 31, 2008

Foreign radio broadcasts banned as of January 1st

Azerbaijan authorities have decided to ban foreign radio broadcasts on the country's national frequencies, according to media reports on December 30th. The decision, which was made by the Azeri National TV and Radio Council, will affect the BBC, Voice of America, Radio Liberty, and Europa Plus stations, beginning on January 1st. A U.S. State Department spokesman said the ban will represent a serious setback to both freedom of speech and democratic reform in the country. Authorities however say the ban has nothing to do with politics, rather bringing the stations in line with an international practice of broadcasting via satellite, internet, or cable; Azeris have less access to these options than to FM radio.

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Brazil

U.S. Embassy receives suspicious package

The U.S. Embassy in Brasilia was temporarily evacuated and searched by a bomb squad after receiving a suspicious package on December 30th. Authorities have not confirmed the contents of the package but report that no explosives were found and embassy operations have returned to normal.

The incident comes after dozens of embassy's around the world have received similar packages, none of which have proved dangerous.

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Bulgaria

Fake policemen rob supermarket

Three fake policemen robbed a supermarket in Sofia on December 30th, according to media reports. Three men, dressed as policemen and armed with handguns, entered the store located in the Lagera Quarter, threatened the staff, and emptied the cash registers of all cash. While police have not specified the total amount stolen, it is believed to be several hundred thousands leva. None of the staff was injured.

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Gambia

Scottish couple sentenced to hard labor for alleged sedition

A missionary couple from Scotland was fined 250,000 dalasis (US$9,025) and sentenced to one year in prison with hard labor on December 30th after they were arrested last month on charges of sedition against the government of President Yahya Jammeh. The couple allegedly sent emails, which the court claims had intent to bring hatred or contempt against the president or the government of the Gambia. A friend of the couple refuted the claim, saying they only asked people to pray for the government.

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Honduras

Businessman abducted by armed men

A 36-year-old businessman was kidnapped around 6:30pm on December 30th in El Progreso's Esperanza de Jesus neighborhood in northwest Honduras. The businessman was intercepted in his vehicle by several men who forced him to stop his vehicle by firing several times. Authorities suspect the victim was injured during the abduction and blood was found at the scene.

There have been more than 40 kidnappings in the northwestern zone of Honduras in 2008, with the majority reported in the industrial city of San Pedo Sula.

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India

Maoist insurgents to attack ordnance factories

Indian intelligence has indicated that Maoist insurgents may begin to target ordnance factories in Naxal-dominated areas of Madhya Pradesh state, specifically Jabalpur, Katni, Nagpur, Nalanda, Kanpur, and Itarsi, in order to procure weapons and explosives, according to media reports on December 30th. The insurgents are also beginning to recruit young tribal women in Gumla, Chatra, Palamu, and Giridih in Jharkhand state to gather intelligence on these factories. Although Maoists usually target police armories to procure weapons, agencies are warning factories to heighten security against possible insurgent attacks.

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India/Pakistan

Top LeT commander allegedly confesses group's involvement in Mumbai siege

A top Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, captured earlier this month in a raid in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, confessed the group's involvement in the three-day siege on Mumbai, India, at the end of November, confirming the confession made by the sole captured Mumbai attacker to Indian investigators that the assailants trained in Pakistan, according to media reports on December 31st quoting an unnamed senior Pakistani security official. The commander also reportedly said that he was one of the key planners of the Mumbai operation, that he communicated with the Mumbai assailants during their siege, and that the attackers traveled by boat from Karachi to Mumbai in order to carry out their attack. India has continually pressured Pakistan to go after LeT, which it claims was responsible for the siege, but Pakistan has ruled out sending any Pakistanis to India for trial. However, Pakistan has promised to prosecute anyone linked to the attack if it is provided with sufficient evidence. Pakistan's reaction to this supposed confessed will play a key role in Indian-Pakistani relations, which have been shaken by the Mumbai attack.

