(See two pdfs below.)
For the hardy ice skating partisans who waded on Friday through City Hall’s remarkably lugubrious defense of its awkward, secretive handling of the closure of the Culver City Ice Arena, more dark surprises awaited them over the weekend.
In a most unusual display of hometown government muscle flexing, City Manager John Nachbar and his City Hall comrades, who appear to have been playing hardball all along out of public view, candidly stepped in front of the curtain for the first time.
After weeks of dawdling and shifting from foot to foot, City Hall effectively dropped a hammer on the owner of the property because of the alleged presence of perilous ammonia in the ice rink’s refrigeration system. The city has been calling it a public health hazard.
In an unusual display of raw hometown government power – some said bullying – City Hall took three separate actions intended to bring landlord Mike Karagozian into line, Culver City-style.
The most obvious City Hall tactic was to install a round-the-clock police presence in the driveway of the arena, 4545 Sepulveda Blvd., to scare off intruders, especially after the rink was broken into on Thursday night.
To further emphasize the iron-handed approach that Mr. Nachbar and his associates suddenly are taking, late on Friday afternoon (at 4:40), Lisa Vidra of the City Attorney’s office, fired off a warning/threatening email to Mike Karagozian, son of the property owner of the Ice Arena, not owner Michael Karagozian himself.
Under the heading “Notice of Imminent Hazard,” Ms. Vidra sent a rambling message that eventually said:
“City officials…believe that compressed anhydrous ammonia, a hazardous material, has been and is continuing to be utilized as the primary refrigerant for the ice rink’s refrigeration system.”
Mr. Karagozian was scolded for not having filed a facility closure plan via the fire marshal. The recipient was ordered to immediately institute a 24-hour fire watch at the arena.
Fearing, evidently, that Friday’s message may not have been sufficiently stern, Ms. Vidra sent yet another scary-sounding email to the younger Mr. Karagozian the next morning under the eerie heading:
“Notice of Public Nuisance(s) and Unsafe Conditions .
“Order to Vacate
“And
“Order to Abate Public Nuisance(s) and Unsafe Conditions
“By Order of the Fire Department
City of Culver City”
Under the color of the authority of the Fire Dept., Mr. Nachbar sought to accent the city’s claim that they were serious about accusing the shuttered ice rink of being a public health hazard.
To wit: “You are hereby ordered, pursuant to CCMC 904.050(A) to immediately vacate the subject premises and all buildings and structures or portions thereon…”
In plainer English, get out.
The senior Mr. Karagozian, out of town on this holiday weekend and not due to return to his Fresno office until Tuesday, fought back with ferocity. After announcing that he had not seen either email, he expressed strong suspicion about the sometimes shadowy, sometimes open, but often bizarre turn of events, especially in the two weeks since the rink closed when the lease with longtime operator John Jackson expired.
He said if a certified “legitimate” inspector examined the area, it would receive a passing grade. “We have never had so much as a single 9-1-1 call in 50 years of operating the arena,” Mr. Karagozian said.
Mr. Karagozian suspects that City Hall may be maneuvering out of public view to bring in gigantic AEG, owner of the Kings, as the next operator of the potentially revenue-rich Ice Arena.
“I have heard that what the city is doing may not be legitimate,” he told the newspaper.
“Could all of this be happening to prevent the Takahashi family (longtime employees of the rink) from becoming the next operators?
On the other hand, “If what the city is doing is legitimate, will try to comply.
“Look at all that has been happening at the 11th hour. I wonder, for example, why Mr. Nachbar will not speak to Mr. (Richie) Takahashi.
“I don’t know why the city is trying to put stumbling blocks in the way of the Takahashis (with whom Mr. Karagosian has been negotiating a six-month lease) when the jobs of 40 to 50 people are at stake.
“If the city’s actions are an attempt to pave the way for AEG to come in as operator, they are wasting their time,” Mr. Karagozian vowed.
The Takahashi family – Richie, Barbara, Shannon and Sami – with Mr. Karagozian’s blessing, intend to reopen the rink a week from Saturday, on March 1.
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