Sorted by date Results 126 - 150 of 237
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher Mayor Jim Clarke and Councilwoman Meghan Sahli-Wells debated an amendment introduced by Clarke to the ban on plastics and polystyrene. The ban is modeled on the ordinance currently in place by the City of Manhattan Beach. The ban would include plastic lids and other plastic items. Exemptions would be subject to review every year. The amendment expands options for exemptions to the ordinance based on economic hardships with an annual review of the hardships...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher The Culver City Council will be discussing the various options and regulations regarding the legal cultivation, sale and use of marijuana within the city limits of Culver City. In November the voters approved Proposition 64 which allows the adult use of marijuana. The discussion of Options available to the city under the 2015 Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act and the Adult Use of Marijuana Act will be discussed with direction to the city manager to...
Westfield Culver City was once a dangerous place to shop. Formerly known as the Fox Hills Mall, it appeared in movies featuring gang members. The transit center for buses was located in front of the site where May Company once stood. Patrons feared visiting the restroom. Crime was rampant. All that changed with the renovation of the shopping center, increased security and a more upscale image and clientele helped dropped the crime rate. Yet on November 16 shortly after noon a 90 year old man...
Already a major owner of Culver City and Westside Real Estate, Hackman Capital Partners, LLC, a Los-Angeles-based real estate investment firm, announced the company has acquired, through an affiliate, the rights to purchase and develop the 1.16-acre site located at 9300 Culver Boulevard, directly adjacent to The Culver Studios, in the City's vibrant downtown center. The four-story, mixed-use development will offer approximately 116,000 square feet of rentable space-46,000 square feet of retail...
The Culver City Council voted 5-0 to direct city staff to prepare an ordinance banning single-use polystyrene containers, also known as Styrofoam and other utensils at local restaurants. Polystyrene is a petroleum based product that is used to make hard plastics or "expanded" by joining together small beads to create the finished product. The council declined a move to ban retail stores from selling hard plastic ware, including cups, plates, cutlery and the like. Should Culver City approve the...
The new California State elections code requires local elections with poor voter turnouts to consolidate their election with the next statewide election. For the Culver City Unified School District, which had a meager turnout of 13.98% in the last election, the 2017 election will be cancelled and rescheduled with the statewide general election in November 2018. This will effectively extend the terms of board members Dr. Steven M. Levin, Katherine Paspalis, Esq. and Susanne Robins an additional...
Fidel Castro, Dictator of Cuba, died last Friday after over 50 years of death and destruction of Cuba. On Monday Culver City Congresswoman Karen Bass issued the following statement from her Washington D.C. office regarding the passing of Fidel Castro. “As Cuba begins nine days of mourning, I wish to express my condolences to the Cuban people and the family of Fidel Castro. The passing of the Comandante en Jefe is a great loss to the people of Cuba. I hope together our two nations will c...
With Culver City’s overwhelmingly Democratic advantage in voter registration it was no surprise that Hillary Clinton captured almost 81 percent of the vote to a mere seven percent for Donald Trump in the city, besting the new President Elect by 5.6 to 1. This compares to the election of 2012 when President Barack Obama received 15,809 votes to 3,978 for Republican Mitt Romney. Turnout was substantially lighter with 53.8 percent voting this year versus 81% in 2012. The United States Senate s...
Culver City voters approved a measure in Tuesday's election to increase property taxes to comply with federal mandates to clean storm water runoff. Almost 74 percent of the voters agreed to the tax hike. The voters however overwhelmingly rejected a to place the hiring and firing of the Police Chief and Fire Chief under the control of the City Manager. That authority will remain with the city council. A charter review committee made recommendations to the voters 10 years ago to transfer city...
If you can get past the Presidential Election and the 17 statewide propositions on the ballot, Culver City faces several important decisions in Tuesday's election. First and most importantly is the measure called the Culver City Safe/Clean Water Protection Measure (CW). According to the ballot argument it is meant to protect public health/groundwater supplies and prevent toxins and pollutants from contaminating local waterways, creeks and beaches, by improving storm drains/infrastructure to...
The Culver City City Council voted Monday night to sue the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) over the agency’s plan to refigure air traffic over Southern California. The FAA contends that the project called Southern California Metroplex will upgrade decades-old air traffic procedures by moving flight patterns from ground based radar to newer satellite navigation. The FAA contends it will reduce skyway congestion, carbon emissions and, in some cases, noise. At its Monday meeting,Culver C...
Ever since SONY Pictures Entertainment arrived in Culver City more than 30 years ago they have held community involvement and participation at the highest level. They have donated time and money to Culver City schools, projects and important community causes. They contribute and are a major sponsor of the Fiesta La Ballona every year and executives and employees of Sony have even gone to work painting schools. Chamber of Commerce President Steven Rose commented in his weekly report, "Sony set a...
More than 1200 local residents marched in the Centennial Parade last Saturday to the delight of onlookers. Police cruisers, motorcycles and fire trucks were mixed in with scouts, schools, floats, clubs and local organizations, dignitaries and the Culver City High marching band. The parade began near Veteran’s Park and ended just past city hall. Culver City resident and businessman Mike Cohen announced the groups as they passed by the reviewing platform in front of city hall. The parade was f...
