Sorted by date Results 201 - 225 of 334
While Neil is mostly correct that Fox Hills Residents have been largely unrepresented on City Commissions; his comments that Fox Hills residents have "never" served on "any commission" is incorrect. I served on the Park and Human Services Commission from 1974-1981 and lived in Fox Hills from 1977- 2002. At the time of my appointment at age 24 I had lived in the non-Fox Hills portion of the City my entire 24 years....
Last Monday night’s City Council discussion and vote on the future of the oil field was impassioned and challenging. Anyone who listened knows that my critiqueand questions, for the new oilfield operator Sentinel Peak, were incisive and exacting. The company’s presentation to Council and the public was not encouraging. Their responses to our questions were inadequate. There were compelling reasons to simply name Sentinel Peak an enemy, to go directly and immediately to antagonism, to refuse to...
Republicans want to take away health care from millions of people. The proposed cuts to Medicaid will wreck our state budget and hurt people in our community who already are struggling to make ends meet. Their plan weakens Medicare. It takes three years off the life of the Medicare hospital fund in order to give a huge tax break just to people earning more than $200,000 a year. Their plan does nothing to deal with skyrocketing prices for medical care and prescription drugs. Thank you, Susan...
The press release from Karen Bass on the death of Fidel Castro was not stupidity, rather simply ignorance. Take it from someone who was there until Jan.4, 1961 having lived the first two years of the Castro dictatorship. Thank God I was able to leave and not be subjected to the full 57 years of that criminal monster. No labor unions or political parties other than the Cuban Communist party! No private home ownership, businesses or even jobs not controlled by the government! Did Miss Bass not...
Dear Editor, The Vulgar Herd reared its ugly head, saw the river with the bully-gators, got a glimpse of the elite and them that's with em, standing off to the side, waving the Herd on to the river, shouting "all is well, all is well!" From out of nowhere an old Bull cried, "follow me, I know a better way!" Can life be good again for the Herd? Good enough is great with the Herd. It's a blue collar life they want to get too. Like grandma used to say "Lord only knows what's gonna happen next."...
I bumped into local photographer, Fabian Lewkowicz, on the bike path next to the Pico-Kenter Storm Drain this past Monday morning at 7:30am. I was in a hurry to get to work, but took my ninth annual “trashy” video of plastic pollutants at the mouth of the storm drain in front of Shutters Hotel. Lewkowicz one-upped me heading seaward across the sand, and ended up capturing what would become viral footage of a dramatic “third flush” of the storm drain. As of Wednesday, 11/23/16 at 2 pm there were...
Dear Editor, I was one of the thousands of dedicated volunteers who worked on the Clinton Campaign at the Culver Studios. Once again the city of Culver City and the Culver Studios have done us proud and deserve our gratitude for making the large Culver City Studios facility, as well as the downtown stores, restaurants, parking and services available for our mission. We now have a new mission, and it is one that will challenge all thinking and caring Americans throughout this great nation. Just...
Dear Editor. For your reading edification or disdain, the following will be my votes on the 17 propositions on this year’s California ballot. Prop 51 – Yes: Authorizes $9 billion in bonds for construction and modernization of K-12 schools, charter schools and community colleges. Education is the base on which we build our future, it deserves our funding. Prop 52 – Yes: The Medi-Cal Hospital fee is a current, successful program that saves California money and funds hospitals. It expires in 2018 a...
Dear Editor, I’m wondering if the city made the school district aware of the looming cost of the Clean Water Act when school board members were deciding how much bond money to ask from the community. In discussing how much bond money, local board members failed to heed the voices of the fiscal conservatives in the community, such as myself, not to spend our community deeper in debt beyond what we could afford or was absolutely necessary. Board members decided on asking for $106M including 12 i...
Let's keep our Police Chief and Fire Chief more directly accountable to the people by keeping them directly responsible to the City Council, rather than transferring this power to a City Manager. 1. True democracy holds elected officials responsible for major decisions. Ten years ago the Culver City Charter Committee (comprised of residents from a cross-section of the political spectrum) spent almost a year assessing what form of governance best suits the needs of the people in Culver City. The...
As former Mayors of Culver City we urge Culver City voters to join us in supporting Measure CA on the November 8 ballot In 2006 the voters approved changing our City Charter and our system of governance to a Council-Manager form of government, in which the Council hires, supervises and fires a professional full-time City Manager to run the affairs of the City. The City Manager, in turn, hires, supervises and disciplines the department heads. The part-time City Council focuses on policy matters...
Dear Editor, Do you want to preserve democracy in Culver City? If so, please go to the end of a very long ballot on Tuesday, November 8 (or when you receive your vote-by-mail ballot), and vote NO on Measure CA. If Measure CA passes it would take away the power to hire, supervise and fire the Police and Fire Chiefs from our elected City Council and give this power to a single person we did not elect—the City Manager. For almost 70 years our City Council has been in charge of our Police and Fire C...
