City Manager's Update

Community Development

• Culver Village Business District – The Culver Village Business Association held its Second Annual Bunny Hop on Saturday, April 4. Participating Culver Village businesses handed out treats, prizes and specials for children and families attending this family-friendly event on Sepulveda Boulevard between Culver Boulevard and the Culver-Palms Y.

• Hayden Tract Spur – The City and the Hayden Tract Owners Association have executed right of entry forms. The City held a meeting on April 15 to resolve final details related to the Reciprocal Access Agreement and the First Amendment to the Owner Participation Agreement.

• Yalla – Building plans submitted for a new Mediterranean restaurant at 9516 Culver Boulevard.

• Westfield Culver City – Lane Bryant was issued a permit for a 4,417 square foot tenant improvement for a new store featuring women's clothing with fashionable plus-size clothing, lingerie, shoes and accessories.

• Sunny Blue – Renovation on the tenant improvement is complete on a new Japanese Musubi restaurant at 12606 Washington Boulevard. Musubi is a Japanese snack.

• Cannibal – Building plans submitted for a new 2,470 square foot restaurant located at 8850 Washington Boulevard. The Cannibal, a beer and butcher focused restaurant, is helmed by both Christian Pappanicholas of renowned NYC hotspot Resto and Momofuku alum Corey Lane. The restaurant will focus on whole animal preparation and will serve over 450 beers from around the world. The Cannibal at Platform will feature the highest level of quality ingredients, preparation, and attention to detail. Aged steaks, charcuterie and freshly prepared sausages will complement a wide array of seasonally sourced vegetable courses.

• ArcLight Cinemas Culver City – A Building Permit was issued for a 48,081 square foot tenant improvement to renovate a new movie theatre at 9500 Culver Boulevard.

• Grillant – A Building Permit was issued for a new Mediterranean restaurant at 3850 Main Street.

• Kilter – Building plans submitted for a new retail store focused on men's athletic wear at 8850 Washington Boulevard.

• Lady M Confections – Plans submitted for a 6,830 square foot tenant improvement for a new baking facility at 5887 Blackwelder Street.

• Touchstone Climbing – A permit issued for a 24,343 square foot tenant improvement to create a new rock climbing gym at 2537 Fairfax Avenue.

• Westside Brake & Tires – A permit issued for a vehicle repair garage at 4215 Sepulveda Boulevard.

• Craftsmen & Wolves – Plans approved for a new bakery at 8830 Washington Boulevard.

• Park Plus – Park Plus completed a 63-car automated parking system at 8500 Higuera Street in the Hayden Tract. The system consists of 21 triple car stackers and is enclosed in an architectural screening system consisting of corrugated and perforated metal panels with wood accents. An open house to view the parking system took place on April 30.

Included below are some pictures of additional projects under construction.

8770 Washington Boulevard, "Access Culver City" mixed use project, looking northwest towards the future Washington National project location:

Looking southeast from the Metro parking lot to Access Culver City:

The "Platform" commercial project, the east new building,

8824 Washington Boulevard:

The "Platform" project, the center new building, 8810 Washington Boulevard:

This is the rear side of the building:

The "Platform" project new west parking structure, 8850 Washington Boulevard:

The new Sony Studios "Studio Support Building" on the left, and the new production services building on the right:

The Sony Studios parking structure east end addition:

10100 Culver Boulevard, renovation and addition to an existing commercial building for future medical offices and urgent care:

"Marcasel", a new mixed use project: interior of one of the commercial spaces:

The second floor residential level and front façade:

5249 Sepulveda Boulevard, Temple Akiba renovation:

City Clerk's Office

• Community Disaster Resilience Meetings - Ready Culver City, a disaster resilience coalition made up of community stakeholders and city staff, hosted a five week training series called "Build Resilience LA County" for the Culver Crest community. The training was held every Monday for two hours and was consistently well attended. Residents learned how to come together to help Culver City and the region be more resilient to disasters and emergencies.

• Community CPR Training - In support of Earthquake Preparedness Month (April), the Fire Department conducted three free CPR training events. Two were held at Lindberg Park and one at the Teen Center.