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Indonesia/Malaysia

Malaysia requests Indonesia help in combating pirates in Malacca Strait

Malaysia has requested help from Indonesia in combating pirates who attack fishing boats in the Malacca Strait, according to officials on December 30th. The appeal for help comes after a fisherman was injured in an attack in early December by pirates dressed in military uniforms. Attacks were once frequent in the Malacca Strait, an important waterway for global trade, but were largely eradicated after Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore coordinated patrols. Despite these efforts, fishermen have increasingly reported that uniformed pirates are targeting them. According to a local newspaper, pirates have been robbing fishermen of equipment and demanding extortion payments of some 10,000-45,000 ringgit (US$2,900-12,900).

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Iran

Students storm British compound

Student protesters who had been demonstrating peacefully against Israeli attacks on Gaza in front of the British Embassy in Tehran since December 27th, stormed the compound in the late evening hours of December 30th, lowering the British flag and hoisting a Palestinian flag in its stead to protest British policies over the Palestinians. British diplomatic security officers reportedly drove the demonstrators out of the building minutes after they hoisted the new flag. Demonstrators also reportedly raided British diplomatic residential units in the Gholhak Gardens area, throwing petrol bombs and rocks, while chanting anti-Western slogans and burning U.S, Israeli, and British flags.

It remains unclear if any foreigners were injured in the attack, but it is unlikely that embassy personnel were inside the building due to the ongoing protests and the late hour.

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Israel

27 Home Front issues strict commands

The Israeli military's home front command issued strict warnings on December 31st, barring crowds of over 100 from gathering in Gaza-vicinity communities, which have been redrawn due to more sophisticated rocket fire. The communities of Yavne and Gadera, and the large city of Beersheba, located about 40km from the Gaza border, are now considered at high risk for attack during the New Year holiday. Home Front officers warned Beersheba residents that they would receive less than 60 seconds of warning before rocket strikes, which were likely to increase, based on intelligence gathered during the Gaza operation.

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Kosovo

Albanian shops burned in ethnically divided town

Hundreds of Kosovo Serbs torched Albanian shops in the tense northern town of Mitrovica on December 30th after a Serb teenager was injured in a street fight. The Serbs gathered on the spot where the boy was hurt by two knife- wielding Albanian teens, setting shops on fire and destroying cars carrying Kosovo license plates. At least three Albanians were injured during the violence that followed. NATO peacekeepers and EULEX police officers have increased patrols in the area.

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Middle East & N. Africa

Mubarak warns that Rafah will remain closed

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak reiterated during a televised nationwide address on December 30th that the Rafah border crossing will remain closed until Palestinian President Abbas regains control of Gaza from Hamas. Mubarak claimed that reopening Gaza would incite further political instability and contribute to the rift between Fatah and Hamas. The announcement will likely increase anti-Egyptian sentiment in the Middle East and fuel further attacks against Egyptian interests in the region.

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Myanmar

Activists arrested for holding march

Nine activists were arrested in the capital Yangon on December 30th during a march calling for the release of pro- democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The activists walked silently through the city holding a banner before being herded into trucks by police, according to witnesses. Media reports indicate that all nine people were members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD), which won a landslide victory in the 1990 elections, but was never allowed to take office.

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Pakistan

Taliban targets gas pipeline

28 Pakistani Taliban militants detonated an explosive device along the main Sui Gas pipeline in Landi Arbab in the pre- dawn hours of December 31st, causing extensive damage to the pipe and suspending gas supplies to various areas of North West Frontier Province.

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Palestinian National Authority/Israel

Gaza grows quieter, but strikes continue

Although Gazan airspace was significantly quieter on December 31st, there were at least two Israeli air strikes in the territory. One of the air strikes hit smuggling tunnels in southern Israel while the other leveled Hamas offices in central Gaza City, but there were no human casualties. Meanwhile, Palestinian militants launched more sophisticated and upgraded rockets into southern Israel, striking Israel's major southern urban center of Beersheva, located about 40km (24 miles) east of the border. Although the projectile did not cause injuries or damage, it is the first time that rockets have struck so far away from the border. The rocket used in the attack was significantly heavier, better designed, and manufactured in China, Israeli military investigators revealed hours after the strike, suggesting that the rising Asian power has been selling weapons to Hamas. Hamas' armed wing claimed responsibility for the attack, and warned that rockets would fly deeper and with more accuracy unless Israel ceased all military activity.