Dear Editor: Culver City is an ethical desert due to lack of state-mandated ethics training and City Attorney Carol Schwab’s lax attitude toward ethics. In matters involving factual determinations the City Council is legally required to be a “reasonably impartial, noninvolved reviewer.” Politics and common law bias—“an interest … of such importance [] that it could have influenced [] judgment”—are verboten. At the September 12, 2016 City Council meeting, after presenting indisputable pr...
Dear Editor I was quite saddened to see another article of more of downtown Culver City restaurants closing in the August 19-24th paper. It seems just as soon as they open these days, their gone. By the sounds of it we have yet another “Italian” restaurant to go in its place. I feel bad for the struggling restaurants left that are contending with the dilemma of raising prices to meet rent or close. But even worse when the Downtown Business Association doesn’t attempt to really help with encou...
Dear Editor: At the September 12, 2016 City Council meeting will the City Council express shock, like Captain Louis Renault in Casablanca when he discovered that there was gambling in the backroom? It could. After all, the City Council members are learning from us that: (1) in 1996, the City adopted a Code of Ethics; (2) a copy of the Code of Ethics is not posted on the City’s award-winning website; (3) the Ethics Advisory Committee exists on paper only; (4) Culver City has pothole and graffiti...
Dear Editor: This past weekend I had the pleasure of attending both of the plays put on this summer by the Culver City Public Theatre. The first is "Frog Tails" written by our own local playwright, Eric Billitzer. What a delightful, lively and well acted story. The children in the audience were especially enthralled and engaged by all of the characters, and there were plenty of laughs for everyone. The second production was William Shakespeare's "As You Like It". I have seen this play performed...
Dear Editor, Last Saturday night the Culver City Education Foundation hosted its annual Tribute to the Stars gala. It was hosted at the iconic Culver Studios lot. As always, it was a fantastic event, where the Culver City community came together in support of our kids and the fantastic education programs at CCUSD. The Culver Studios, under its new ownership, jumped right in to support CCEF and the school district. We could not be more grateful to have them as a partner, and thankful for their...
I enjoy your articles, especially, about the pension disaster upcoming, but do have a disagreement with you. You cannot complain about the Korean garment business moving to Texas and yet endorse the three you are endorsing for City Council. Those are the three that have endorsed raising the minimum wage to $15, which in LA City is the reason those firms are leaving LA. And I suspect those three would be the most pro-union, which means supporting the city employees in getting more benefits and...
Dear City Council: I was very distressed at hearing that the strip mall in Fox Hills is in escrow. It seems that there are a few options being considered for this coveted parcel of land. I am hoping for a mixed-use property development, as opposed to a car dealership or low-income housing. Playa Vista was supposed to provide affordable housing. What happened there? We do not want to see our property values dwindle. Many of us enjoy the convenience of having some retail options in our...
We live in a great city. We have high-achieving schools, robust enterprise, and active citizens who love our town and strive to improve it. And we’re fortunate to have seven hard-working, dedicated candidates running for our City Council. Because of her commitment to improving so many aspects of our community, I’m voting for Meghan Sahli-Wells. Meghan has been our dedicated public servant these past four years and has worked to improve many aspects of Culver City. She was instrumental in sec...
Thomas Small is highly responsive to our residents. He's a lovely man, a true collaborator. And he's brilliant. I've only known Thomas for a year or so, but I've made a special study of him. Why do I say he's highly responsive? Thomas has heard from residents how fearful they are of fracking and other dangerous activities on the Inglewood Oil Field. Ultimately, he wants the oil left in the ground. But if the route to go at the moment is regulations, you'd better believe when he's on the Council...
Scott Wyant’s concern for Culver City and intelligent ideas about how to approach its issues did not begin with the recent City Council elections. He’s been a concerned and active resident for the 20 years I’ve known him. From his work for the Education Foundation to the Planning Commission to the Bike and Pedestrian Committee he’s been trying to make Culver City a better place to live long before his bid for City Council. All that prior work makes him ready to go, informed and primed right o...
While the decision to run for City Council is an individual one Goran Eriksson made it very thoughtfully. It’s obvious, when looking at his long, ever growing list of supporters, that he has been encouraged in this pursuit by residents across the city, representing many varied interests and political perspectives. Why Eriksson? What is that special attribute that he will bring to the dais which, above all others, signifies his ability to effectively represent all of Culver City? It’s con...
On behalf of myself and my entire family, I want to thank the Culver City Observer and Feature Writer Sandra Coopersmith for her wonderful article about my Dad: "Judge Harold ("Hal")I. Cherness From Chicken Flikker to Adjudicator" (the March 17-23, 2016 edition). This article touched me deeply and really captured the humanity and decency of a truly good man who I was privileged to have as a father. Thank you once again for this moving tribute to a man who contributed so much to Culver City....
Did you too get a large, glossy mailer from BizFedPAC? The term BizFedPAC alarmed me. PACs promote their own special interests. I googled BizFed and up popped their mission: BizFed - Strengthening the Voice of Business bizfed.org/ Does Culver City need an outside group to strengthen its already dominant voice of business? With upcoming issues of building heights and density, with traffic congestion that worsens each day, with wonderful neighbors leaving because of affordability, do we need...
