Joe Susca, the Project Manager for the Community Development Dept., was beaming this morning.
Mr. Susca is an understated kind of fellow. Never too high, never too low.
An exception could be made this time for his even-keel personality. This was a moment to be excited.
“Pretty good, eh?” Mr. Susca said in reporting the record response.
He had anticipated 35 to 40 candidates.
A Mere Technicality
Yesterday, on what was technically the final day to file an application for the 9-member Advisory Committee, Mr. Susca received 27 responses.
That was 8 more than had been filed in the entire 4 weeks since City Hall sent letters to all residents and affected business owners on Jan. 16.
Since yesterday was a holiday, and since the Post Office has a popular reputation — arguably defensible — of being slightly less precise than the late Pony Express, Mr. Susca is going to keep the doors of City Hall open for a little longer.
One day. Two days. Maybe as long as applicants show up in person or applications turn up in the form of a letter/post card.
Where Is the Postman?
Without a mail delivery on Presidents Day, Mr. Susca suspects that even more persons may file for an Advisory Committee seat.
Mr. Susca added that he was not going to be starchly formal and hold residents or business owners to the previously announced Feb. 19 deadline.
“Why not (extend it),” asked Mr. Susca, “as long as we have the time?”
Wait Until Friday
He is not turning over the roster of candidates to the Redevelopment Agency Board until Friday. The 4 of them will not vote on the Committee makeup until the Monday evening, March 19, Redevelopment Agency meeting in Council Chambers.
Sifting through a surfeit of candidates will be a new experience for Alan Corlin, Carol Gross, Mayor Gary Silbiger and Scott Malsin. (Agency Chair Steve Rose, a property owner in the South Sepulveda neighborhood to be developed, will be recused from the voting process.)
A Strange Feeling
With the numerical possibility of choosing among 4 or 5 or 6 candidates for some Committee seats is bound to feel strange to Board members.
Culver City has not fashioned a reputation as the volunteer capital of California. Activists stay busy trying to encourage residents to participate.
No such hype was needed to stir interest this time.
Getting More Vocal
When the Wilshire Boulevard developer Bob Champion offered to do a face-to-face with the community last Dec. 5, 300 persons flocked to El Rincon School, many to vent their unhappiness with his intentions.
By City Hall’s count, 77 businesses on the west side of South Sepulveda, between Sawtelle and Jefferson, stand in the way of bulldozers that are awaiting an historic signal:
“Gentlemen, start your engines.”
Quickening the Heartbeats
Once Mr. Champion turns in his conceptual design plans to City Hall next month, the pace of the vast — and much feared, strongly opposed — makeover is expected to accelerate.
The Redevelopment Agency Board is expected to entertain its pivotal, tightly watched vote on the Champion rebuild in mid-June.
Jackpot Date
According to Mr. Susca’s necessarily rubbery timetable, if key issues consistently meet approval over the coming months, groundbreaking could come to South Sepulveda late next year, while the rest of America will be busy electing a new President.