Israel's security cabinet reportedly convened in Tel Aviv on December 31st, meeting to discuss the possibility of adopting a French truce proposal. It is rumored that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert backed a widespread ground operation while Defense Minister Ehud Barak was lobbying the committee for a 48-hour truce to initiate rapid negotiations with Hamas over a durable ceasefire. Meanwhile, some 2,500 reservists and an undisclosed number of regular artillery, armored, and infantry units remain massed on the Gaza border, waiting for a green light to invade Gaza, which would likely cause extensive street fighting and heavy gun battles. Hamas militiamen reportedly goaded the Israeli soldiers at the border, warning them that if they entered the area they would face assured destruction. Hamas operatives have reportedly prepared improvised explosive devices, vehicle-borne bombs, roadside bombs, anti-missiles, and a variety of ambush schemes ahead of a possible invasion. Some 25,000 armed and trained Hamas fighters have reportedly been dispersed throughout Gaza to ambush soldiers and tanks.

While the Arab League and various international institutions submitted truce proposals to both Hamas and Israel in a bid to end the fighting, both parties claim that the package of accords crafted by foreign powers are unbalanced and unjust, misrepresenting the goals of both parties. It does not appear likely that a truce will be signed in the next few days, suggesting that air strikes are likely to continue, and the possibility of a ground operation cannot be ruled out at this time. Any significant Israeli ground incursion would likely spark intense fighting in Gaza and may lead to suicide bombings in Israeli cities by militants infiltrating from the West Bank.

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Philippines

Bomb detonates at military checkpoint

A bomb detonated at a military checkpoint in Esperanza township in Sultan Kudarat late December 30th while police were inspecting a motorcycle. Authorities report that the bomb was hidden inside a sack of charcoal and detonated prematurely as the motorcycle was being inspected. The driver of the vehicle was killed and one police officer injured in the incident. Authorities are investigating whether the bomb may have been placed in the motorcycle without the driver's knowledge.

Meanwhile, authorities say they successfully defused a bomb that was found hidden inside a pillow and left on a passenger bus in a crowded transport terminal in Isulan township in Sultan Kudarat on December 31st. There is an increased risk of terrorist attacks in the southern provinces during the holiday season although authorities have

29 increased security in the region.

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Russia

Moscow cash carriers robbed, casualties reported

One cash courier was killed and another injured by armed robbers in southern Moscow on December 30th, according to police. Unknown assailants opened fire on the cash couriers as they were leaving a commercial company carrying between two and five million rubles (US$68,000-$170,000) in cash, which the robbers took following the attack. It is the third cash courier robbery in December; there were 92 attacks on cash couriers in Moscow reported in 2008, of which only 22 have been solved. Police say organized crime, likely perpetrators of the cash courier robberies, is expected to grow in 2009 amid the ever-growing economic crisis.

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Ex-mayor shot dead

A former mayor of Vladikavkaz, the capital of the southern republic of North Ossetia, was shot dead in his car on December 31st, according to police. Kazbek Pagiyev, along with his driver, was killed after his car came under a hail of bullets. Pagiyev had just stepped down from his position as deputy prime minister in North Ossetia, and had served as mayor of the city until December 2007, when he was replaced by Vitaly Karayev, who was killed by a sniper in November 2008.

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Russia/Ukraine

Ukraine threatens to seize gas

Russian gas giant Gazprom claimed on December 31st that Ukraine is threatening to seize Russian gas transported through the country intended for delivery to Western Europe. The threat was made after Gazprom warned the Ukrainian government that gas supplies to the country would be suspended unless a new contract was signed by January 1st. Kiev has insisted that despite the threat, uninterrupted gas delivery to Europe was guaranteed; a similar issue in 2006 between the two countries led to gas shortages in several EU countries.

