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Mr. King
Christopher Patrick King’s campaign team (CPK4CC) rocked the Helms District for hours last Saturday evening. More precisely, they rocked it with the help of four local bands ranging from a community jazz band, Captain Dan and the Del Rey Community Jazz Band, Samantha Ahdoot – with special guests Garry Corman and Paul McCarty – hip hop artist Spliff Hemmingway, and headliner rock sensation, Satellite Sky.
Young Culver City voters filled the Bar Nine Collective on Helms Avenue as Team CPK4CC aimed this event at getting the young people of Culver City involved in the conversation of local issues. They publicized the event at Culver City High School in addition to intense Facebook outreach.
Zayde Naquib, owner of Bar Nine Collective, opened his doors to this community outreach event. He comes from a specialty coffee background, and he looks forward to the grand opening of his coffee bar in the coming weeks.
His industrial building, turned open-floor-plan coffee-roasting bar, attracted all attendees with the delicious smell of freshly roasted beans and lattes.
The audience swelled as the hour grew late. During the eclectic performances, supporters sampled Portobello mushroom sliders and steak sandwiches prepared by Naoum A. Ibrahim. Originally from Syria, Mr. Ibrahim graduated from the intensive culinary program at the New School of Cooking last month.
Graciously, Mr. Ibrahim offered to cater the event with his Mediterranean-style cooking infused with French and Italian ingredients.
The concert, called Think Progressively, Rock Locally, encouraged attendees to post their vision of what “progress” would look like for Culver City on the event Facebook page.
Responses ranged from creating more housing opportunities to address Culver City’s inadequate housing stock to providing for the basic needs of residents to building a more vibrant, participatory democracy.
During the final two acts, City Council candidate Christopher King spoke.
“Win, lose or draw,” he said, “I believe that we can do campaigns differently. This shouldn’t just be about getting ‘our person’ elected. It should be about benefiting the community.”
Mr. King went on to say that his King campaign believes in “what we call Commitment to Community. To us, that means doing campaigns differently. So whatever our event raises tonight, I will be donating 10 percent to a local charity.”
The charity that CPK4CC highlighted at this event is the Culver City-based non-profit, Shoes for the Homeless, Inc. The campaign asked attendees for a suggested donation of $20 plus a donated pair of lightly used shoes to be given to Shoes for the Homeless to further its mission of providing footwear for the homeless and needy.
Mr. King took off his Brooks running shoes, exposing his four leaf clover sox for good luck, and tossed the shoes into the donation box.
“Chris believes in practicing what you preach,” said Culver City resident Jonathan Reid. “He inspires us by leading by example. He encourages us to ‘Walk with [him].’”
The event was a dry event: No alcohol was served. This was to respect underage, young voters that the event sought to attract and also to be inclusive of members of the temple where Mr. King is a member, Beit T’shuvah, a Jewish drug and alcohol rehab center.
Mr. King means to bring new energy, effort and passion to the City Council, and he hopes events such as this one will encourage more participation in Culver City government.
See his website at www.cpk4culvercity.com for more information and for pictures from the rock concert. You may email the campaign at cpk4cc@gmail.com or call the team at 818.224. 8078.