• Technical Rescue Training - The Fire Department completed two days of technical rescue training focusing on new equipment and procedures. This training addressed the challenges of extracting ill or injured persons in the inaccessible areas of Baldwin Hills Overlook.

Parks, Recreation and Community Services

• Veterans Memorial Building Activities – The Comic Bug comic book store celebrated National Free Comic Book Day on May 2 at the Culver City Teen Center.

dee-Lightful Productions presents its spring workshop show, Into the Woods, Jr., in Veterans Memorial Auditorium from May 14 to 16. More information is available by visiting http://www.dee-lightful.org/.

• Culver City Senior Center's Ukulele Group – Cali Rose and The CC Strummers, the Senior Center's own ukulele group, rocked the Santa Monica Ukulele Festival on April 18th with a rousing blend of popular songs that kept the audience smiling and singing along. On Tuesday, May 19th, Cali and The CC Strummers will do it again for the Annual Spring Fling at the Culver City Senior Center. This lively show will be a singing and dancing extravaganza. The Culver City Senior Center line-dancers will kick up their heels and the audience is invited to dance and sing along. With sixty ukulele players, it's going to be a party!

• Senior Driver Ombudsman Program – The DMV has established the Senior Driver Ombudsman Program to help all drivers maintain their driving independence for as long as they can safely do so. Tressa Thompson, DMV Senior Driver Ombudsman, will be at the Culver City Senior Center on Thursday, May 28 at 1 pm for a seminar on the program. Attendees will be provided with information regarding public safety and addressing the concerns of senior drivers. Like all of its education programs, this seminar is open to members of the public ages 50 and older.

• Los Angeles County Hazardous Waste Presentation – Los Angeles County residents with diabetes use supplies such as needles, lancets and blood strips which become medical, hazardous waste. L.A. County will be giving an informative presentation on the importance of safely and properly disposing of this waste and where to find safe drop-off locations, as well as providing free Sharps containers. For more information on this presentation, visit http://www.cleanla.com and click on "Household Hazardous Waste."

• Senior & Social Services Staff Award – On May 1 Senior & Social Services Specialist Darren Uhl received a Citation Award at the annual conference of the International Association of Workforce Professionals, California Chapter. Following his local award for his work planning and facilitating the PRCS co-sponsorship of the 1st Annual EDD Employment Forum and Resource Fair for Young Adults with Disabilities in 2014, his nomination moved the state level competition where he took top honors.

• Senior Center Building – New boulders were placed at the Senior Center near the perimeter planters as the first phase of new drought tolerant landscaping begins at that location.

• Fox Hills Park Playground Shade Structure – The shade structure at Fox Hills Park pictured below is completed, and the playground has reopened. The new shade structure provides much needed shade over the ages-2-to-5 play structures.

• Syd Kronenthal Playground Project – The Syd Kronenthal Park Playground is completed, and the Grand Opening was held on April 3h with Vice Mayor Andrew Weissman, City Council Member Meghan Sahli-Wells, PRCS Commissioner Kay R. Heineman, and staff on hand to participate. .

Public Works Department

• Culver City Recognizes the Month of May as Bike Month –The City Council proclaimed May 2015 as Bike Month, encouraging all community members and students to reap the benefits of bicycling as a form of transportation and exercise. During Bike Month, May 6 is recognized as Bike to School Day and the week of May 11-15 is Bike to Work Week.

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) is sponsoring Bike Week LA activities from May 10 - 15 to encourage the community to bicycle to work, school and other destinations throughout LA County to reduce traffic and air pollution. Some of the activities that Metro and its local partners are planning include: Fix Your Bike Day, Bike-In Movie and Metro Bike Night as well as discounts at local businesses. For more information on Bike Week LA and Bike to Work Day, please visit Metro's website:

http://www.metro.net/bikes/bike-week/

• National Public Works Week: May 17 – May 23, 2015 – The 2015 National Public Works Week theme is "Community Begins Here", recognizes that what the City does today is vital to a sustainable and vibrant tomorrow. Public Works plays a key role in the planning, building, and maintenance of infrastructure projects in the community, which allow future generations to enjoy a greater quality of life.

