Four hours ahead of this afternoon’s 5:30 deadline, first-time City Council candidate Christopher Patrick King completed the paperwork for his run and filed the documents with City Clerk Martin Cole.
The thrill of the challenge once again reached its zenith.
“I didn’t think I could be anymore excited than I was a few months ago when we did our initial launch party, but I am even more excited today,” Mr. King told the newspaper as he stood beneath the historic arches of City Hall, all that remains of the original structure.
The young mortgage broker, bursting with ideas and concepts, has been considering a run for 3½ to 4 years. “I have been thinking about this for quite some time, talking to people, planning it out in my mind,” Mr. King said.
Why is now the right time, the April 8 City Council election when two seats will be available and both incumbents are defending their offices?
[img]2333|left|Christopher King||no_popup[/img]“My involvement has put me in a place where I am experienced enough,” he said. “I really know as much about the city as I can. This is a good time for me to bring my energy, efforts and passion to the city. I believe I can make a real difference and be a benefit to the city right now.”
Defining his platform, Mr. King said that “it follows my initials, ‘c, p and k.’ The ‘c’ part is the critical piece of the campaign. That stands for Comprehensive Community and Economic Development Plan. Our city has not redone its Master Plan in decades.
“To me, that is a real failing on the part of the city because when neighboring cities like Santa Monica have gone through the visioning process, and come up with things like Silicon Beach, they know where they are going with their city. They can go out with authority and attract businesses and attract residents into their city.
“Without Culver City doing that same process, pulling together stakeholders, residents, businesses and defining our vision and our process for how we are going to grow as a city, we will fall short of what we can be.
“Additionally, look at the fact 60 percent of our city’s revenue comes from sales tax and we are facing another budget deficit in 2015, we have to go through a very intense process of planning how we are going to prevent ourselves from falling short.”
On Saturday evening, Jan.25, Mr. King will host a fundraiser at 6:30 at the Bar Nine Collective, 3515 Helms Ave. He will donate 10 percent of proceeds to Shoes for the Homeless (www.shoes4thehomeless.net), a charity in which he holds a leadership role.
