The Culver City Animal Services Program -- A Dream Becomes a Permanent Public Safety City Service

Deborah Weinrauch

Theodore Herzl once said:  “If you will it, it is no dream.”

That statement is so true when it comes to Culver City.  Every school, business, house, park, in fact every aspect of life in our unique city began as a dream, and with the work of a caring government and the community, those dreams became reality.

Such has been the case with the Culver City Animal Services Program that began as a dream in 1999.  A group of Culver City residents joined as Friends of Culver City Animals (www.friendsofculvercityanimals.org) and decided that Culver City residents and animals deserved the same high quality animal-related services that residents, pets and wildlife in Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, Lawndale, Torrance, West Hollywood, Hawthorne and many other cities already enjoyed. 

Beginning in 2008 with the support of the City Council and the Culver City Police Department, an enviable local Animal Services Program was created from scratch.  Now if a resident has questions about licensing a dog, loses a pet, finds someone else’s pet, has neighbors with a barking dog, sees an injured or dead animal, encounters visiting skunks, raccoons, possums or other wildlife, Animal Services Officer Corolla Fleeger is available to help. (www.culvercitypd.org/animalservices)

The City Council did not stop with the hiring of Officer Fleeger; they also made sure that our lost and homeless animals were going to receive proper care in a local shelter.   In November 2008 the Council voted unanimously to house Culver City animals in the humane, friendly and clean spcaLA South Bay shelter where the goal is to find a home for each animal.  This has been a win-win for everyone, with the spcaLA providing an extensive and comprehensive list of  services such as humane education classes, adoption events, vaccination and microchip clinics, emergency training, low cost spay/neuter services and much more.  (www.spcala.com)

The local Animal Services Program has proven to be so successful that on June 5, 2012 it officially became a permanent city program.  Thanks to past and present members of the City Council and the Police Department, a dream has come true that has forged new friendships, positive working relationships, helped countless residents, saved lives, and given a voice to the voiceless.  Friends of Culver City Animals continues to serve Culver City residents through education, networking and assistance on a 24/7 basis.

On a final note for dog owners:  “If you license your pet, they will come home.  If you don’t, they are all alone.”  By law, every Culver City pup must be licensed to ensure your dog will never end up hopeless in a shelter.  If you have not done so already, the time to license your dog is today.  For a minimal fee, a license is life insurance for your dog.  (www.petdata.com)

Deborah Weinrauch is the Director of Friends of Culver City Animals.

A Silver Lining for the Help Group and Culver City

Carlene Brown

On Wednesday evening, June 20^th, I went to the Culver City Planning Commission meeting to offer Public Comment in support of The Help Group, a non-profit school who had requested a Conditional Use Permit Modification to accommodate an additional 200 students at their 400 –student site on Washington Blvd. between Inglewood and Grandview.

I deliberately wore a pair of designer sandals I had purchased at the Help Group’s Silver Lining Resale Boutique & Vocational Training Center, the first resale store of its kind providing vocational training and competitive employment opportunities to young adults with autism or other special needs.

What an exciting opportunity for Culver City to put themselves on the map as supporters of expanding such a state-of-the-art educational facility! I intended to convince the Planning Commission of just that.

But before I could offer my Public Comment, a written comment from former Mayor Alan Corlin stung my ears as it was read aloud. Corlin raised the question as to whether The Help Group is a “value added” to Culver City. Corlin disparaged The Help Group’s Silver Lining boutique because “it is of no benefit to Culver City’s coffers.” He then had the audacity to add that “non-profit organizations stifle economic growth!"

Immediately following Corlin’s diatribe, I charged up to the podium on my white horse. After offering my credentials as a passionate professional educator, I announced, “I am proudly wearing designer sandals that I purchased at The Help Group’s Silver Lining boutique, and that school is definitely ‘added value’ for Culver City!”

I told Planning Commission members of the wonderful tour I had been given by Nata Preis, head of one of two schools on campus. “She was so accommodating to Sylvester Street residents who registered complaints about outdoor graduation noise,” I said, “that she planned an indoor graduation ceremony for her school.” I wanted to ask if any Commissioners had visited the school, but out of respect, I refrained.

Congratulating the Planning Commission for re-considering their earlier decision to reject the Help Group’s application, I shared a commencement address quote from Paul Hawken: “Inspiration resides in humanity’s willingness to restore, redress . . . and reconsider. . . . The living world is not ‘out there’ somewhere, but in your heart.”

I held up photos of The Help Group’s 2011 ribbon-cutting ceremony in Sherman Oaks, with the tagline: “AUTISM CENTER OPENS NEW DOORS OF HOPE AND OPPORTUNITY.” Mayor Antonio Villariagosa and several LA City Council members co-hosted the event and offered words of praise and support. “That is the ribbon-cutting ceremony picture I want to see with the Culver City Mayor and City Council members,” I said. “I hope this Planning Commission wants to see that, too. And remember, ‘The living world is not out there somewhere, but in your heart.’”

The Commission did not see what I saw, however, and chose to deny The Help Group’s application for Conditional Use Permit Modification on a 3-2 vote. Commissioner Marcus Tiggs moved to approve the application, and Chairman Anthony Pleskow seconded the motion. The move to adopt a denial resolution was led by Commissioner John Kuechle, whose opening arguments echoed the free-market, heartless sentiments of Alan Corlin.  Though Kuechle’s arguments were expressed less blatantly, they were circuitous, petty, and devoid of real critical thought. Vice Chair Scott Wyant joined Kuechle in knit-picking the report given by Dr. Barbara Firestone, President and CEO of The Help Group. Wyant questioned my assessment that the Help Group staff was working hard to “accommodate” Sylvester Street neighbors. This tone of disrespect toward educators was familiar to me—the same energy I had felt in school board rooms where I given presentations about cutting-edge teaching methods and assessment tools.

The deniers’ line of argument demonstrates what cultural studies professor Henry Giroux refers to as “the ideology of the big lie. . . [that] propagates the myth that the free-market system is the only mechanism to ensure human freedom and safeguard democracy.” Giroux further asserts, in his Op-Ed piece published in Truthout, June 19, 2012, that “Getting beyond the big lie is a precondition for critical thought, civic engagement and a more realized democracy.”

The deniers do not want to get beyond the “ideology of the big lie” to learn the great “value added” that expansion of The Help Group can bring to Culver City, but Progressives do. Progressives value the information I gleaned from the promotional materials I requested—that The Help Group, founded in 1975, is “the largest, most innovative and comprehensive nonprofit of its kind in the United States serving children with special needs related to autism spectrum disorders, learning disabilities, ADHD, developmental delays, abuse and emotional problems.”

