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Council Approves Predictable Budget The Drama of Recent Years Is Missing The 2013-2014 Culver City budget was adopted Monday night but compared to the drama of recent years, when the Council had to approve major cuts and layoffs, the budget came and went without much fuss at all. Chief of Finance Jeff Muir said in his opening statement that there was “nothing significant about the report.” He noted that the budget had been presented on May 13, while June 3 and 4 had seen presentations by the var...
Culver’s New Mayor: Jeff Cooper Sahli-Wells Becomes Vice Mayor Culver City’s new Mayor is Jeffrey Cooper; the Vice Mayor is Meghan Sahli-Wells. The new leaders of the City Council were chosen at Monday night’s Council meeting. The Mike Balkman Council chamber was filled to capacity with people who wanted to see the changeover. Some of them also wanted to voice their opinions to the Council. Public comment saw no less than 17 speakers, sounding off on issues ranging from plastic bag dispo...
It Also Approves Six Summer Concerts Good things came in sixes at April 8’s City Council meeting, where the Council chose six members for the new Finance Advisory Committee and also approved six concerts for the summer concert series at City Hall courtyard. Finance Advisory Committee members include three residents, three business members, as well as three members appointed rather than elected by the Council. The three resident members are Crystal Alexander, Alejandro Lara, and Steven R...
Excitement is building for CicLAvia on Sunday, April 21 as we anticipate being able to welcome more than 10,000 participants to the Culver City Hub. Our event committee is hard at work at planning for the large number of visitors and everything that is needed - traffic control, signage, bike repair facilities, bike valet, first aid station, info booths and, least we forget, porta-potties. We plan on having live entertainment and all of our downtown restaurants and shops will be open for business. And business will be booming. The City of...
Some Will Affect Culver City A City Council subcommittee has been at work these past few months, studying proposed state and federal legislation. At the City Council meeting Monday night the subcommittee, composed of Council members Jim Clarke and Meghan Sahli-Wells, presented the first in an ongoing series of reports to keep the Council briefed on upcoming legislation. “We felt it was important for the city to take a position on legislative issues that have an impact on the city,” said Clarke....
March 15, 2013 Community Development Department - XAP - Work has been completed on a 12,675 square feet office tenant improvement located at 100 Corporate Pointe. - Hayden Higuera Properties, LLC – A Building Permit has been issued for a new five-level parking garage with 556 spaces, located at 8550 Higuera Street. · Conjunctive Points Properties II, LP – Plans have been submitted for a 20,363 square foot tenant improvement of an existing two-story commercial space, located at 3960 Ince Boulevard. - Veterinary Cancer Group – Plans have been a...
I am writing to ask for your personal financial assistance in underwriting a Culver City Hub during the upcoming CicLAvia. Here are the details: On Sunday, April 21, from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. the City of Los Angeles will be hosting its sixth CicLAvia. CicLAvia, is a one-day event in which long stretches of city streets are closed to vehicles so that bicyclists, roller skaters, skateboarders, joggers and walkers can use them. It is not a race but an opportunity to leisurely enjoy touring various neighborhoods. People start and stop at any point...
Meeting In Sacramento Produces Results Mayor Andrew Weissman may have felt himself to be in a bit of a daze when he was seated at Monday’s City Council meeting. He had just returned from Sacramento, where, accompanied by City Manager John Nachbar and Community Development Director Sol Blumenfeld, he met with the State Department of Finance’s budget subcommittee to talk about how the “winding down” of Redevelopment Agencies was affecting Culver City. Reporting on the subcommittee meeting...
“When the walls come tumblin’ down” by John Mellencamp blared in the background as West Los Angeles College President Nabil Abu-Ghazaleh swung a sledge hammer to put the first hole in one of the 43-year-old “temporary” buildings that will be demolished in the coming weeks. On December 11, West held a “Demolition Bash” to bid farewell to dilapidated bungalows, which until recently, housed various student services and classes. Student Services, science and other classrooms are now housed in new, multi-story, LEED-certified buildings with digital...
Culver To Follow County-Wide Trend “It’s going to be an anticlimactic discussion,” was Mayor Andrew Weissman’s assessment of the City Council’s reaction to an action item on regulation of plastic bags in Culver City. And it was somewhat anticlimactic, as the Council agreed unanimously on directing staff to draft an ordinance modeled on the Los Angeles County ordinance—banning use of single-use plastic bags in retail businesses and charging ten cents for each paper bag used. The unsurprisin...
The Culver City Education Foundation (CCEF) held its annual gathering acknowledging the generosity of major donors to the Foundation ($1,000 and above) on November 13 at the Akasha Restaurant. More than 85 business and community members attended the Breakfast, including City Manager John Nachbar, City Council members Vice Mayor Jeff Cooper, Jim Clarke and Mehgan Sahli-Wells and School Board members Laura Chardiet and Nancy Goldberg. Superintendent Dave LaRose defined a Benefactor as a “helper”, and thanked the attendees for the enormous impact...
Public Hearing are Planned The City Council has taken the first step toward development of the Washington National Transit Oriented Development (TOD) zone surrounding the Culver City Expo Line station. An ordinance was introduced at the Council meeting Monday night that will amend the Culver City zoning map to allow development of the site, known as the “Triangle Site,” where Washington, National, and Venice Boulevards intersect. “Working with CalTrans and the City of Los Angeles, we’ve been abl...
