Re “Councilman Clarke’s CicLAvia Letter for All Residents”
[img]1792|left|Mr. Jim Clarke||no_popup[/img]Still 17 days out from Culver City’s first flirtation with the all-day Los Angeles bicycling festival known as CicLAvia, City Councilman Jim B. Clarke has knocked on the doors of Culver City hearts and received strongly favorable responses.
“We are pretty close to our ($5,000) goal,” Mr. Clarke said this afternoon, “within a couple hundred dollars of what we need to meet the Sony challenge grant.”
You may call him Jim Fundraiser.
If it is not euphonious, it is a bullseye as he gets into the community spirit of clinching L.A.’s offer to Culver City to participate in the bicycle/pedestrian spectacular, when streets will be closed to car traffic, from downtown to the ocean.
Just completing his first year on the dais, Mr. Clarke, out of nowhere, raised his hand at a late-winter City Council meeting and offered to raise half of City Hall’s commitment to make Culver City a prime stopping/shopping place for CicLAvia on Sunday, April 21.
He said the Downtown Business Assn., which had pledged to raise $5,000, “is a little over and I am a little under. Therefore, we are just about there. The DBA and I both are continuing because we have more than two weeks left.
“We don’t have a final budget for what things are going to cost,” Mr. Clarke said, speaking from his Los Angeles City Hall office, where he is a deputy to Mayor Villaraigosa.
“When we first met with the CicLAvia people, we thought it was going to cost about $20,000. But we really don’t know the number.”
As spring birdies tweet, without possessing Twitter accounts, a snowball is growing in Mr. Clarke’s backyard. Since he happily surprised Council Chambers, and his colleagues, with volunteer fundraising, he has sallied in two more directions – offering to raise scarce funds for next month’s Exchange Club Car Show as well as for Gary Mandell and the Summer Concerts in the Courtyard of City Hall.
As a master of even-keel personality, Mr. Clarke seems perfectly suited for his latest imaginative role.
“Here is the rewarding part,” he said. “I am trying to incorporate in people’s minds the idea that there is a reason they live in Culver City.
“We have a great quality of life. We have a reputation for great cultural activities – although the Car Show and CicLAvia are not necessarily cultural events.
“But these kinds of community events are why people choose to live in Culver City.
“I want people to feel a sense of ownership and pride, that they are part of what makes Culver City wonderful. That is the appeal I am making.
“People are responding to that,” Mr. Clarke said with a glow, and he is confident he knows why.
“They haven’t been asked before.
“All of this leads to bringing these folks together so that, first of all, we know what kind of activities are going on.
“So many worthwhile activities and organizations are out there, and they need (fiscal) help. Groups that help kids. The Chamber and the Symphony Orchestra.”
(To be continued)