Specialized day schools on six campuses in the Los Angeles area offer pre-K through high school programs for more than 1,350 students, employing more than 850 staff members.  

The good news is that The Help Group will appeal the Planning Commission’s denial of their application to add 200 students to the Culver City campus, which will then place the decision in the hands of our City Council. A large network of Progressives who organized to elect Jim Clark and Meghan Sahli-Wells to City Council can now organize civic engagement on this issue, calling forth informed Public Comment in support of The Help Group and calling forth “a more realized democracy.”

The Help Group’s Silver Lining involves much more than a designer resale boutique!  

Carlene Brown is a retired teacher who is currently writing a memoir and a Certified Life Coach.

Expo Line Light-Rail Opens in Culver City

Gokhan Esirgen

Los Angeles and Independence Railroad (Expo Line predecessor) in Santa Monica circa 1880.

 Pacific Electric Santa Monica Air Line at Palms Depot (off National Blvd at Vinton Ave) in 1953.

Expo Line today, looking west toward Ballona Creek and Culver City from the La Cienega Station.

Starting last Wednesday at noon, Culver City is now reachable from Downtown Los Angeles and USC by light-rail transit. Within about four years, the line will be extended to West Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

History

Pacific Electric Santa Monica Air Line—so named at the dawn of aviation in the early 20^th Century because it followed an airplane-like straight path between Los Angeles and Santa Monica—made its last trip on September 30, 1953. It was the last historic electric train operated by Pacific Electric Railway west of Downtown Los Angeles, and in fact it was only second last to what is now the Long Beach Blue Line, which was operated till early 1960s.

The railroad was originally built under the name Los Angeles and Independence Railroad as a narrow-gauge-track steam railway in late 1875 to create the town of Santa Monica, which was established earlier in the same year. It was only the second railroad in Los Angeles—the first one was built to San Pedro. During its early years, it carried tens of thousands of beachgoers to Santa Monica and also served as a freight route. It was bought by Southern Pacific Railroad a few years after it was built and converted to standard-gauge track. When it was electrified later, it became part of the vast network of Pacific Electric Railway, back then the largest electric-railway passenger-transportation system in the world, with over 1,000 miles of track. In addition to the Pacific Electric Railway, Los Angeles also had the Los Angeles Railway, which ran many streetcar lines in the central area. The Pacific Electric Railway system reached its heights through the Second World War but it was dismantled after the war to give way to automobiles and freeways, as the public transit became unprofitable with the people enjoying the convenience of the automobile, new roads, and cheap gasoline.

Technology

Pacific Electric Railway ran various sizes of electric rail cars, from small trolleys to large interurban trains. They operated on their private rights-of-way as well as through street medians where necessary. In the modern day, such rail-transit systems are known as light-rail or light-rail transit. Light-rail is basically an urban or suburban electric-railway system in which the trains are fed through overhead power wires and run mostly at ground level (known as “at-grade”) and on bridges or in tunnels as necessary (known as “grade separation”). In Los Angeles light-rail lines always have their private right-of-way, even when they are running at-grade, by use of fences or curbs. In principle light-rail has the flexibility to run in mixed traffic sharing lanes with cars, which is known as the streetcar mode. (Such a streetcar line is being planned in Downtown Los Angeles.) Note that “light” in light-rail doesn’t refer to the physical weight of the trains. In fact, light-rail trains are very heavy, a three-car light-rail train weighing about 300,000 pounds or more. Instead, light refers to passenger capacity, which is about half of a subway (metro).

Light-rail lines usually have at-grade crossings, where tracks cross the streets directly. Some of these crossings are protected by crossing gates, which come down when the trains are approaching. At such crossings, trains have signal preemption and do not slow down. Other crossings are only protected by signal lights and trains follow the signal lights and stop and wait if necessary.

The subway or metro, which is also known as rapid transit, is the other common type of rail transit. Here the name subway is again misleading, as the trains can run at fenced at-grade sections if a right-of-way above ground is present or on a bridge if necessary. What really distinguishes subway from light-rail is passenger capacity. Subways, unlike light-rail, are almost always fully grade-separated (do not have rail crossings). This allows longer and more frequent trains to be run and subways can therefore carry twice the number of passengers or even more. This often requires wider station platforms and wider pedestrian-access paths to the station. Since subways are fully grade-separated, they are usually powered by an electrified third rail on the side of the tracks, as pedestrians cannot access the tracks. This is in contrast to at-grade light-rail, which is powered by overhead electricity. The disadvantage of subway is the cost, as underground stations and grade separation are expensive. Also, the subway stations are more difficult to access than light-rail stations and light-rail provides a more seamless integration of the transit and environment.

Expo Line

The name was hotly debated, with the other candidate having been the Aqua Line. Expo was named after Exposition Boulevard, which runs parallel to the line in some sections between USC and Santa Monica. Exposition Boulevard in turn is named after the Exposition Park. After the end of the service on the Santa Monica Air Line in 1953, Pacific Electric and later Southern Pacific operated diesel freight trains on the line until mid- to late 1980s. Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority bought the right-of-way in 1990 for future transit use, as public officials and transit supporters had long eyed the railroad for this purpose. (In fact, the line and a connecting branch on Sepulveda Boulevard was even considered for a USC–UCLA line for the 1984 Olympic Games—the proposed “Olympic Line.”) Initial studies were done in early 2000s and bus rapid transit (BRT) and light-rail transit (LRT) alternatives were considered. Despite the political pressure to build a much cheaper bus rapid transit line, a grassroots organization of handful supporters who called themselves Friends for Expo managed to pressure the politicians to build the expensive light-rail transit alternative. After long studies, the line started construction in late 2000s.

The first phase of the line is 8.7 miles long and runs from 7^th St / Metro Center Station located at 7^th and Flower Streets in Downtown Los Angeles to Venice and Robertson Boulevards in Culver City. The second phase will extend the line to 4^th Street and Colorado Avenue in Santa Monica.

The Expo Line runs by Staples Center, USC / Exposition Park, and through West Adams before it currently terminates at what has historically known as the Culver Junction (where the Air Line and Venice Short Line crossed each other at Venice and Robertson Boulevards in addition to another line at Culver Boulevard intersecting the Venice Short Line). The Culver City Station is one of the three elevated stations in Phase 1. 7^th/Metro is an underground station and the rest are at-grade. There are twelve stations in Phase 1, and there will be seven additional stations in Phase 2.

The current running time from Culver City to 7^th/Metro is 29 minutes. Once Phase 2 is completed, the running time from Santa Monica to 7ty/Metro is expected to be about 45 minutes or less.

