Sorted by date Results 176 - 200 of 237
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher After city contractors and inspectors crawled all over the Culver Ice Arena last Friday, Michael Karagozian, owner of the ice rink property, has decided to turn off the compressors and shutter the now- closed facility. The family made this announcement through their attorney Nadine Lewis of Pacific Palisades. "It is with a heavy heart that the Karagozian family has decided to decommission the rink that it has owned for the past 52 years," she said. The lates...
Editors Note: this story is updated from last weeks story entitled SMOKING GUN on Culver City Observer's website By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher Prior to the closing of the Culver City Ice Arena last Sunday Culver City officials had informed the Karagozian family, who are the property owners, and Planet Granite, the new lessee, that the property is zoned strictly for ice skating and no other commercial purposes. Any rezoning will require City Council approval and may take many months to...
By Stephen Hadland Culver City Observer Publisher After suffering enormous losses reportedly in the hundreds of millions of dollars in the hyperlocal news market AOL has apparently dumped PATCH into a new company controlled by Hale Global. Hale Global becomes the new majority owner of AOL's Patch local news websites and fired the all of the editors covering the Westside. Westside Patch consisted of 11 websites managed by four editors, including the Culver City Patch and Santa Monica Patch. They...
Planet Granite may be facing an uphill battle in its efforts to bring indoor rock climbing to Culver City. Wednesday night, Culver City officials informed the Karagozian family, who are the property owners where the Culver City Ice Arena is located, and Planet Granite, the new lessee that the property is zoned strictly for ice skating and no other commercial purposes. Any rezoning will require City Council approval and may take many months to accomplish. Changes in zoning will also be reviewed...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher The Iconic Culver Ice Arena is being forced to close its doors after 50 years by the owners who have already leased the property to a new tenant. Currently the property owners are forcing the rink's closure on February 2. Sources have told the Observer that the owners, a three -generation family from Santa Clara County, have leased the facility to Planet Granite, out of Northern California, a recreational company that offers rock climbing, yoga and a...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher Police shot and wounded a man Friday afternoon outside a convenience store in Culver City after he pointed a shotgun at them, authorities said. After receiving a call that a man armed with a shotgun was near the 7-11 on Washington Boulevard and Huron Avenue Culver City police arrived at about 2:30 p.m. and were confronted by the suspect. After a short foot chase the man reportedly pointed a shotgun at the officers. Three Culver City Police Officers opened...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher Saturday will mark the 50th anniversary of The Baldwin Hills Reservoir collapse. The reservoir served as a water storage basin located on a just west of LaBrea Avenue at the top of Cloverfield Road in the Baldwin Hills. It was completed in 1951 by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (DWP) and was built on an active fault line which was subsidiary to the nearby Newport-Inglewood fault. The collapse of the dam was one of the first disasters...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher In an election where no one was surprised Sebastian Ridley-Thomas won election to the state assembly for the 54th district on Tuesday. The district includes Culver City. Ridley-Thomas crushed his two opponents, garnering over 60 percent of the votes cast. Former Culver City Mayor and Councilman Christopher Armenta came in a distant second with 36 percent and political unknown John Jake had four percent. Voter turnout was an abysmal 6.8 percent with less...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher Former Culver City Mayor Scott Malsin has endorsed Sebastian Ridley-Thomas in the special election for the 54th Assembly District seat and has withdrawn his endorsement of Christopher Armenta due to a controversial campaign mailer. Sebastian Ridley-Thomas said, "I'm grateful for the endorsement and support of former Culver City Mayor Scott Malsin in my campaign for the 54th Assembly District. I share Scott Malsin's concerns and interests regarding our...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher Steve Levin, Kathy Paspalis and Susanne Robins were elected to the Culver City Unified School District Board of Education Tuesday night. Karlo Silbiger was defeated in his bid for a second term on the board. While a surprise to many, the seeds of Silbiger's defeat may well lie in his vote not to place a bond for school facilities on Tuesday's ballot and the growing power of United Parents of Culver City (UPCC) which was formed to give parents a bigger voice...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher The shooting at Terminal 3 at LAX on Friday and the subsequent shutdown of the airport and all roads leading into the facility caused massive traffic disruption throughout Los Angeles on Friday. Most affected in Culver City was Culver CityBus Line 6 local and rapid which carried riders on Sepulveda Boulevard between the MetroRail Green Line Station near LAX on the south and UCLA on the north. Culver CityBus officials, realizing that line 6 crossed Century...
By Stephen Hadland Publisher It has become painfully obvious that David James Ward showed up at the Culver City Police Department headquarters early Saturday morning two weeks ago to end his life. No note was found and Sheriff Department investigators have yet to uncover any reason except that the City of Los Angeles was forcing him out of his makeshift home in his van where he had lived for decades just outside Culver City. Culver City Police Chief Don Pedersen remarked, "It is our belief, base...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher The Los Angeles County Coroner’s office has identified the man shot by police officers when he entered the secure parking area of the Culver City Police Headquarters on Duquesne Avenue. He was David James Ward, 66, who police describe as a homeless man who lived in his car on the streets of Culver City. On Saturday morning, September 21 at approximately 7:40 am, Ward entered the secure parking lot at the Culver City Police Department. He followed a Culver C...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher As required by state law, Governor Jerry Brown has called a special election for December 3 to fill the 54th Assembly District seat vacated by Holly Mitchell when she took her state senate seat last week. The election is considered a primary. However, if one candidate receives more than 50% of the vote the general election scheduled for February 4 will be cancelled. Holly Mitchell won election to the senate in the September 17 special election to fill the...
