Even though she was outvoted 4 to 1 at last week’s meeting for slowing a perceived increase in mansion-sized homes, City Councilperson Meghan Sahli-Wells is locking arms with aroused community members to hopefully form a roadblock.
She is career-long comfortable championing minority causes.
“There is considerable public interest in this subject,” Ms. Sahli-Wells said. “I don’t expect that to change within the next year,” especially because there has been an uptick in outsized homes, she maintains.
An organized movement against what is known as mansionization began to form on Sunday evening. More than 50 residents jammed into a room at the Vets Auditorium, an audience that included Ms. Sahli-Wells.
For two hours, vexed neighbors – largely but not entirely from Carlson Park – and, of all people, builders vented their feelings.
In a spirit of fairness, leader Iain Gulin said all sides needed to be heard.
By 9 o’clock Sunday evening, was Councilperson Sahli-Wells more or less optimistic than when the Vets meeting started?
“I started as a community organizer,” she said, meaning she may think differently. “The community organizer in me and the part of me as a Council member who really encourages community input, was very happy.”
Thinking back to Sunday night’s continuous sunbursts of energy and determination from the crowd, Ms. Sahli-Wells was encouraged.
“This is what makes Culver City so great,” she said. “When people have a concern, they do something about it.”
(To be continued)
