Re “Having Cemented Its Defenses, the Redevelopment Agency Can Rest”
I would like to point out two factual errors in your article:
1) The kind of meeting that was held on Saturday afternoon and
2) How many elected officials were at the meeting.
The story said: “After Culver City’s gravely endangered Redevelopment Agency huddled in an emergency session on Saturday afternoon to fortify its turf against an expected killer invasion from the governor’s office, the five elected officials appeared satisfied they had done all they could to minimize the damage.”
Late last week, a press release from City Hall was headlined:
“Culver City Officials Schedule Special Meeting to Respond to Proposal to Eliminate Redevelopment and Take Local Funding.”
1) The meeting was not an “emergency session.” It was a “special meeting.” “Special meetings” can be noticed with only 24 hours’ advance notice, normal meetings 72 hours… Saturday's meeting was listed as a special meeting.
See http://sunshinereview.org/index.php/California_Open_Meeting_Act#Notice_requirements:
“The governmental body must post notice and an agenda for any regular meeting at least three days prior to the meeting, including any topics to be discussed in closed sessions. When someone requests a mailed notification, the governmental body must get it to them at least three days (72 hours) before regular meetings. The governmental body must post notice of meetings that continue from initial meetings. The posted agendas are designed to restrict the content of the meetings and no new topics not addressed on the agenda can be included in the meeting. The act does however provide for emergency votes on items, where a 2/3rds majority of the board decides that it is an emergency and that they must take immediate action.
“Special meetings can be called with only a 24-hour notice and the posting of an agenda for the special meeting. Emergency meetings can be called with only an hour warning, if the emergency “severely impairs public health or safety. The act requires that the public agency notify news media who had requested notification of emergency meetings one hour prior to the meeting.
“If someone requests that they be notified of special meetings, the governmental body must deliver notice of special meetings at least one day in advance. In the event of an emergency meeting, the governmental body must deliver notice at least one hour in advance to those who request it as well as to the media.”
My second point: Since you were not in the Council Chambers for the meeting on Saturday, I can assume you thought all 5 Council/Redevelopment members were present. Jeff Cooper was not at the meeting.
The webcast had not been archived to the Culver City website as of 4 p.m. yesterday or I would tell you to get your correct information by watching the archived meeting.
Forty-eight million dollars for a new fire department and police headquarters?
The agenda said $31.2 million for a new police department headquarters. But at the meeting, they tagged on another $16.8 million for a new fire department headquarters without any notice. The current fire department headquarters is less than 20 years old.
While you are on the culvercity.org/agendas website, you may want to check out the (staff) item report for J-4 on the Joint Council & Redevelopment Agenda. Problem is, there was/is none for J-4 available in Council Chambers or online.
The agenda only said, “J-4: Approval of an Owner Participation Agreement with Century Wilshire Incorporated for the Culver Hotel.” Staff read something. But the public had no access to anything.
Your story said, “Before a smallish audience of two dozen, the Agency, led by Mehaul O’Leary, approved and physically executed contracts totaling an estimated $400 million and covering scores of projects. The agreements were signed by Mr. O’Leary and Mayor Chris Armenta.”
The city was scheduled to rebroadcast the Saturday meeting on last night at 7 o’clock on cable channel 35 and the Culver City website. This is the normal time and date for meetings but there is no live meeting due to MLK's birthday.
Mr. Anderson may be contacted at Cary@CulverCity.TV