Metro provides free station parking at Culver City, La Cienega, and Crenshaw Stations. (Crenshaw Station parking provided at the West Los Angeles Church is not available in the weekends.) Passengers can also transfer using the Blue Bus or Metro Bus.

The fare is $1.50 each way. A $5.00 day Metro day pass, which is good on virtually all Metro bus and rail lines can also be bought. Seven-day or monthly passes are also available. Tickets can be bought at any Expo Line Station ticket-vending machine or other locations. While paper tickets are currently being slowly phased out, the most practical way to pay for the fare is to buy a Metro tap card, which has a one-time cost of $2.00. Money or passes then can be added on the tap card. Passengers then need to remember to tap the card at the “tap” locations at station entrances. (For example, even if a passenger buys a day pass on the tap card, tapping the card at each station entry is required.)

Speed and time

As mentioned, the current running time between Culver City and 7^th/Metro is 29 minutes, including the stops at the twelve stations on the line. While this is not faster than an automobile on open roads, it’s more or less typical of an urban train, which needs to stop at many stations. The most time consuming part of public transit is not really the time spent on the train but the time spent going to, coming from, and waiting for the train, which all add up. (Three-car Expo trains currently run every twelve minutes each way during the day.) Nevertheless, many people, especially those travelling during rush hour, will find the Expo Line comparably fast or faster than traveling by car. Many others might find it slower, depending on how they access the train.

Cost

If you’re driving, you will say $$$$ in a year in gas money as well as eliminating parking fees. If you live on a tight budget or simply like to save money, you can’t go wrong with the Expo Line, with a monthly pass costing only around $75 or less (plus $9 for Blue Bus or Culver City Bus if you need it).

Convenience

Driving your car has its own convenience but many can also find taking public transit more convenient. Feel free to read a book or do some work-related reading. You can also simply enjoy the view or even nap. No food or drink is allowed. You can also take your bike on the train.

Future

The first phase of the Expo Line is only part of LA’s growing light-rail and subway network. Another light-rail line following Crenshaw Boulevard and then a BNSF freight-railroad right-of-way is also in works, which will connect the Expo Line Crenshaw Station to LAX and Metro Green Line, which goes to the South Bay and Norwalk. The Purple Line subway is being extended to Wilshire and La Cienega and eventually to the UCLA area. Gold Line, Expo Line, and Blue Line light-rail lines will be directly connected through an underground “Downtown Connector” with several new subway stations in Downtown Los Angeles. Pasadena Gold Line is being extended to Azusa. There are also more lines in the plans.

Will it benefit LA or me?

LA and many US cities are built on the automobile culture. LA is infamously known as the city where (almost) everyone drives (which is, of course, not quite right). This is in sharp contrast to some cities, with more examples in Europe, where (almost) no one drives. For example, I was in Stockholm a week ago, and truly impressed how well the subway and bus system was, how well the bike system was planned, and how pedestrian-friendly the environment was. There were only a few cars on the streets and most people walked, took the train or bus, or rode a bike. People were noticeably thin in comparison to Americans, probably because of everyday walking or riding a bike in addition to eating habits.

LA was the city of transit when it was originally founded. In fact Pacific Electric Railway contributed a lot to the urban sprawl in Southern California. The system was not modernized but dismantled and replaced with the freeway system after the Second World War.

Certainly, times are changing again. We will undoubtedly have more and more rail lines built and more people taking public transit. It will help ease congestion somewhat or at least provide an alternative to those who want to avoid congestion. It will present an alternative way to travel for many and change the character of the city for the better in the long run.

Gokhan Esirgen is a Labratory Director at the University of Southern California and an active member of Friends 4 Expo.

Graduation Day: Some Words of Wisdom

Karlo Silbiger

On Thursday and Friday, I was given a chance to provide some parting words to Culver City Unified School District's graduates.  Please find them below.

Culver City Adult School

I am often asked why I choose to be a teacher.  I am told that the pay is no good, I have to deal with difficult students, overcrowded classes, apathetic bureaucrats, and ungrateful parents.  And it is no secret that this is one of the most difficult times to be involved in public education given the historic budget cuts that have put our school systems throughout California in a precarious position from which we will not fully recover for some time.  It is tough, no question.

However, my answer has for the entirety of my now 11 year career been the same: My parents taught me that a job is not just a job, it is a responsibility to give back to our society, an opportunity to play our small part in the struggle for social justice.  I choose to teach because I believe strongly that our education system is the front lines for the American Dream in our society today.  Regardless of how rich or poor a student is, no matter the education level of their parents, every kid in California is guaranteed a free education, an opportunity to better their stature in life, and a chance to be successful.  Don’t get me wrong, our system is not perfect, our schools are not all equal, and our funding levels provide for harsh inequities between rich and poor communities.  But at least students are given that incredible opportunity.

One of my favorite parts of each year is in June when I get to, in my capacity as a teacher and as a school board member, go to half a dozen graduation ceremonies and watch the fruits of our collective efforts as students take advantage of the education they are offered and move forward to the next important step in their attempts to better their lives and contribute to society.  However, it is well known among board members and administrators here in Culver City that the most moving graduation ceremony of them all, the one that really reminds us all of why we choose to be educators, is the Adult School graduation, the ceremony in which we participate tonight.  The reason is simple: not only have each of you done an incredible amount of work to get to this place in your education, not only have each of you participated in the American Dream by moving forward in your ability to get a good job and contribute to our economy, but most of you have done this while simultaneously holding a job (or 2 or 3) and taking care of a family.  That is an amazing accomplishment and makes me so proud of each and every one of you.  You have sacrificed, your families have sacrificed, and all of that for the betterment of our entire community.

As some of you may know, many of our neighboring school districts have decided to cut back drastically on their adult school programs, some nearly getting rid of it altogether in an attempt to save money.  This is the most short sighted and reprehensible way of budgeting and shows that our neighbors have a lack of knowledge of the proper role of a school district.  Our job is not to educate students 18 years and under, but instead to do all we can to provide those who want to learn with every chance to better themselves, to accomplish those tenets of the American Dream.  As former Adult School teacher John McCormick eloquently put it, “The repercussions of cutting or losing adult education would extend far beyond the staffs and students at the schools. Many local businesses, such as pharmacies, hire students who have been certified by adult school skill centers. High school dropouts return to adult school to get their diplomas. Eliminating adult schools would diminish the workforce. And people who make less money pay less in taxes, they spend less, and they often have to depend more on government to meet their basic needs.”

