Re “State Wanted to Inspect the Lint in Our Pockets, Says Nachbar”
It was on Nov. 16, nearly two months ago, that City Manager John Nachbar and a small party from City Hall descended on the suddenly all-powerful state Dept. of Finance in Sacramento with a single plaintive plea.
“We hoped to get them to release the Parcel B property” so that the city-approved developer could begin building the long-promised Downtown magnet.
As far as City Hall knows, scarcely an inch of progress has been made in the intervening 49 days, owing to Gov. Brown’s dissolution of every community’s Redevelopment Agency last year.
Singlehandedly, Mr. Brown made building new projects in California towns and cities more complicated than rebuilding the pyramids a half brick at a time. In the dark.
“What’s holding up the property,” Mr. Nachbar said, “is that we can’t transfer the property to the developer without the state’s approval.
“We made the case to the state that it not only was in the city’s best interest, but also in the best interests of all the taxing entities, including the state itself.
‘They Like Project, but…’
“We have ample evidence to demonstrate that. I think they accepted that” during the 45-minute meeting on a Friday afternoon.
“Based on what they said, they think it’s a worthwhile project. My impression was they are supportive of it.
“However,” Mr. Nachbar added, “they are unwilling to release the property because they continue to rigidly adhere to the process as they contend it is defined in the legislation.
“We had a different view. We think the legislation would have allowed them to release it. They are adamant that there are a couple hurdles the city must clear before they actually will consider releasing the property.”
The City Manager stressed that Culver City’s frustrating experience was not unique. “We are not being singled out,” he said.
“I think this is unfortunate, though. It means we are going to have to go all the way through the process they have defined to get the property released.
“Maybe that will happen sometime in the spring or early summer. What we have to do is…
A Bit of Mountain Climbing
“This gets technical,” Mr. Nachbar warned. “We have to go through a couple obstacles. One is they are going through an audit. We had to have an audit prepared of all of our non-housing assets. That had to be completed and submitted by Dec. 15. We did. They will review it and tell us what they think.
“Once the audit review is completed, they probably will issue some findings. If we comply with the findings, they will issue a notice of completion.
“That is one box that has to be checked.
“The other key obstacle is to submit to them a long-range plan for all the real estate assets that formerly were held by the Redevelopment Agency. We are in the process of preparing that.
“Once both of those things are approved, we will have reached the Promised Land. That is when they would release Parcel B.”
Time for Hula Hoop Revival?
Mr. Nachbar was told the twin exercises sounded like hoop-jumping.
“It is hoop-jumping,” he said, “but it really is about money. The state wants to complete a process where they have examined every piece of lint in our pocket.
“Once they are comfortable they have examined every piece of lint, then they will consider releasing the property.”
Even though Mr. Nachbar did not expressly declare exasperation, it cloaked every word he uttered.
“Unfortunate” is his strongest term of opprobrium.
“The state acknowledges that it would be to everyone’s benefit if they released the property now,” said the City Manager. “But they are rigidly adhering to the process.”