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Saudi Arabia

Rumors of civil unrest in Qatif

Police clashed with anti-government Shia protesters in the city of Qatif on December 31st, when security forces fired rubber bullets and dispensed tear gas to disperse between 200 and 300 people who participated in an illegal assembly against the government's apparently idle anti-Israeli stance for the ongoing military operation in Gaza. Eyewitnesses claim that Saudi police fired rubber bullets into the crowd, injuring an unknown number of protesters who were holding up pictures of Palestinian martyrs. A demonstrator who spoke on the condition of anonymity denied chanting anti-government slogans, claiming that the protesters chanted anti-U.S. and anti-Israeli slogans while urging the Saudi government to assist the Palestinians; the protester admitted to hurling rocks and shoes at police who were deployed to end the illegal demonstration on the main street of Al-Qatif.

30 Major General Mansour al-Turki, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, rejected the witness accounts, claiming that they were fabricated. Police officials in al-Qatif denied that any demonstrations took place in the city. Al-Turki cryptically added in his rejection that all demonstrations in Saudi Arabia were illegal and any further protests would be disrupted by police.

Saudi officials have previously lied regarding demonstrations in order to preserve their image of instability.

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Spain

Bomb targets TV headquarters

A car bomb exploded near the offices of a Basque television station in the northern city of Bilbao on December 31st, according to local media reports. The blast occurred minutes after the building had been evacuated following an anonymous warning call in the name of the Basque separatist group ETA. The bomb, which went off at 11:05am local time near the Basque Radio-Television (EiTB) office, caused structural damage to the building; however no casualties were reported. It is believed the suspects stole a car to carry out the bombing, because its owner was found tied up in the rural Arrigorriaga area near Bilbao.

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Sri Lanka

Tamil Tigers will consider peace talks

Tamil Tiger separatists are reportedly considering resuming peace talks with the government, according to a senior rebel official on December 31st. The rebels have been floundering under an intense military offensive aimed at eliminating the group and have suffered a number of setbacks in a more than 25 year conflict. The government, who claims to be prepared to completely eliminate the group in a matter of months, says it will only consider peace talks if the rebels disarm.

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United Arab Emirates

Sheikh bans New Year celebrations

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, ruler of Dubai, and Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates canceled all forms of New Year celebrations in the emirate of Dubai on December 31st, prohibiting all from public forms of merriment. The order was given in a bid to represent solidarity with the Palestinians under siege in Gaza.

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United States

Pro-Palestinian protests reported throughout U.S.

Palestinian supporters gathered in Detroit's Dearborn suburb, New York City, and Los Angeles on December 30th to

31 Jan 03, 2009 Burkina Faso: Anniversary of the 1966 Coup d'État

protest against Israeli air raids on the Gaza Strip. Protesters denounced both Israel and the United States for the raids which have left hundreds dead. In New York City and Los Angeles, protesters gathered outside the Israeli consulates to denounce the offensive and waved Palestinian flags. In New York City, police were forced to separate pro-Palestine protesters from pro-Israel protests who were protesting nearby.

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Venezuela

Venezuela to increase anti-crime efforts in 2009

Venezuela's minister for interior relations and justice announced new efforts to combat crime in 2009, including the formation of 50 community police units in Caracas. The news comes as more than 500 people were murdered in Caracas during the month of December, a city named the murder capital of the world in 2008. Interior and Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami also announced plans to combat the origins of crime.

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Zimbabwe/Malawi

At least 11 die from cholera in Malawi as emergency response teams deployed to Zimbabwe

At least 11 people have died in Lilongwe, Malawi's main commercial city from a cholera outbreak that has infected nearly 248 people since last week, a senior health official said on December 31st. The deaths come despite heightened precautions in the country to keep the disease from spreading from neighboring Zimbabwe, where over 1,600 people have died out of more than 30,360 reported cases. Meanwhile, the Red Cross said in a statement on December 31st that it is deploying seven emergency teams, normally reserved for major global disasters such as tsunami recoveries, to Zimbabwe in an effort to contain the country's worsening cholera epidemic.