I’m proud to say that in Culver City we understand the value of adult education and our board has done all we can to maintain a full complement of quality adult school programs available to those, like yourselves, who value self-improvement.  We know that we have an obligation to each of you and I’m proud to say that this board has made good on that obligation.

In return, I am asking each of you to do something very important for us, something that will make this financial sacrifice well worth the cost: Do not let today’s diploma signify the end point in your learning.  Use the degree that you have attained over the past years in Culver City to serve as a springboard towards work that you can do to improve the lives of your family, your neighbors, and the entire Culver City community.  Most importantly, instill in your kids and other kids who you meet the values that you have shown: intelligence, perseverance, and a love of learning, so that they may permeate our culture and improve our community.  If each of you did that, then the investment that we have made in you will come back to Culver City multiplied many times over.  And the next time that someone asks me why I choose to be a teacher, I will have a new list of names to add to my answer.

Congratulations to all.

Culver City Middle School

Good morning.

Go back with me to June 21^st, 1996.  It was a Friday morning, just like today.  It was 10:30 out here at the football field and Culver City Middle School was about to begin their 8^th grade promotion on a steaming hot day.  Mr. Nazz and the band played pomp and circumstance while all of the students filed onto the field.  A few students spoke and a few adults spoke, but none of the students were really listening to what any of them had to say.  They then started calling names and just over 400 students crossed this stage to varying amounts of applause.  It was just like all the ceremonies that had taken place before it and all of those that have taken place since except for one important thing. 

One of the students walking across this stage on that day was me.  I was a pretty self-assured kid, I knew that I wanted to be a teacher.  I knew that I loved music and wanted to study it more in high school and beyond.  I knew that doing well in school and going off to college, ideally far, far away from my parents, was important to me.  But what I didn’t know, couldn’t have known on that Friday morning was that just 16 years later I would be up here on the stage as the Culver City School Board President speaking to all of you.  It is only 50 feet from your chairs to my chair over there, but it is a significant 50 feet.

Graduation speeches have to have 2 components or they are really not graduation speeches.  First they must include a quote from some well-respected academic leader.  I have chosen today to quote from that revered theologian, Michael Jordan, arguably the best basketball player and one of the best athletes of all time.  When asked about why he was such a successful athlete, Michael said, “I've missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I've lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I've been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”  Wow, he’s smarter than those old nike commercials made him seem.

Like every one of you, like the best basketball player of his era, I have seen challenges throughout my life.  In elementary school at El Rincon, I was found to have a speech impediment and given sessions with a speech therapist in an attempt to correct it.  Given that I have a few more sentences here, hopefully it worked.  When I was in 7^th grade I almost failed Algebra.  I was always a really good math student, but once my teacher, Mr. Tobias, started using letters to represent numbers, I was completely lost and failed my first test.  And as I was sitting here for my 8^th grade promotion, all I could think about was the fact that my close-knit group of friends, who had all been together since kindergarten, was getting split up as we were all going to different high schools. 

We all have challenges, failures, things that could derail the trajectory of our lives.  But what Michael Jordan tells us, is that it is only through the attempt that we can chance success.  The person who struggles in algebra, but takes the test anyway is the only one who has a chance of passing it.  The person who misses over 9000 shots is the only one who can score over 32,000 points.  And the person with a speech impediment can be given an opportunity, only 16 years after he himself was a graduate, to speak at graduation.

That brings us to the second requirement for all graduation speeches, they must include a message, some piece of advice that I pass on to you.  Mine is simple: Be like Mike.  Don’t allow your fears to stop the attempt at something great.  Be willing to fail, and fail big, in order to get equally big successes.  And begin contemplating your best graduation speech now, because no one knows which of you will be up here 16 years from now.

Congratulations to all the graduates and best of luck in high school.

Culver City High School

Good evening.

Last month I went to Washington DC to visit my sister, Tania (Culver City High School Class of 2004), and celebrate with her and my family as she graduated from graduate school.  On the second day of my whirlwind trip through our capitol, we visited the new Martin Luther King memorial, complete with a massive recreation of King’s likeness emerging from an ivory white mountain and dozens of quotes (both famous and more obscure) from his many writings and speeches. I was especially drawn to one written in Alabama in 1963 that said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

I am of the strong belief that our society has for a very long time been broken.  Each of us looks out for ourselves, for our family, and for our friends, but we collectively have not yet learned the importance of looking out for those who we do not know, taking action against injustices which don’t affect us.  King’s quote about mutuality and indirect connection, therefore, truly spoke to me.

However, there was another reason why I was drawn at that time to this particular lesson.  The day I arrived, President Obama made one of the most historic statements of his presidency when he declared with little prompting and great political risk during an election year that he supported marriage equality for members of the gay and lesbian community. His decision and the impact that it will have on our country and our politics was weighing on my mind throughout the weekend.

Every single person comes to the table with biases and prejudices that cause us to simultaneously fight for our rights and deny them to others. Imagine a person who has had to deal with a lifetime of religious intolerance and then, when finally gaining acceptance, dares to judge the religious practices of others. Or the member of a racial minority group who after years of struggling for basic civil rights looks down upon the immigrants who are fighting for the same thing. This is natural and widespread. But the smart leaders, those who really understand the long-term impact of their actions, know that the words of the Industrial Workers of the World (the “wobblies”) ring true: “an injury to one is an injury to all.” If those around you are suffering from unjust treatment, then you are suffering too from living in a world that treats people unjustly. The highest form of social activism, in my opinion, is that which occurs when the activist has nothing personally to gain but a better community to pass on to the next generation.

Today, all of you will take an important official step into adulthood.  Today is a joyous occasion, one that should be celebrated.  So why did I decide to leave my happy, inspirational, funny speech at home and instead decide to use my few moments with the microphone to preach a nearly 50 year old message?  Simple.  Our society is broken.  We have 43 million people in this country living in poverty, the most in at least 50 years, but the other 268 million of us don’t fix it because we’re not living in poverty.  In 9 days, student loan interest rates are set to double, causing the average college student to owe $1000 in additional payments and affecting nearly every one of you.  But the congress has not acted to keep college semi-affordable because none of them are themselves a student right now.  As I said, our society is broken.

We as a society have not lived up to the expectations of King’s definition of justice.  But there is hope.  The president’s action last month and again last week in allowing hard-working undocumented students to continue to live in this country has set a model for how the rest of us must live our lives.  Neither of these decisions personally impacted the President or his family, but they were done to alleviate an injury to us all.  We must, all of us, follow in that example if we are to fix the world before us.  Looking out only for ourselves, supporting only what has a direct impact on us, and making decisions primarily based on the personal potential gain has to be a thing of the past.  We, and I’m going to include myself in your generation even though I’m 12 years older than you really just to make myself feel better, have a world to save and this is the only way we’re going to do it.  Remember that our reach is beyond the personal, that our responsibility is beyond the comfortable, that our work is to help those facing injustice, and that our time starts right now.