A 33-year-old man was killed and his eight-year-old son was injured on Saturday when a car, allegedly stolen in Santa Monica, crashed into a vehicle driven by the victim. The car was being pursued by Culver City Police at the time of the crash. The victim, Jorge Banda, was pronounced dead at the scene. His son was transported to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. The chase and subsequent crash started at approximately 11 am as officers from the Culver City Police Department...
Just weeks after reporting the closing of several downtown Culver City restaurants two more restaurants have closed. East Borough, a Vietnamese restaurant closed several weeks ago and Sāmbār, has also closed. Chef Akasha Richmond, who owns the successful Akasha Restaurant, will be replacing the Indian food eatery with a restaurant that will feature Italian faire. This follows the closing of Bottlerock, Native Foods, Chopped Daddy, Which Wich, Lyfe Kitchen and Picnic L.A. Picnic L.A. only l...
C3 Sunshine Camp, a summer camp along with an after school program, was run by Camp Director Adan Pulido, who works under a contract with the Culver City Parks and Recreation Department. Dozens of parents with children in the program appeared before the city council on Monday to protest his abrupt firing by Parks and Recreation Dept. Director Dan Hernandez several weeks ago. Allegedly Pulido had a dispute with an unnamed city employee for using a storage room at the Stone House in Lindberg Park...
C3 Sunshine Camp, a summer camp along with an after school program, was run by Camp Director Adan Pulido, who works under a contract with the Culver City Parks and Recreation Department. Dozens of parents with children in the program appeared before the city council on Monday to protest his abrupt firing by Parks and Recreation Dept. Director Dan Hernandez several weeks ago. Allegedly Pulido had a dispute with an unnamed city employee for using a storage room at the Stone House in Lindberg Park...
I would like to express our deepest apologies for our web site being down for maintenance. We are back up now and fully functional. The site will be completely updated with important new stories no later than Saturday. I have received many calls and inquiries about the website. I was gratified to hear our reader consider the Culver City Observer website to be the most important source of news in our city. Our staff will continue to bring the residents and businesses the important news and...
The Culver City Council will decide on Monday if they wish to put a parcel tax on the November ballot for voters to approve or reject. The 1972 Clean Water Act established the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Program to regulate the discharge of pollutants from point sources to waters of the United States. In 1990 Phase 1 of the NPDES Program established a framework for regulating municipal and industrial discharges of storm water and non-storm water. The program addressed...
Mayor Jim Clarke opened the meeting Monday night holding a moment of silence for the victims of the mass shooting at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Fiesta La Ballona Chair Marcus G. Tiggs presented the plan for the 2016 Fiesta La Ballona. The Fiesta will be held in Veteran’s Park on August 26, 27 and 28th. The Fiesta has carnival rides, food booths and trucks, exhibiters, live entertainment, beer and wine garden, and roving entertainers. Councilman Thomas Small called the Fiesta a ...
The car belonging to the Gunman who shot Professor William Klug at UCLA last Wednesday was found on Washington Place in Culver City. Mainak Sarkar reportedly shot and killed his wife in Minnesota then drove to Culver City where he dumped his car in the neighborhood where he lived in the Culver City area. Police believe he walked down to Sepulveda Blvd where he took Culver CityBus Line 6 up Sepulveda Blvd to UCLA where he shot the professor and then turned the gun on himself and committed...
Culver City got a surprise last Friday as the Bernie Sanders juggernaut rolled through the city on his way to a private meeting in the Hayden Tract. Obviously craving some coffee, the Sanders SUVs loaded with Secret Service agents and a CHP motorcycle escort pulled up in front of Tanner's Coffee on Sepulveda Blvd. Tanner's is next door to the offices of the Culver City Observer. Bernie and his Secret Service escort disappeared inside the popular coffee shop for about 15 minutes after which...
The 13th Annual Culver City Car Show was a rousing success despite two major changes. First, the passing of Car Legend George Barris "The King of Kustomizers" who was a perennial figure at the show named after him. Second, the weather, each year the visitors are subject to the hottest day in spring. This year however the organizers were concerned about a rainout. The clouds gathered and dumped rain on other parts of the Southland but the show was spared with little more than a morning drizzle...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher With the counting of more than 1,000 mail-in and provisional ballots, the numbers for each candidate went up but the final result did not change, Meghan Sahli-Wells was elected to a second term while newcomers Thomas Small and Goran Eriksson will join her on the City Council. There are still 288 ballots to be counted. However, those are not enough to change the outcome. The current vote total as reported is: Megan Sahli-Well 3,631 Thomas Small 2,316 Goran...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher With over 1300 mail-in and provisional ballots yet to be counted, the city clerk has issued preliminary results but not a final vote total from the April 12 City Council election. City Clerk Martin Cole convened an election canvassing committee on Thursday, made up of himself and three city staff members to begin processing the uncounted ballots in the Mike Balkman Council Chambers. As required by state law, absentee ballots will be accepted until Monday,...
