We told you last year that Long Beach Museum of Art wasn’t doing all that well paying off the $3 million construction bond floated in 1999 to pay for its awesome new gallery space.

Specifically, I wrote then that LBMA was making interest-only payments, and that the revenue from those electronic freeway billboards–the ones they haven’t put in yet–could help pay off the debt.

Now, from LBReport.com, comes word that the Budget Oversight Committee–chaired by Third District Councilman Gary DeLong, and featuring Fourth District Councilman Patrick O’Donnell–talked yesterday about possibly selling some of LBMA’s assets.

Here’s DeLong at yesterday’s committee meeting, from LBReport.com. He’s addressing the city’s Director of Financial Management Lori Ann Farrell:

“I had heard that while we’re looking for the Museum of Art to create a plan, and hopefully a good one, but if for some reason if it wasn’t one the City is comfortable with, the City’s plan would be to indicate to sell some of their assets to make the payment, that we weren’t looking for any General Fund allocation. Are you aware of that or can you elaborate on that?”

And here’s Farrell’s response:

“There are a number of options that are currently being considered, that being one of the many options under consideration.”

Um, yikes! The way museum folk explained it to me most recently, was that they’d “give” their new building back to the city if they had to, to service the debt–but that it would still remain an LBMA gallery.

I wonder how selling some of LBMA’s assets squares with this. Regardless of how you feel about teapots–or, say, portraits, the subject of one of its more recent shows–every show and every bad show LBMA has ever had is just that: an exhibition. A temporary art installation (even Child, its yaller sculpture outside).

LBMA is still, hands-down the best museum space in the city of Long Beach (sorry MOLAA, you’re second)–and if you don’t know the reasons why, I can provide them, but let me just say: they’re very, very obvious.

Let’s hope that we always have a Long Beach Museum of Art–even if, maybe, it becomes the Pepsi Presents the Long Beach Museum of Art. Wonder if branding and product placement is something the city’s considering?

Another thing that’s worth throwing out there: no matter how you feel about billboards along the freeway (and I’m not entirely a fan myself) if they paid for LBMA–well, we’d still have LBMA, and it’s gorgeous.

We’d have billboards on the freeway–but we’d have LBMA too. I’m just saying.

Tags: Budget Oversight Committee, California, debt service, Director of Financial Management Lori Ann Farrell, electronic freeway billboards, Fourth District Councilman Patrick O'Donnell, Long Beach, long beach museum of art, Museum of Latin American Art, Southern California, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas, Third District Councilman Gary DeLong