Congratulations to the class of 2012 and good luck in all your endeavors next year.

Karlo Silbiger is the Co-Editory of the Culver City Progress Blog, the President of the Culver City School Board, and the former President of the Culver City Democratic Club.

Upward Bound House and the Budget: A Case Study in Successful Advocacy

Christopher Patrick King

Culver City has recently announced a series of community forums on the budget because of the short fall created by the elimination of the Redevelopment Agency.  The resulting “crisis” has thrown a number of important positions and programs into a state of flux.  Will programs be funded?  Will jobs be cut?  The Herculean Task before City Staff and the City Council is an important one as it decides how to spend limited resources.

Speaking from my point of view as a member of the Culver City Homelessness Committee, I feared that the tightening of our city’s resources could result in the weakest among us being left in even more dire situations.  For example, the city has traditionally funded $150,000 worth of Rental Assistance Program (RAP) Vouchers through the Redevelopment Agency Funds.  Additionally, Redevelopment Agency Funds supported a contract with the Saint Joseph’s Center, so that this organization could interface with and assist the homeless in our community.  A small amount of funding also went to city staff to oversee meetings related to the Housing Authority, such as the Homelessness Committee.

In April of this past year, I was speaking with one of the board members of Upward Bound House.  We were having a conversation about the upcoming budget discussion, and he expressed concern that the $150,000 of RAP Vouchers would not be renewed.  Members of the Culver City Housing Authority were telling him that these funds were not guaranteed to be renewed, especially given the elimination of their most recent source of funding—the Redevelopment Agency.  As a result, the Upward Bound House faced a tremendously problematic situation: no funding would mean that many of the families they house would be without the funds needed to stay at Upward Bound House.  Culver City was nearing a cliff at which point numerous families would have to leave Upward Bound and literally, become, once again, homeless.

 Upward Bound House is an organization with stringent rules and parameters.  Families living there can stay for only 90 days.  They receive social services, training on how to budget their funds, assistance in placing their children in local schools and assistance in job search opportunities.  The families must save the majority of their income in preparation for the permanent, supportive housing that they will be placed in after the 90 days, supplied by local landlords at market rates.  Adults must be sober.  Children must go to school.  They must actively seek employment each day.

The families who live in Upward Bound House, as the organization’s name implies, are “upward bound.”  They are moving in the right direction.  And yet, the budget crisis took on a poignant face: left without sufficient resources for apartments, these people would be forced to return to living in cars, overnight shelters or on the streets.  The fact that for $150,000, the city is able to supply the necessary RAP Vouchers to help keep Upward Bound House afloat, seemed like an all-too-simple decision to make.  And yet, there was no guarantee that the funding would be re-allocated from another part of the city budget to cover the vacuum that Redevelopment Agency funding left.

 In this situation, advocacy, and partnering with city leaders, saved the day.  In early April, Booker Pearson, one of the charismatic and unflagging members of the board of Upward Bound House met with me at the City Council.  We pulled a card, and asked to speak about items not on the agenda.  We both spoke passionately about the work that Upward Bound House does.  We spoke about the importance of organizations like the Saint Joseph’s Center that interface with homeless individuals in our city.  He spoke as a board member of Upward Bound, and I spoke as a Committee Member of the Culver City Homelessness Committee knowing from numerous reports, presentations and direct experience about the excellent work that these organizations do.  Mayor Mehaul O’Leary and Councilman Andrew Weisman asked that the staff look into our concerns and bring this back as an item to be discussed.  We stressed the importance of handling this issue before July 1^st when the funding would expire.

The next two months included more advocacy, and we did work behind the scenes to follow up and to ensure success.  Both Mr. Pearson and I sent emails and met with the Council Members.  We sent statistics and personal stories.  We were present but not pushy; persistent but not abrasive.  The Council Members seemed to take what we said seriously, and said that they understood the challenges of the budget but also understood our concerns.

The June 4th budget discussions marked the key point in the future of Upward Bound House and the Saint Joseph’s Center for their work in Culver City.  Mr. Pearson and I continued advocacy by email, phone and personal meetings with Council Members in the week just prior to June 4^th.  Then, the night of June 4^th brought what I can simply refer to as a small miracle.

Jeff Muir sat before the Council discussing the newly formed Housing Authority’s budget.  He said that a few changes had been made that had been left out of the original budget.  Before conversation even began, Mr. Muir announced that Staff had included the re-authorization of $150,000 of RAP Vouchers.  Additionally, they had budged for funding to maintain the contract with the Saint Joseph’s Center for them to continue their service to our community.  And finally, they authorized funds for a small amount of staff time to be spent in outside meetings related to housing issues.  It was a complete win for us!  I excitedly sent a text message to Mr. Pearson announcing the great news to him. 

       

The next day, June 5^th, Mr. Pearson brought 20 families and 30 children to the City Council Chambers.   The families he brought to the meeting had graduated and were living in Culver City due to the generosity and foresight of the RAP vouchers .  The $150k was indeed a blessing in that it will enable an additional 15 families move from Family Shelter to permanent housing in Culver City.  The parents and children spoke poignantly about their experience, and gratitude, for behind able to get back on their feet in a safe, supportive, educational environment like Upward Bound.

Members of the audience could not have known the time and work that went on not only at Council Meetings but also behind the scenes advocating with City Council.  We’re fortunate that the result was a positive one, and we’re grateful for it. 

This, I think, shows the power of individual citizens to effect great change through the political process.   Advocacy, when sustained, consistent and sincere, can yield tremendous results. 

Christopher Patrick King is a Member of the Culver City Committee on Homelessness.

Where the Buck Stops

Jim Province
While many have sought to make political hay from the whole kerfuffle over parent funded positions at El Marino and other Culver City schools, the School Board meeting of June 12 was, overall, a decidedly calmer affair that resulted in far fewer fireworks from previous meetings.  The few sparks that were evident came out of discussions of Information Item/Board Policy 4400, “Use of Private Funds for Supplemental  Employment”. Those that spoke allowed that the Board “may not have intended it,” but that the policy effectively “hijacks control,” “redistributesparent resources,” and “kills parent funded positions.” What follows is what it really is.

