(See pdf here.)
Less than 24 hours after City Hall – due, some cynics say, to the “galling” courtesy of the state Dept. of Finance – regained control over a myriad of long-stalled redevelopment projects, Parcel B and its less sexy teammates were the talk of this morning’s City Council candidates forum sponsored by the Downtown Business Assn.
Before an informed but invisible one-row crowd at The Actors Gang, where even the candidates were at less than capacity, Mayor Jeff Cooper, Councilman Jim Clarke, challenger Christopher Patrick King and moderator Ken Kaufman of Rush Street, to varying degrees, celebrated the phoenix miracle of the Downtown patch of property between The Culver Hotel and Trader Joe’s.
After Gov. Brown unilaterally wiped out the state’s popular 444 Redevelopment Agencies two years ago last month and shifted the galloping revenue streams of 444 faucets into his own coffers, cities that previously ruled their numerous redevelopment plots with an iron hand, looked on with shock as their fingers and wrists went dead limp.
Multiple rounds of negotiations between the City Hall of Culver City and the formerly obscure Dept. of Finance over the next 25½ months were needed for this community to regain the control it once, understandably, took for granted.
Said Councilman Andy Weissman, who led the Culver City mission to the Dept. of Finance:
“I don't think you can overstate the importance of the Dept. of Finance's approval of the city's Long Range Property Management Plan to the future of Culver City. Approval allows the city to move forward with long stalled and long anticipated projects spanning Culver City, from Washington/National on the east, Parcel B in the center of downtown to Washington/Centinela on the west. These three projects are the product of extensive community input and years of planning, patience and persistence by city staff and the City Council. We are all gratified by the DOF action that enables the city to regain control over its development landscape.”
Since these still are the earliest moments of the complicatedly hammered-out agreement for the City Council, which doubled as the Redevelopment Agency, Mr. Cooper and Mr. Clarke tended to speak in generalities about how they can wring the maximal benefits from these recovered treasures.
Led by Mr. Kaufman, all three candidates, including the extremely marketing-minded Mr. King, stepped gingerly through a minefield of ideas regarding several factors:
- How they can realize the dream of many leaders by diversifying the commercial face of eatery-centric Downtown with its 45 restaurants in a five-block area.
- How they can maximize the geographic relationship between Parcel B and the Transit Oriented District five-eighths of a mile east, at Washington and National.
- How they can accommodate the obvious influx of new cars that soon will be flooding this pocket-sized territory.
This was where the creative Mr. King stepped in to promote concepts such as his Yellow Brick Road notion for luring Expo light rail riders the short distance into Downtown, his notions about capitalizing on mass transit and his idea of bringing travelers from the light rail terminal by pedi-cab. The Katter, he said, would fulfill two purposes, bring a new business to Culver City/Downtown, and deliver new customers to hungry entrepreneurs.