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32 Comment Letter: Weiss1-A

From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: RE: EAF NO: ENV-2007-2476-DEIR Date: Monday, January 05, 2009 11:08:40 AM Attachments: KitchingMOTDEIR(2) (2).doc

Diana Kitching Environmental Review Coordinator, EIR Unit City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning 200 North Spring Street, City Hall, Room 750 Los Angeles, CA 90012 [email protected] Tel: (213) 978-1351 Fax: (213) 978-1343 Mail Stop 395

>>> "Weiss, Jordan" 12/31/2008 9:16 AM >>> Reattaching document, to eliminate some inadvertent duplications in the initial submission.

J. P. Weiss 310-966-5754

From: Weiss, Jordan Sent: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 8:45 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Subject: EAF NO: ENV-2007-2476-DEIR

Dear Ms. Kitching, attached is a copy of a letter I am mailing you today. My comments will also be included in our neighborhood group’s response. I have also attached to the letter today’s Daily Risk Briefing from Corporate Risk International, Wordwide Advisory and Information Service (WAIS). WAIS is the leading terrorism and risk advisor to the largest corporations in the world. Much of the information in 1 my letter was compiled with assistance from WAIS. Other information in my letter was compiled from information supplied by Ackerman Group LLC which also supplies multinationals with counsel on a broad range of security issues. I would note for you that the ersatz report supplied by the MOT was compiled by Cannon Street, an investigative firm in San Francisco, which does not hold itself out as having any expertise in the types of terrorism and security risks highlighted in my letter. The problems with its report are delineated in my letter. Finally as I am sure others will point out, you should be aware that there have recently been riots in Israel caused by the MOT ’s newest project there, wherein they are building on an 1 ancient Muslim cemetery (details at http://www.peacenow.org/updates.asp? rid=0&cid=5685 ).

Respectfully, Jordan P. Weiss Senior Vice President Roll International Corporation Telephone 310-966-5754 [email protected] Comment Letter: Weiss2

From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: EAF NO: ENV-2007-2476-DEIR Date: Monday, January 05, 2009 11:07:17 AM

Diana Kitching Environmental Review Coordinator, EIR Unit City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning 200 North Spring Street, City Hall, Room 750 Los Angeles, CA 90012 [email protected] Tel: (213) 978-1351 Fax: (213) 978-1343 Mail Stop 395

>>> "Weiss, Jordan" 1/2/2009 10:07 AM >>> Dear Ms. Kitching this is a supplement to my letter dated December 30, 2008. The following soft targets were the subject of terrorist actions since I wrote the letter.

1. Unidentified heavily-armed men raided UN World Food Program (WFP) site in the late evening hours of January 1st, kidnapping five employess of the international NGO; 2. Four forest rangers were killed on December 30 near a wild-life sancturary in Bhutan, by a group of assailants known to have previously attacked NGOs; 3. Police in Cambodia found a bomb in front of the headquarters of a TV station on January 2d; 4. Five people were killed and 65 others were injured when a grenade exploded at a New Year’s Eve celebration in Antanquez, Columbia; 1 5. In Denmark two Israeli salesmen were shot at a shopping center by a Danish national of Palestinian origin; 6. Arsonists attacked 10 banks and two car dealerships in and around Athens, Greece on January 1st; 7. A nationally televised meeting between Iceland's prime minister and other political leaders was forced off the air after being disrupted by protesters on December 31st. The meeting was cut short after 45 minutes when a 500- strong torch-wielding crowd stormed the Hotel Borg in Reykjavik, clashing with police; 8. At least five people were killed and 50 others wounded when three bombs exploded in crowded areas in Gauhati, capital of Assam state, India on January 1st, just hours before Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram, the nation's top security official arrived in the city. Although police have refused to comment on whether the attack was connected to the official's visit, one of the bombs detonated beneath an overpass on the road leading from the airport; 9. Hundreds of Iranian students clashed with riot police guarding the Jordanian Embassy in Tehran on January 1st, threatening to overrun security cordons and seize the building. Demonstrators shouting anti-Western and anti-Israeli slogans; 10. Thousands of students wearing white funeral shrouds marched through Tehran on January 1st, demonstrating against Israel and chanting slogans calling for suicide bombing; 11. A suicide bomber entered the premises of a Sunni counter-insurgency tribal meeting in al-Yusufiyah at approximately 2pm on January 2nd, detonating an explosive vest and killing seven people while wounding 30 others; 12. A bomb was exploded outside a shopping mall in Kathmandu on January 1 1st; 13. Some 22 people were wounded when an explosive detonated in General Santos around 9:30pm on December 31st. Authorities are continuing an investigation and exploring possible links to an explosive which was found on January 1st in a passenger bus terminal in Zamboanga, also in southern Philippines; 14. A suicide bomber riding a motorcycle in downtown Colombo detonated explosives on January 2nd, killing two people across the street from air force headquarters. At least 30 people are believed to have been injured in the attack; 15. A fire was set and destroyed a Bangkok nightclub on December 31st during New Year's Eve celebrations, killing over 60 and injuring more than 200 people; 16. Authorities shut down the ski resort town of Aspen, Colorado on December 31st after two homemade gasoline bombs were discovered along with threatening notes at two banks and in a nearby alley. Jordan P. Weiss Senior Vice President Roll International Corporation Telephone 310-966-5754 [email protected] Comment Letter: Weiss3