The document in question (which can befound at http://www.ccusd.org/ourpages/boe//994%202011-12%20(Current)/001%20Agenda/001%20English/2012-06-12.pdf) is the product of district legal counsel and is intended to clarify a policy that many, including this writer, didn't realize needed clarification. Who has ultimate legal responsibility when it comes to employment matters in the Culver City schools?  The proposed language starts by acknowledging the contributions of parent groups and volunteers, then continues as follows “As provided by law, the Board is required to manage and control all District operations and may not transfer that authority to a non-District individual or entity. This control requires that the Board hire, train, and supervise all persons employed in the District and to make all final decisions on employment and termination.”

Despite what organizers of “parent's unions” and political action committees might suggest, there is no war on parent volunteerism. No one has suggested parents cease to provide crucial services to students in our schools. There is nothing to suggest that anyone on the Board hasn't put the  interests of students in our District first. It's common sense that human resource matters in the District need to remain the domain of the Board of Education, and while I'm not an attorney, it would seem that anything short of this unnecessarily exposes the Board and the District to potential legal problems down the line.

Jim Province is the parent of a student at Culver City High School.

Ban Fracking - In the Name of True Progress

Rebecca Rona-Tuttle

I’d venture to say that 99.9% of Culver City Progress readers are already fully aware of the “fracking” issues that became a focal point for our residents last Tuesday evening (June 12), when the CA Department of Conservation came to town with its “listening tour,” or what others called a workshop or forum.

But just in case I’m wrong, let’s start with the term “fracking.”  Also known as hydraulic fracturing, it’s a highly controversial process in which a mixture of water, sand and chemicals is injected under enormous pressure into the earth for the ultimate purpose of extracting natural gas and oil. The pressure causes shale rock formations to fracture, releasing the substances. For the ABCs of fracking, check out www.foodandwaterwatch.org.

Progress: It sounds good. It sounds forward-looking. But plenty that’s been done in the past, from introducing gas-powered automobiles to creating nuclear power plants, has been thought of as progress. Did folks back then consider the terrible consequences that could result from that progress? Here we have another form of “progress”—even newer, more potentially lethal forms of fracking for doing the dirty work of extracting gas and oil from land that ought to stay there. Let’s not allow further harm and regret it later. “Do no harm!”

(Scroll to the end to learn how you can get involved.)

The alleged reason for last week’s “listening tour”—forgive me for a degree of cynicism—was that the State of California wanted to give us residents an opportunity to suggest regulations to representatives of its Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR) division (pronounced “dogger.” ) But considering that they could have tapped  scientists inside or outside California for suggested regulations, I’d say the purpose of their presentation was to assuage the concerns of local residents. When the tour is complete, presentations will have been made in six or seven parts of the state.

I’ve got to assume that if listeners felt more secure after hearing the presentation, they didn’t feel that way for long. Dozens of speakers lined up behind the mike, then voiced their opinions and informed us, often emotionally and articulately: mothers, fathers, a neurologist from Culver City, an environmental engineer, academics, a member of the Sierra Club with decades of experience in the oil industry, attorneys, an organizer with Food and Water Watch—and many more.

There’s nothing hypothetical or theoretical about fracking and its dangers. We’re not talking about fracking in France or Egypt, although it might be taking place there also. We’re talking about fracking in Culver City, Los Angeles and elsewhere in the state.

We’re talking about the giant oil company PXP, with numerous wells in Culver City and in nearby Los Angeles. Although residents of Blair Hills and Culver Crest are closest to the wells, the results of fracking are expected to extend to Venice Blvd. and beyond.

We’re talking about PXP and other oil companies

·         planning to build hundreds of wells in the area

·         using tremendous amounts of water that could otherwise be used for drinking and irrigation in this thirsty state

·         lacing this water with chemicals—some known to be toxins, others not even identified but listed as “trade secrets”

·         shooting great volumes of this water horizontally under or near our city, causing vibrations serious enough to damage houses and other buildings

·         shooting this water at such enormous pressure that were it to hit a person, it would slice him/her in half

·         shooting this water near, and possibly through local earthquake faults

·         increasing the possibility of earthquakes in the area—where we’re already in danger of a 7.4 temblor

·         using dangerous chemicals that could easily pollute our precious ground water

·         allowing methane to be released into our air, adding to global warming

But I’m not done.

·         What happens to the remainder of that filthy, toxic water once the fracking’s happened? There’s no safe place for it.

·         Who will pay replacement costs when residents’ homes crack or their land sinks?

·         Who will pay to rebuild in Culver City when we’re hit by an earthquake?

And these points just scratch the surface of a highly complex set of problems.

Suggestion: Find and read Neil Rubenstein’s article on fracking posted a few days ago on this blog. It’s excellent: informative and intelligent.

Look, gentle reader, I’m no expert—no geologist or chemist or even long-time activist. In point of fact, I’m a “newbie” to the world of fracking.  But I’ve heard and read enough in the past few weeks to be convinced that the dangers are real and enormous.

Culver City needs to ban fracking, plain and simple. And since there’s some question as to whether we have the authority to ban it (this power possibly belonging solely to the state), we need our city attorney to look into the matter.

And no, not a moratorium. Those who favor only a moratorium say, “Let’s have a moratorium until regulations have been put in place.” Or “Let’s have a moratorium until the state proves that fracking is safe.”

But regulations will never be enough, especially when DOGGR is so understaffed that it couldn’t possibly assess whether PXP and the other oil companies were complying. More than that, regulations are problematic for another reason: they would give us a false sense of security. Yet how could fracking possibly be safe? 

Whether Culver City can or can not legally authorize a ban against fracking, we residents need to think beyond our city—at the very least to the county and the state. We are not an island! If fracking in Long Beach causes an earthquake, we’ll be affected too. If fracking is allowed in Los Angeles, our drinking water will become polluted too. Furthermore, fracking in Culver City would endanger people (and animals) well beyond our city limits, and we must avoid that too.

Clearly convincing the state to ban fracking will be difficult, and that’s putting it mildly. Our elected officials at all levels of government are desperate for dollars—understandably—and taxes collected from Big Oil would provide a mighty incentive to frack. To hope for the best and frack. Our elected officials, like many of the rest of us, are also thrilled at the prospect of a local source of oil for gasoline and the possibility of lower gas prices.

If you need an example of how difficult it will be to convince elected officials of the need for a ban, here’s just one: the CA State Senate voted down a simple piece of legislation, introduced by Senator Fran Pavley, requiring energy companies to notify homeowners before fracking takes place!

Even the county and state elected officials we think of as friends—no matter how intelligent and caring and committed they may be--might have reasons to favor fracking. And that’s why we have our work cut out for us.

In recent news coverage, local and nearby residents have been called “an ad hoc group of citizens” or some such thing. But we’re now official: we’re “Frack-Free Culver City.”

