[Editor’s Note: The address the City Council candidate delivered Saturday afternoon at his formal campaign launch.]
I want to thank our Congresswoman Karen Bass for attending today and supporting my campaign.
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Council candidate Mr. Clarke with U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D-Culver City), a backer.
I also want to thank my former boss, Congresswoman Diane Watson, for her support.
She left this morning for a cruise. Hope it wasn’t on Carnival. Also, I appreciate the support of our State Sen. Curren Price and Los Angeles City Council President and former Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson, who resided in Culver City for several years.
I appreciate the kind remarks of former Culver City mayors Steve Gourley and Gary Silbiger. Joining them in support of my campaign are former mayor Ed Wolkowitz and former mayor and current Council member Chris Armenta. Also thanks for support from current School Board members Nancy Goldberg and Karlo Silbiger and former School Board members Barbara Honig, Marla Wolkowitz and Steve Schwartz.
I Love Culver City!
And I know you do, too, and that is why you are here.
I have lived in Culver City for 17 years. But I first moved into Raintree in 1977. Work and family matters had me move away twice. But I have always come back home to Culver City, and I have lived here 11 of the past 15 years.
When I left Culver City to go to Washington, D.C. to become chief of staff for our former Congresswoman Diane Watson, Culver City was still this quiet and relatively-unknown small town community. I loved it because it was close to everything – LAX, downtown L.A.– with great weather. I returned four years later to find that Culver City had become the hot-spot on the Westside with a vibrant downtown, and it was no longer an unknown.
But I also found Culver City had retained its neighborly small town community character. And that is one of the reasons I am running. Because I love Culver City and I want us to continue to be a vibrant hot spot but also a great place to live and to raise a family.
2. And I don’t just want Culver City to be a vibrant hot spot for nightlife but also to be a vibrant hot spot for business. While we are the home to some very large businesses, the majority of revenues we receive in Culver City come from our small businesses. I also want to help our businesses thrive and grow.
Being a great place to live means continuing to provide the high level of services our residents expect from all our public agencies. To that end I will work with my fellow Council members and city staff to find ways to do more for less.
But the big issue facing the city is what happens with the loss of the Redevelopment Agency. Redevelopment has been the driving force behind our vibrant city. Also it collects and retains tax revenues in Culver City that benefit not only city services but the School District and non-profit organizations. The city is still in the process of calculating the loss of revenue, but it is at least $4 million to $6 million.
In addition, the city has had an ongoing structural deficit. It has been reduced from $9 million to $4 million, but it is still there. Plus an actuarial has calculated the liability for retiree medical is $200 million.
The most challenging issue I will face, should I be fortunate enough to be elected, is how to maximize your taxpayer dollars to maintain a high level of service during this period of prolonged economic instability.
First, we have to be prepared to think outside the box. We can no longer afford to continue business as usual.
Second, we need to look at all our existing contracts and user fees to ensure we are maximizing revenues while being fair and consistent. One example: We may have lost as much as $100,000 in the past eight years on an electronic recycling contract.
Third, we need to pursue smart development and help business increase sales and generate more local employment opportunities.
But most importantly, and this is where I believe my background and experience can be most beneficial, is the city needs to pursue partnerships with other governmental agencies, businesses, foundations and non-profits to leverage our city dollars. We can cooperatively compete for federal, state and
foundation funding and develop projects that provide mutual benefits to the participants while generating additional revenues and services. We have many promising opportunities – the Culver City Expo Station, Parcel B, our baseball parks at Bill Botts. I would like to see us create an Office of Innovation in the city to incentivize city employees to think outside the box on forming partnerships to provide better services or save money and be rewarded for their efforts.
Lastly, I want to help to establish a vision for Culver City and get our residents involved. We are well known as The Heart of Screenland. It is on our city flag. While we cherish our past, we need to take charge of and define our future. We have great potential in Culver City to become more than just the Heart of Screenland,and we should seize it.
To do so, we will need greater participation of the community. To that end I would like to reinvigorate our neighborhood groups as an network for effective two-way communications.
And I also want us to be aware of and participate in the outside world around us and its impact on Culver City. As former Mayor Ed Wolkowitz likes to say, “Los Angeles is Culver City’s largest suburb.” We need to work closely with our neighbors.
So that is a snapshot of the issues I see and how I feel I could help address them.
But, of course, I can’t do any of this without getting elected and that is where you come in. Please sign up to help on the campaign.
Thanks for attending today and supporting my campaign.
Mr. Clarke may be contacted at jimClarke4CulverCityCouncil@gmail.com
