[img]1792|right|Jim Clarke||no_popup[/img]As the senior member of City Council in dating birthdays, Jim Clarke has been an earthling long enough to remember in the previous century when Lifesavers were hot. As a sale item, not in taste.
He did not want last evening’s heavily pro-Reopen the Rink crowd to think he and his colleagues were lifesavers, that they were going to capture the shuttered Culver City Ice Arena from its owner and fling wide the doors one more time.
The Council only was to decide whether to confer special historical status on the building – an act unrelated to turning the lights back on.
“Half the people there felt that whatever we were going to do was, somehow, going to save the building as an ice rink,” Mr. Clarke said this morning. “They even wore their ‘Save the Ice Rink’ tee-shirts.”
In addressing the revved-up skate crowd, the Councilman was starkly candid.
“I told them I was ambivalent about my vote.” Mr. Clarke said, “because whatever we would do was insignificant in our ability to either save the building or the use of the building.
“While the Kings have made several offers to the Karagozians (owners of the property), and (the Karagozians are not interested in having it as an ice rink.
Time for Realism?
“I said to the crowd, ‘Envision that this property could be a grocery store or an auto parts dealership.’ I was trying to get them to visualize what it would be like to stand in a building that has no connection to an ice rink and try to see the historic value of it.”
Mr. Clarke mentioned a comment by community activist Paul Ehrlich, the only speaker among 14 who opposed the historic designation. “He was getting booed,” Mr. Clarke said, “because he was the only guy who spoke against the designation. Paul made the point that if the designation were approved, this would make it more difficult.
“So let’s say the Karagozians have a change of heart and decide to accept the Kings’ offer. The Kings want an ice rink, but they want to tear down what is there and build something new. You just made it a little more difficult and time-consuming with the designation.”
Finally, a warning.
Mr. Clarke recalled that City Hall’s consultant told colleague Andy Weissman that building uses frequently change after designations are conferred upon them.