Members have begun meeting to plan best approaches to gaining the ban locally and statewide. We have a lot of work to do, and we need many of our neighbors to participate. To volunteer your time, reach Frack-Free Culver City at makeccsafe@gmail.com.

Rebecca Rona-Tuttle is a member of Frack-Free Culver City and the Former Co-Chair of the Culver City Martin Luther King Planning Committee.

The Important Lessons from the Unimportant Election

Karlo Silbiger

I once voted in a special election in Boston with 1 race on the ballot and only 1 candidate running for that office.  Because I was living on the Boston University campus at the time and voted in a precinct made up almost entirely of college students, I’m convinced to this day that I’m the only person who voted at that polling place in that election!  However, my philosophy has been since the day I turned 18 that there is no such thing is an unimportant election.  Even those with few competitive races deserve our attention in order to show our elected officials that we are paying attention.  A small turnout gives them license to forget that we are watching.

Unfortunately, the statewide primary election on June 5^th provided few high profile races and one of the lowest voter turnouts in recent history.  California dropped the ball in our collective effort.  However, political scientists and those of us who love politics will see this election nonetheless as something of a turning point in California political history.  Culver City played a roll, of course, in that historical direction.  We had a 21% voter turnout, about what we usually get for local school board and city council races.  We compare relatively well to our neighboring cities: Los Angeles (16%), Beverly Hills (17%), and West Hollywood (18%).  Political theory says that Democratic voters tend to me more occasional voters (young people, poorer people, families with children, etc.), so in a low voter turnout election, Republicans will do better than Democrats.  Since Culver City’s registered voters skew about 65% Democratic, one could assume a much more conservative voting populace in an election with such low turnout.  However, Culver City broke the mold.  We had 25% turnout among Democrats and 26% turnout among Republicans, almost identical numbers.

It is no surprise that Culver City voters supported President Obama and Senator Feinstein overwhelmingly, but the level of support broke all expectations with Obama beating Romney by 46% and Feinstein beating her Republican challenger, Ms. Emken, by nearly 60%!  Also not surprising is Culver City’s overwhelming support for proposition 28, a term limits reform supported by the Democratic party establishment (though not by this author), which Culver City voters overwhelmingly backed (65% to 28%). 

What is a bit more surprising is our voting record on 2 other items from this election.   First is proposition 29, the tax on cigarettes supported by the American Cancer society, among other anti-smoking groups and opposed vocally with large advertisement buys by large tobacco companies and Howard Jarvis.  The no campaign so distorted information in their advertising that by the end most voters didn’t even know that they were voting on a cigarette tax!  The votes are still being counted statewide, with only a few thousand ballots separating the winning and losing sides.  This race proves once again why ballot propositions are so potentially dangerous: well-meaning, but ill-informed voters are too easily manipulated by big money advertising.  But not necessarily Culver City voters, who voted for this proposition, in opposition even with their liberal Los Angeles neighbors, by a nearly 20% margin.

The other interesting race in our community was for District Attorney, the top prosecutor in the county.  This was race jam-packed with legitimate candidates and few prognosticators were willing to bet on the outcome.  One interesting phenomenon was that there were 3 African-American Democratic Assistant District Attorneys all in the race, which did not bode well for any of them.  Therefore, many of us were surprised that Ms. Lacey, one of them, came in first place county-wide with 27% of the votes cast.  What’s more remarkable is that here in Culver City, not only did Ms. Lacey come in first (with 24% of the vote), but one of the other members of the above mentioned trio, Ms. Meyers, came in second (with 20% of the vote).  There was a time, not too long ago, when Culver City had a reputation for being a community that would not elect non-white candidates.  To see our community vote overwhelmingly for 2 African-American women to serve as District Attorney shows how far we’ve come.

Outside of Culver City, there has been much chatter about the new redistricting, the top 2 primary system, and much more.  It will take a few more elections for me to develop a sense of how each of these reforms (plus the new term limits rules) will impact our politics locally and statewide.  For now, we move on from this seemingly unimportant election to one in November which will undoubtedly define the direction of our state (with 2 important funding bills) and our country (with an incredibly significant presidential election).

Karlo Silbiger is the Co-Editor of the Culver City Progress Blog, the President of the Culver City School Board, and the Former President of the Culver City Democratic Club.

Government By, Of, And For the Oil Companies???

Neil Rubenstein

Because I believe in democracy, I proudly served our country during the Vietnam War.  Today I feel compelled to serve the USA, our state of California, and the people of Culver City by speaking out against how big oil is trying to buy out the very democracy so many risked our lives to preserve.

As other oil companies have lobbyists trying to buy out our state by funding campaigns for weak and ineffective regulations, I get concerned that PXP may try to buy out Culver City.  For example, PXP and the state oil and gas regulators spoke to over 100 people at a meeting in March at Kenneth Hahn Park.  Most everyone left irate and angry.  The people felt the presentation was slick and oily and that the people were talked down to and not given adequate answers.  Shortly afterwards, PXP presented, the Culver City Education Foundation with a $20,000 check.  C'mon, PXP, we're looking the gift horse in the mouth.

How can we call these gifts "community benefits" when the potential damage to our school children's lungs and brains from possible gas leaks - if we let them frack our city - will cost our kids and their parents so much more?  And you know that by 2028, PXP plans to put 100 wells in Culver City!  Is this what we want our city to become?  Another Carson?

The state hearing on regulative fracking that took place in city hall last Tuesday raises questions for me.  How can you adequately regulate something that is not proven safe?  How can you regulate a procedure that is known to cause earthquakes, fires, and toxic emissions?  Didn't we learn this sad lesson back in the 1985 Ross Dress for Less fire that hospitalized many people?

Can PXP prove that they will NOT trigger the big one?  That their fumes will NOT make us sick?  I don't think so.  Maybe the regulations need to require PXP to put up enough money (not the paltry sum the county was satisfied with) and put it in an escrow account to insure our city and schools from potential damages.  Better yet, our city needs to do a budget analysis of the costs to Culver City should PXP trigger a disaster here.  Remember, we are sitting on an active 7.4 earthquake fault line.  In the military we analyzed worst case scenarios so we could be prepared.

Use the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to model what would happen if there were a landlocked similar operational "mistake" here.  Are we prepared for a fiery inferno spewing toxins?  Anybody here really want to die for oil and be labeled "collateral damage?"  And if you survive, imagine your quality of life.  What would this do to our businesses?  Our restaurants as destination spots?  Is it worth taking such risks?