From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: EAF NO: ENV-2007-2476-DEIR:Toulouse France attack onsoft-target synagogue Date: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 10:57:34 AM

Another comment on the MOT, since it does not directly address the environmental analysis we can just acknowledge that it was received and will be forwarded to the decision maker.

Thank you,

Diana

Diana Kitching Environmental Review Coordinator, EIR Unit City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning 200 North Spring Street, City Hall, Room 750 Los Angeles, CA 90012 [email protected] Tel: (213) 978-1351 Fax: (213) 978-1343 Mail Stop 395

>>> "Weiss, Jordan" 1/6/2009 9:17 AM >>> Unknown attackers rammed a burning car into the front door of a synagogue in the southern city of Toulouse on January 5th, according to police. The car, which was 1 packed with a fuel bomb, was set on fire and then pushed into the front door by a second car. Police found a second car containing three more fuel bombs.

Jordan P. Weiss Senior Vice President Chief Tax Officer Roll International Corporation Telephone 310-966-5754 [email protected] Comment Letter: Wizelman

1 Comment Letter: Yamtob J

From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: Museom of Tolerance expansion/Case No.eNV-2007-2476-EIR Date: Monday, January 05, 2009 11:07:28 AM

Diana Kitching Environmental Review Coordinator, EIR Unit City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning 200 North Spring Street, City Hall, Room 750 Los Angeles, CA 90012 [email protected] Tel: (213) 978-1351 Fax: (213) 978-1343 Mail Stop 395

>>> john gir 1/5/2009 10:50 AM >>>

Diana kiching Department of city planning 200 N Spring Street room 750 Los Angles ,CA 90012 Jan /03/2009 Re: Museum of Tolerance Expansion Case No .ENV-2007-2476-ERI

Dear Ms. Kitching:

I am writing to comment on the museum s Draft Enviromental Impact Report (DEIR).

We are very immediate neighbor to the MOT ( Museum Of Tolerance ) and YULA in other words our house surrounded exactly from one side by the MOT and from other side by YULA (Yeshiva University Los Angeles ).I live in with my entire family and my elderly parents 1 in a quiet residential neighborhood with advantage of walk to temples and more , as we and many neighbor wrote about this earlier these massive project with humongous building at 60 feet high very next to our house and in our neighborhood is very

unacceptable and MOT has to respect the buffer zone by all definitions.

Security And Terrorism : In today s world we all know what is going on around us and around the world as well. There is no power in this country which can guarantee the safety of my family by being literary couple of steps away from coming future of MOT project .Even though MOT promising a good security but this nothing close to a guarantees for my family and neighborhood s safety. We do not wish to be collateral damage in a safety of our living space. I can promise no matter how hard MOT and YULA work they can not guaranty nothing at all. This is unfortunately in provision of some religion in the middle east to kill and attack Jews in around the world and this is going around over 1400 years as we can read in book of Nahjol Belagheh and in part for 2 some political gain wich these people aiming to attack and kill in massive numbers . Jewish federation and cultural hall in Argentine,In 9/11/2001in Manhatan Ankara (Turkey).Du gol airport in paris LAX (ELAL) and many more and not too long ago Nariman house or Chabad house of Mumbai India a month ago .

