Apathetic Youth? Culver City Students Register Their Interest in Local Election

Nicole Martin and Emily Wood

Students and parents packed into the Ivy Substation on the evening of March 14 for a chance to get to know Culver City candidates for the city council before the upcoming election on April 10. The event, formally called Ask 2 Know, was a forum for students ages K-12 organized by Michelle Mayans to advance her goal of getting more young people involved in politics.

Students, the majority of whom were CCHS seniors, had the opportunity to ask candidates questions regarding a variety of issues important to them, including LGBT rights, environmental policies and innovations, the CCPD, and budget cuts. To begin, the 6 candidates, Jim Clarke, Scott Malsin, Stephen Murray, Mehaul O’Leary, Megan Sahli-Wells, and Andrew Weissmen were each given 2 minutes for opening statements...and also to explain their pizza choices (bought for the event in honor of Pi Day). Weissman explained that he chose LaRocco’s “the works pizza” because he was willing to work with everyone, and Murray commented, “it was pretty good, right?...sort of like my campaign,” when explaining his pizza selection.

The opening statements were informative, and at times amusing, if a bit constrained by time. Attempting to tailor their speeches to a student audience while still stressing the foundation issues of their campaigns, the opening statements set the tone for the whole course of the forum. Clarke began with a humorous line, “I lost my first election in the 8th grade,” and stressed his experience attracting grants for the city, and spoke of the need for more foundation grants and public-private funding partnerships.

Malsin centered his opening statement around his desire to continue to make Culver City a cultural destination, and how much more difficult that could be now that the redevelopment agency has been lost. Malsin said he hoped to enact zoning changes that could create new parks if elected to office, and reminded students that he had brought Indiecade to Culver City.

Murray chose a surprising message for his opening remarks--a promise to make a 60% increase in spending cuts. It is unclear whether his brutal honesty will pay off with voters, or if the negative tone of his speech will shift votes away from his campaign.

O’Leary explained his immigration from Ireland to the United States, and how he lived the American dream and hoped to continue to make that possible for everyone in Culver City, as well as stressing his business experience as the owner of various restaurants.

Sahli-Wells focused mainly on her inspiration and experience in public activism as a basis for entering city government, including joining the LA Student Coalition to protest apartheid, and her work registering voters.

Weissman said that he was running for city council because he had lived his whole life in Culver City, since 1952, and hoped to continue investing in the community he loved. “I am a testement to getting involved and staying involved,” he said.

After opening statements, the forum opened up to student questions. Erik Bergstrum, a senior at CCHS, asked the first question, regarding environmental issues in Culver City. Sahli-Wells, seemingly the most passionate about environmental issues, explained the importance of a mandated re-usable bag policy in Culver City, and the importance of “green education” in schools. She also elaborated on which materials were truly recyclable, of which styrofoam is not. All of the candidates were in favor of implementing some sort of reusable bag plan: Clarke supported a reusable bag incentive, and would consider a complete ban on plastic bags, Malsin said he would implement the LA bag ban model, Murray spoke of taking it a step further and also banning styrofoam, saying, “I want to make sustainability core to Culver City,” and O’Leary promised that such changes were already being discussed. Other environmental question included what candidates position were regarding oil drilling or potentially fracking in Culver City oil fields. Most candidates seemed concerned with the environmental consequences of such actions, but seemed insufficiently informed about the subject to take a strong position. Sahli-Wells did comment that she found the idea of fracking frightening, especially because of the potential for chemicals to enter the groundwater and watershed (including the La Ballona Creek) in Culver City. She also spoke of the need for more comprehensive testing to make sure that oil drilling techniques were not harming the environment or potentially local residents, many of whom were expressing concerns.

Throughout the forum lighting-round questions occurred to break up the seriousness of the issues, with younger students in mind. Each candidate had 30 seconds to respond to more humours questions, forcing candidates to attempt to provide witty and creative answers under pressure. These questions included, “What is your favorite type of pie?” and “If you could invite any living famous person to speak who would it be?”

However, a majority of the forum focused on more to-the-point questions, such as Marilyn Liu’s inquiry regarding widespread accusations that the Culver City Police Department awarded unfair treatment to young drivers and ethnic minorities. Responding to this issue, Sahli-Wells had the most concrete response, advocating for diversifying the CCPD force, installing cameras in police cars, and the need for data regarding the types of arrests made and the ethnicity of the accused. O’Leary seemed shocked by the clear approval of the question by the audience, which applauded, and said that the council had not realized that the issue existed prior to it being brought up in the forum. He promised to look into the matter carefully. Murray brought up the fact that our CCPD is more costly than that of other comparable cities, and suggested that we audit the CCPD to determine how to make it more efficient.

When asked if they supported the overturn of Proposition 8, and whether they would be willing to make a public statement regarding the majority of Culver City citizen’s support for overturning Proposition 8, all candidates except O’Leary said strongly that they would be willing. O’Leary made it subtly clear that his personal views on the matter were in conflict with the majority, but said that he felt that this was not a local issue, but something that should be handled at the state government level.

Additionally, candidates were asked what ideas they had to improve the traffic and parking situation in downtown Culver City. Malsin pledged to make more effective use of the parking that already exists, while O’Leary offered the idea of charging more to park in the center of downtown, and less in lots further away, hopefully causing less people to attempt to park in the same downtown structures. Murray proposed a Baldwin Hills cross-walk, which he hoped to fund through grants.

Finally, when asked about how they would handle the need to make cuts in services, the candidates offered a variety of positions. “I think we’ve cut enough. We’re going to loose the soul of Culver City if we keep on cutting,” said Malsin. Sahli-Wells proposed raising taxes in order to reduce cuts, and O’Leary proposed applying for more grants to make up for the shrinking budget. None of the candidates gave a clear answer regarding what specific services they would cut if cuts could not be avoided.

The forum ended with closing statements, for which each candidate was allotted 90 seconds. All of the candidate stressed the importance of their specific agendas, and the importance of voting and participating in local city government. O’Leary particularly stressed how important it is for students to attend council meetings in order to bring issues to the attention of the council. Voter registration cards were given out to students eligible to vote in the upcoming election, and students were encouraged to vote in a “mock election” held that evening.

Nicole Martin and Emily Wood are Culver City High School students. Nicole Martin was also the co-moderator of the 2012 "Ask 2 Know" forum.