Culver City is laid out so craggily by wiggling boundary lines that before it can sneeze, sometimes, it must rent a Kleenex from the city of Los Angeles, which may or may not loan a tissue.
When the City Council decided to further explore Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells’s suggestion for changing the name of Washington Place to Louis Armstrong Street, two emissaries were appointed to test the mood of the city of Los Angeles.
Will it be amenable to overturning the name of Washington Place, partially inside the Los Angeles border?
Mayor Sahli-Wells is to consult with Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, since a portion of Washington Place spills into his district.
Public Works director Charles Herbertson is the other emissary.
To clarify terms, Mr. Herbertson said this morning that he has not been instructed to “pursue” a name change with the cooperation of Los Angeles.
“I think I have been instructed to float the idea with the city of Los Angeles to see what their reaction is, per what the city manager (John Nachbar) said last evening. He said he thought it would be good to approach L.A. at the staff level as well as at the Council member level.”
Gaining approval from Los Angeles is not a matter of protocol so much as pragmatism.
Mr. Herbertson measured Washington Place this morning at 1.6 miles long, a little more than half in Culver City (.09 miles) and just under half (.07) in Los Angeles.
Mr. Herbertson said he will contact a person he knows in the Transportation Dept. of Los Angeles who covers West Los Angeles. “I want to see how L.A, would react to a name change,” he said. “My job is to gauge their reaction and report back.”