For the past several months the staff at the Culver City Observer has been working on our new website which went live last Saturday. The site is user friendly and all our stories are organized by subject with drop headings for subtopics. We will continue to provide Culver City residents with the finest local news, sports, arts, theatre and movie coverage. In addition, longtime Los Angeles sports writer Mitch Chortkoff will provide updates and commentary on local teams along with the Lakers,...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher On Saturday at approximately 7:40 am a suspect entered the secure parking lot at the Culver City Police Department Headquarters on Duquesne Avenue. He apparently followed a Culver City Police vehicle that was entering the facility. According to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Culver City police officers asked the suspect if he needed help. The suspect then produced a handgun. The officers ordered him to drop the gun. The suspect refused and p...
By Stephen Hadland Observer Publisher Assemblymember Holly Mitchell was elected to the California State Senate on Tuesday to represent the 26th State Senate District, which includes Culver City, in Sacramento. The special election was held to fill the unexpired term of former Senator Curren Price when Price was elected to the Los Angeles City Council. Most voters were either unaware of the election or simply didn’t care as less than 5% of the 433,000 registered voters in the district turned out...
Culver Man Killed in Del Rey Police have identified a man shot and killed in his car as Francisco Ayala-Mejia, 25, from Culver City. Saturday morning around 12:30 a.m. officers from Pacific Division responded to a call of shots fired in the 4600 block of Berryman Avenue and Braddock Drive in Los Angeles. Officers found the victim who was sitting inside his parked vehicle. Los Angeles City Fire Department responded and paramedics pronounced the man dead at the scene. The murder took place just...
Siever Won’t Seek New School Board Seat Culver City School Board Vice President Patricia Siever will not seek re-election to a second term. Siever cites personal reasons and a desire to spend more time with her family as the reasons for her decision. Siever is a professor at West Los Angles College. Five candidates filed for three seats on the School Board as of press time. Filing would have closed on Friday at 5pm, however since one incumbent is not running the filing deadline will be e...
Man Attacked on Culver Bike Path Bill Fournell, a member of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Trustees, was attacked by three Hispanic males who violently attempted to rob him on the Ballona Creek bike path in Culver City. According to reports in the Easy Reader, a South Bay Newspaper, Fournell, suffered a broken collarbone, broken ribs and punctured lungs from the assault. On Thursday, July 19, Fournell was commuting from Farmer’s Insurance office in Mid-Wilshire along the b...
Shuttle Scuttled Sewer Tax Increased over Residents’ Objections The long heralded pilot shuttle service that was to link the businesses in the Hayden tract with the Expo Line rail station and downtown Culver City took an abrupt turn off the highway Monday night when veteran council watchers asked if anyone had bothered to check with the workers in the largely industrial area to see if there was even a need. The motion failed on a vote of 2-2 with one abstention. Council members Andy Weissman a...
Sewer Rates Scheduled To Rise The city plans to increase sewer rates on Culver City residents and business owners at a public hearing scheduled for July 22. The increase will raise sewer rates each year for the next three years with the increases averaging 4 percent per year. The city claims the increases are needed to adequately fund the cost of providing sewer services in the city. Maintenance, operations and capital improvements to the sewer system are provided by sewer taxes. A voting...
Price Vacates Senate Seat Armenta Plans To Run On July 1 Curren Price assumed his new role as a Los Angeles City Councilmember thereby vacating his seat in the State Senate’s 26th District which represents Culver City and parts of Los Angeles. Under California Law, Governor Jerry Brown has called a special election for November 19 to fill the seat. State Assembly member Holly Mitchell, Culver City’s Assembly member in the 54th district, has announced her intentions to run for the 26th Dis...
School Bond Vote Dumped In a bizarre twist the proposed school bond measure was rejected by the CCUSD School Board Monday night. Karlo Silbiger, Professor Patricia Siever and Nancy Goldberg rejected the move to rush the measure on the November ballot. This means, for all practical purposes the measure would not be on the ballot until June 2014 at the earliest. The deadline to place a measure on the November ballot is August 9. It would have taken four votes to place the measure in front of...
Missing Culver Man Found Dead Cause of Death Still Under Investigation A body washed up on Dockweiler State Beach has been positively identified as Jose Muniz, a missing 78 year old Culver City man who disappear from a local hospital after being brought in by ambulance. Muniz, who reportedly suffers from dementia, was reported missing at the Culver City Police Department by a family member. On Monday, June 10 at approximately 9 pm Muniz walked away from a local hospital where he was being...
