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Car Show Roars Through a Green Light, and a Mother Recalls a Tragedy

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If you are a drive-by observer of the City Council, neither a doily nor a manicured fingernail appeared out of place last night when members tidily approved of the sixth annual Car Show, which now will be spread all over Downtown on the morning of Saturday, May 9.

There wasn’t a glimmer of the fortnight’s worth of bloody wrangling and backroom maneuvering by both the private sponsoring Exchange Club and the public sponsoring City Hall.

No hint of the gnashing of store-bought teeth over which side was making a greater fiscal sacrifice to produce this 6-hour showcase event every spring on the day before Mothers Day.

Sometimes, however, there is a gap between appearances and the gospel-truth.

While cynics along the sidelines suggested that perhaps the accounting sheets for both parties were being converted into artists’ easels, accord lumbered into the room and finally prevailed.

Smooth Except for a Flaw?

But not before one final, late-hour twist. Or was there?

A City Hall source said that the Exchange Club, unhappy that for the first time it would have to help cover the city’s expenses, sought to get its already reduced fee shrunk a little further, from $2,600 down to $1,800.

Right?

Not really, Jeff Cooper, the face of the Exchange Club throughout this debate, told the newspaper this morning.

There was a difference, he acknowledged. “But it was so small it was not worth the time or any argument. We pretty much let it go where it was.”

For each of the first 5 years of the extravaganza for hundreds of classic cars, there has been a very wooden process as the main event every spring before showtime.

The city sets its costs in the $12,000 range. Then the Exchange Club asks for a fee waiver. The City Council members argue among themselves. They put on their most curmudgeonly faces and slowly, in unison, say “yes.”

What Is the Cubist Angle?

This time, the city staffers who craft the expense sheets found a series of first-time costs that the Exchange Club felt strongly resembled Picasso or even Michelangelo. Lovely but unaffordable.

Some Exchangers thought City Hall’s never-before-charged costs tilted heavily toward the aren’t-we-really-creative side.

After listing expenses in the middle twenty-thousands — practically doubling last year’s total — city staffers turned their pencils upside down. They began erasing the cost of the salaries of City Hall employees assigned to the show. Those were called “soft expenses.”

By late last week, the opening volley of nearly $26,000 had been shaved to $14,800.

If the Redevelopment Agency/City Council would do its annual duty and forgive the city’s basic fee of $12,000 for the Car Show, then the Exchange Club — which never before has been forced to hand over money to City Hall for the Car Show — would be obligated to write out a check for $2,800.

It took nearly as long to explain what happened as it did for the actors to play out a series of scenarios over these two weeks.

With Exchange Club board member Scott Malsin, the Mayor of Culver City, recusing himself, the City Council, fairly quickly, almost quietly, voted 4 to 0 to forgive the $12,000 fee, meaning the usual plans for the Car Show, two months from next Monday, may proceed on schedule.

A Grand, Unequaled Showcase

Exchange Club members traditionally tout the Car Show as the biggest day of the Culver City year, asserting that 10,000 visitors — many out-of-towners — flood the commercial district. As the Council’s approval dragged from February into March, Exchangers suggested that City Hall was not showing sufficient appreciation for the winning day they had built.

Just ask the Downtown merchants if you don’t believe us, they said with a challenge.

The newspaper did.

Jim Rodrigues of Santa Maria Barbeque, whose popular restaurant is in the bosom of the Car Show display area, broke into a huge smile when the Car Show was mentioned.

Mr. Rodrigues made two statements that will thrill Exchange Clubbers:

• “The Car Show is our biggest day of the year, business-wise.

• “On that day, 75 percent of our customers are out-of-towners.”

Mr. Rodrigues brought to life twin pillars of claims that Exchangers have been making for years, that Car Show Day is an unrivaled bonanza for Downtown businesses, especially eateries, and that the overwhelming majority of Show visitors are from elsewhere.

What a terrific public relations tool, and delicious opportunity, for City Hall, say the Exchange Clubbers.

A Councilman’s Perspective

Looking over his shoulder at days of prickly debate, Councilman Andy Weissman surveyed the aesthetic wreckage and concluded that “the community is the winner.”

The former president of the Downtown Business Assn. said that “the Car Show is a valuable economic development tool. Not only does it bring many thousands of people into Culver City, many take advantage of the food options and other amenities that are offered.

“It is a positive for business owners because it exposes a lot of people to our Downtown for the first time. Many of them you know, come back.”

Putting his steward-of-the-city hat back on, Mr. Weissman said that the “Car Show is a very good event at modest expense to the city.”

Other Business

After the activist Linda Shahainian was selected over four other candidates to temporarily replace Marcus Tiggs on the Planning Commission while he is away, for a year or so, on military duty, the Redevelopment Agency approved streetscape median plans along West Washington Boulevard.

A most poignant message on the subject was mentioned by Dr. Janet Hoult:

I am all in favor of the five new medians you are proposing. But, since any improvement in the existing medians is not included – one of which was involved in my son’s death – I would like to share my concerns with you.

Ten years ago this week, my son David died at the intersection of Washington Boulevard, Washington Place, Wade, Rosabell and Zanja.

Late on a rainy evening with slick streets, his motorcycle hit the median as he rode south on Zanja to turn onto Washington Boulevard going east.

When the front wheel hit the curb, his cycle slid across the street to the right.

David was thrown to the left, headfirst into a palm tree on the median. Even though the police told us that he was going no more than 35 or 40 mph and he was wearing a helmet, he must have been thrown at such a rapid speed that he died instantly.

I believe that the median his cycle hit juts out too far into the street. In addition, it is not, and was not, painted with a reflective paint so that drivers or riders will be aware it is there.

We are all concerned about the safety of our citizens. I would like to suggest that you take a look at that median. If you can’t fix the jutting part, at least paint it with a reflective material and/or attach reflective buttons so that others will be able to clearly see it.

After Dr. Hoult spoke, Mayor Malsin, an outspoken resident of West Culver City, said that because of budgetary constraints, City Hall would be unable to improve the older medians.

However, he did allude to Dr. Hoult’s remarks. Mr. Malsin allowed that while the city might not be able to fix the jutting portion to which Dr. Hoult referred, a paint job would be possible, not promised, but allowed for.

Dr. Hoult may be contacted at HOULTight@aol.com