As I read the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, LA Times, Forbes, and other business and investment journal articles about this, I found that the ones who stand to profit most from this very risky process of hydraulic fracturing are the oil companies world wide.  The ones who bear the brunt of the hidden costs are the people and their children whose health, safety, property, and quality of life all too often get damaged or destroyed.

Unlike the ignorant, evil, or blind politicians who sell the people out, I trust that each of our Culver City Council members will demand that the regulation be a BAN ON FRACKING until it can be proven safe.  The FDA does this before it approves a drug.  Any company, including PXP, needs to first prove it does no harm.

This is what a democracy is about, why I enlisted in the Army - to preserve government by, of, and for the people, not for corporate profits.  As a proud American, I hope you will demand that the voice of the majority be heard and respected.  If not, let's say goodbye to democracy.

Neil Rubenstein is a former Member of the Culver City Disability Advisory Committee.

It’s No Oversight that Culver City’s New Oversight Committee Violates State and City Laws

Gary Silbiger

The Oversight Board of the Successor Agency to the Culver City Redevelopment Agency - what a mouth full this is - met for the first time in Culver City on May 3, 2012.  The question is, Will this Oversight Board be watching what the Successor Agency is doing - having “oversight” of the Agency - or will its work result in an “oversight”?  In other words, will this Oversight Committee fulfill its role as an independent body or will it simply be a rubberstamp for developments?

     The Successor Agency was created by the California Legislature to wind down the business of the Redevelopment Agencies that were dissolved by A.B. (Assembly Bill) x 26.  The City of Culver City has been named by the City Council as the Successor Agency.  California law requires an Oversight Committee to monitor and approve actions of the Successor Agency (See sections 34179 and 34180 of the California Health and Safety Code).  This Oversight Committee must consist of 7 members: 2 appointed by mayor Andrew Weissman (who appointed himself and Nicholas Kimball, a former employee of the Redevelopment Agency), 2 by the County Supervisors (Richard Bruckner, Director of Regional Planning for Los Angeles County, and Steve Rose, president of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce), 1 by the County superintendent of education, (Sean Kearney, Fiscal Services Manager of the Culver City Unified School District), 1 by the largest special district that receives property tax revenues, and 1 by the Chancellor of the California Community Colleges.  By the time of the May 3, 2012 initial meeting of the Oversight Board, 6 of the 7 appointees had been chosen.

     The first meeting of the Oversight Committee was managed by Martin Cole, the City’s assistant manager and clerk, and now also the secretary pro tempore - yes, this is the title given in the agenda. 

     In a blink of an eye, decades of Culver City procedures, processes, and rules came to a screeching halt without even a modicum of “oversight”.  Here are some of the troubling rules and procedures utilized during the Oversight Committee’s first meeting. 

1.  Notice of the May 3, 2012 agenda was not sent to the City’s e-mail list as some believe is required by the Brown Act, and is definitely part of City policy and practice.  It should have been sent to the same group that received the former Redevelopment Agency e-mails and currently gets the Successor Agency, Housing Authority, and City Council ones.  For each of these City bodies, the first page of every item of the agenda has a box which notes what e-mail list received the agenda and when.  On the other hand, the Oversight Committee has no such box on each agenda item.  Someone took a perfectly good notification procedure, which took years to establish, and deleted it from the Oversight Committee.  For that reason, I did not receive the Oversight Committee’s agenda by e-mail and only by good fortunate discovered it by speaking with a Culver City resident.  When I raised the lack of proper public notification at the May 3 meeting, Mr. Cole replied that because the Oversight Committee is a State Committee, the City’s rules did not apply.  However, on January 9, 2012 Culver City - not the state of California - voted to serve as the Successor Agency.  It is so easy to press the e-mail “sent” button to notify the public of meetings, that to refuse to fulfill this responsibility makes the public suspicious of wrong doing.

2.  All Culver City Commissions and Committees regularly meet at night. The Oversight Committee, however, met at 2:00 p.m., thus preventing most working people and students from attending as well as watching the meeting.  There are many evenings available at the City Council chambers for this monthly committee meeting.

3.  Although there are 7 required members, only 6 - including one who had barely been chosen by the time of the meeting - had been selected by the May 3 meeting.  Thus this gave both the appointed members and the public insufficient time to study and evaluate the crucial topics for this new and complex committee.  All 7 members should have first been selected before taking any business, including the election of officers. 

4.  Mayor Weissman was selected for a position on this Board.  It is wrong to have the same person serving on both an Oversight Committee and the Agency it oversees - the Successor Agency.  Although state law requires the mayor to appoint one member for the city that formed the redevelopment agency, the appointee should not be the mayor due to the conflict that exists when the same person votes both on items as a member of the Successor Agency and then votes later as a member of its Oversight Committee.

5.  This Board was established to provide an independent and fair oversight - to monitor and approve actions - of the Successor Agency to the Redevelopment Agency.  Steve Rose is the full time salaried President of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce.  Many, if not all, of the businesses having a financial interest with the Successor Agency will be members of a Chamber of Commerce.  For those who are members of Culver City’s Chamber of Commerce, a separate and local Chamber of Commerce under its national association, Steve Rose will financially benefit from those Chamber dues paid, some of which goes to his salary and other employee benefits.  A conflict exists whenever a public Board member is the President of an organization who benefits from his vote or who may gain financially. 

6.  Do you want to review the webcast of the meeting of the Oversight Committee?  Unlike the City Council, Housing Authority, Successor Agency, and all City Commissions, you will not find the Oversight Committee’s webcast on Culver City’s webpage because it was not televised.  Although a duplication of the audio tape can be ordered, it will not tell us who was speaking nor is it as easy to follow.

7.  The May 3, 2012 Oversight Committee meeting agenda prepared by City staff recommended passing 2 six month administrative budgets for the Successor Agency, as required by state law, in order to have them later reviewed by the Los Angeles County Auditor-Controller.  The money raised for the budget items will be paid by property taxes.  The proposed yearly budget for 13 part time employees comes to $824,628, including $41,698 for the City Manager who will be employed at a 15% level and $23,283 for the Assistant City Manager who will work at 10% rate. 

     Some members of the public have become suspicious of the controversial Redevelopment Agencies that sometimes helped change blighted areas into positive developments for the community, but other times refused to provide the required affordable housing, developed on land that was not blighted, gave large financial benefits to developers, and approved projects that did not benefit the city.

     It’s time to let the sunshine in.  Publicize the meetings, hold them at night, thoroughly explain the agenda items, and get rid of all actual and apparent conflicts by the Oversight Committee members.  Without the public’s trust, no Committee can properly function.

Gary Silbiger is the Co-Editor of the Culver City Progress Blog and the former Mayor of Culver City.