October 26 · Measure Y - The City Council is asking voters in Culver City to consider enacting a temporary local sales tax of one-half cent, which would automatically expire after 10 years, in order to provide funding for essential local services at current levels. Prescription medicine and food purchases would be exempt from the sales tax. . If you would like to find out more about Measure Y and the City’s efforts to address budget concerns, please visit www.culvercity.org. Community Development Department · Westfield Culver City – A permi...
Mayor Andy Weissman and councilmember Jim Clarke finished their city-wide tour by sitting down with residents of Raintree to discuss Measure Y. Measure Y, the half-cent City sales tax to maintain essential Culver City services such as 911 emergency responses, paramedics, police and fire protection, as well as funding for sidewalk and street repairs, parks, senior and after-school programs, is on the November 6 ballot for Culver City residents. “Measure Y is absolutely the most important item on the November ballot,” said Weissman. “Ma...
Council Considers Bike Sharing Program Monday’s City Council meeting seemed as green as the paper used for its agenda, with green transit the main focus. Topics ranged from speakers in public comment talking about walking to school to ease traffic, to Council member Mehaul O’ Leary giving a brief report on a group opposed to the building of Phase Two of the Expo Line, to the Council’s consideration of participating in the Westside Cities Council of Government Bike Share Program (WSCCOG). Bike sh...
Activists React with Skepticism On Tuesday night, about 200 community members and elected officials gathered at the Knox Presbyterian Church in Ladera Heights to hear PXP (Plains Exploration and Production)’s long-awaited report on the effects of hydraulic fracturing (also known as fracking.) The report, which became available to the public online on October 10 (www.Inglewoodoilfield.com), stated that in areas such as groundwater, seismic disturbance, and health risks, hydraulic fracturing did n...
Realizing the import of Measure Y, more than 225 concerned residents came to Vet’s Park for the Yes on Measure Y Walk this past Saturday. Mayor Andy Weissman got things started with an inspirational talk and Vice Mayor Jeff Cooper explained the importance of Measure Y, saying “Measure Y is the half-cent city sales tax on the ballet in November. If it passes, Measure Y will help maintain essential Culver City services such as 911 emergency responses, paramedics, police and fire protection. While adding just five cents to a $10 purchase, Mea...
Focus Will Be On Measure Y Funds Last week the City Council rejected the idea of a citizens’ advisory committee on fracking. But Monday night the Council approved the formation of another citizens’ committee--a finance advisory committee that would primarily have the responsibility of overseeing the use of funds accruing from the sales tax that will be enacted if Measure Y passes. The Council’s direction to city staff is to create a committee of no more than nine members. Three members will...
With jobs and salaries on the line it came as no surprise that Culver City’s municipal unions have made sizable donations to the Culver City sales tax increase known as Measure Y. The committee, known as the Committee to Save Our Services; Yes on Measure Y, had received $6,769.95 in contributions as of September 30. The largest contribution was from the Culver City Employees’ Association Political Action Committee (PAC), which donated $1000, followed by the Culver City Firefighters for Qua...
At Least For Now The idea of a citizens’ advisory committee on fracking-the controversial technique of accessing oil from rock via water pressure-was discussed by the City Council at its Monday night meeting-but the Council declined at this time to create such a committee. Meghan Sahli-Wells was the sole Council member in favor of forming a citizens’ committee. Noting that she had served on several similar committees and found them to be useful tools for getting information on issues, she sta...
City Council Receives Update Culver City residents have heard that West Nile Virus is active in the Culver City area. The unusually hot and muggy summer weather has triggered a rise in the positive indicators of the disease (dead birds, dead squirrels, sentinel flocks, and mosquitoes) compared to 2011. At Monday’s City Council meeting, at the request of Council member Jim Clarke, Elena Sweda Neff and Robert Saviskas of the Los Angeles County West Vector and Vector-Borne Disease Control D...
City Manager's Update August 17, 2012 Community Development Department - George Schlatter Productions – A television film production has been issued a permit to renovate a building located at 8476 Stellar Drive. - HQ Development - Plans have been approved for improvements for office buildings located at 9950 Jefferson Boulevard: Building 1: Core and shell improvements to existing two-story building to include demolition of existing non-load bearing interior partitions, demolition of existing entry canopy, and new exterior windows. Building 2...
Council Delays Fracking Symposium At its meeting Monday night the Culver City Council rejected a request to endorse a symposium on the controversial practice of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) that would have been scheduled for August 4. However, the Council did not rule out approval of a symposium for a future date after PXP (Plains Exploration and Production) Oil Company completes its promised study of fracking. The request was made by anti-fracking activist Tom Camarella, who was seeking...
Half-Cent Sales Tax Goes On Ballot This November, in addition to Governor Brown’s state sales tax measure, voters in Culver City will be saying yes or no to a local measure that would place a one-half cent sales tax on merchandise sold in Culver City. The resolution to place this measure, which contains a ten-year sunset clause, on the November ballot was passed unanimously at the City Council meeting Monday night. The Council also passed a resolution declaring that a financial emergency e...
Council Hears From Residents In a continuing series of City Council meetings at neighborhood venues, the Monday night meeting was held at Linwood Howe Elementary School in order to engage community members and the Council in a dialogue on the budget. Chief Financial Officer Jeff Muir presented a PowerPoint summary of the 2012-2013 budget, showing that expenses are exceeding incoming revenue and cuts to services and staff look inevitable unless there can be some new source of revenue in the form...