I know first hand of few incidents. There are always human s error and lack of intelligent even in top department as FBI or CIA s. Just recently LAPD limited the numbers of officers in WEST LA because of budget cut less officer means less security in our town. That is why at least the 57 feet or more buffer zone between MOT and residential houses is so important.(I can tell more if is needed).

Traffic: 3 Parking & Transportation this block of Pico Blvd is already locked by heavy traffic many hours of the day 3 Our streets cannot handle the cars and buses from this project. Page 2

There is insufficient parking for 1000 people to be in museum and its commercial banquet facility at one time . 4 They way it is so far many cars as a visitors park in Roxbury every Sunday even though they know they might get Ticket. For No Parking on Sundays.

Pollution:

Expansion of the MOT bring massive visitors to our little quiet neighborhood and more noise more buses and cars which is more smog and much more noise. We are concern about the noise from the events at the proposed cultural center and noise made by people walking and driving early and late around our house and in the neighborhood . Waste and garbage remains for a week causing nasty smell and brings animals and insects in and around our house already and MOT expansion bring much more of this type of pollutions to and around our house. The YULA at the east wings of the MOT already planning to build a huge gymnasium witch is a non stop 5 noise pollution whole day long . I believe we have every right to stop the MOT expansion just the noise alone taking away our rest and sleep witch is very important for my elderly parents . Last year the MOT started having face lift project to renew and update decoration of the museum and it took more than 8 months of noise dust and pollution from early in the morning to late afternoon and that was just a little decoration. I do not believe my elderly parents can survive this one ,a huge building to be build few steps away from our windows which takes at least close to two years of construction and heavy noise pollution and dust.. Please Stop The expansion of MOT. MOTcan always be build but in a more suitable place which is not nowhere close to a residential home with step away from a bedrooms windows of our house. 6 Please respect our Buffer zone . Please hear us.

Johnny Yamtob 1428 S Roxbury Dr Lo Angeles ,Ca 90035 Comment Letter: Yamtob M

From: Diana Kitching To: Lynn Kaufman; Subject: Fwd: objection on meusum of tolerance plan Date: Tuesday, January 06, 2009 7:54:48 AM

Diana Kitching Environmental Review Coordinator, EIR Unit City of Los Angeles Department of City Planning 200 North Spring Street, City Hall, Room 750 Los Angeles, CA 90012 [email protected] Tel: (213) 978-1351 Fax: (213) 978-1343 Mail Stop 395

>>> nader yom 1/5/2009 4:00 PM >>>

Michael Yamtob 1428 Roxbury Dr Los Angeles ,CA 90035

To; Diana kiching Department of city planning 200 N Spring Street room 750 Los Angles ,CA 90012

Jan /03/2009 Re: Museum of Tolerance Expansion Case No .ENV-2007-2476-ERI

Dear Ms. Kitching:

We are closest ,wall to wall neighbor to the MOT ( Museum Of Tolerance ) and YULA in other words our house surrounded exactly from one side by the MOT and from other side by YULA (Yeshiva University Los Angeles ). My entire family and my elderly parents are living in a quiet residential neighborhood with advantage of walk to temples 1 and more , as we and many neighbor wrote about this earlier these massive project with humongous building at 60 feet high very next to our house and in our neighborhood is very unacceptable and MOT has to respect the buffer zone by all definitions. Security And Terrorism :

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5 Please Stop The expansion of MOT. MOTcan always be build but in a more suitable place which is not nowhere close to a residential home with step away from a bedrooms windows of our house. 6 Please respect our Buffer zone .the ideal plan for museum and YULA can be hard time and unpleasant for my family and rest of the residential neighborhood; Comment Letter: Zimring

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