The Public Works Department has made significant improvements throughout the community over the past year. Staff continues to focus on maintenance of existing infrastructure, safety, traffic, parking improvements, energy efficiency, environmental programs, pedestrian access, and bicycle friendliness in the community.

For more information about the Public Works Department and our projects, please click on the following link:

http://www.culvercity.org/Government/PublicWorks

• Public Works Recognized by the Culver City Unified School District - Gabe Garcia, Traffic Engineering Analyst and Charles Herbertson, Public Works Director/City Engineer, received the 2015 Rachlin Partners/CCUSD Superintendent's Award on Saturday, May 2nd at the Culver City Education Foundation's (CCEF) annual Tribute to the Stars fundraising celebration.

The award recognized their leadership and support in implementing a comprehensive parking/drop-off valet program for the district office and Linwood E. Howe Elementary School; the Winter Art Contest and Banner Program for elementary school students; the plan for an added crosswalk on Elenda to improve student and community safety and support for the CCEF Parking Meter Campaign.

• 2nd Annual Walk n' Roll Festival Success – The Culver City Walk and Rollers hosted a "Walk n Roll Festival on Sunday, May 3 at El Marino Language School. The event was well attended, with approximately 60 students from the City participating in bike workshops, skill training opportunities, and fun activities for the entire family. As part of the City's Safe Routes to School Initiative, events such as these are aimed at encouraging walking, biking and scooting in the community and to school.

• Repair Café Event Recap – The Cities of Santa Monica and Culver City held their first multi-city sponsored Westside "Regional" Repair Café. The event was held as part of "Earth Day" celebrations at the Veterans Memorial Complex in Culver City and was open to the public. Over 55 guests and 29 volunteers participated in the event, and 170 individual items were brought in for diagnosis and repair.

The items repaired included desktops, laptops, printers, smart phones, mended pants, shirts, sweaters, coats, backpacks, gloves, fixed air purifiers, fans, bicycles, vacuum cleaners, hair dryers, coffee makers, blenders, CD/DVD players, cassette players, cameras, lamps, tools, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, watches, toys, sharpened knives, scissors, even a sickle and numerous other miscellaneous items.

Thanks to the Fixers who volunteered their skills to help mend many broken items seemingly destined to landfills. Additional thanks to the volunteers who worked as Greeters, at the Administration Desk, or the Refreshments Station. Volunteers were a tremendous help in keeping people and things organized and moving things along efficiently.

• Construction Updates

1. Coastal Communications is continuing directional boring to install new fiber optic cable in the southbound lanes on Sepulveda Boulevard between Garfield Avenue and Venice Boulevard. The work should be completed by the end of the month of May.

2. Southern California Edison will be replacing a vault on Windsor Way between Canterbury Drive and Buckingham Parkway. The work was expected to begin on May 14 and completed by June 12. Traffic control measures will be implemented.

Transportation Department

May 11 through 17 is the League of American Bicyclists' National Bike to Work Week. Each year, Culver CityBus partners with other public transit bus and rail agencies in the region by participating in a free fare structure on Bike to Work Day. Culver CityBus will offer free fares to those riders who board the bus with bicycles and/or with a bike helmet to encourage this alternative mode of transportation, and to promote the use of bike ridership as a complement to public transit.

• Transportation Department Awarded Competitive Transit Grants - The Culver City Transportation Department has recently been awarded $656,492 in FTA Section 5307 grant funds through a competitive process with other transit agencies in the region. Staff secured $320,000 toward the Bus Wash Replacement Project and $336,492 toward the multi-phased purchase and installation of new bus stop furnishings throughout the Culver CityBus system.

In other Transportation grant news, funds are now flowing through two grants awarded to the Transportation Department from L.A. County Metro: a $2.2 million grant for the Sepulveda Boulevard Bus Signal Priority Project, and a $2.0 million grant for the Real-time Bus Arrival System Project. Both of these complex, dynamic "Transit IT architecture" projects are a cooperative multi-departmental effort between Transportation, Public Works, Information Technology, and Community Development, which will greatly enhance the experience of Culver CityBus riders throughout our system.