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Tough call to make on the outcome of the vote on the proposed Entrada Office Tower at tonight’s monster City Council meeting.
The more people I talk to, the wobblier a prediction looks.
I stand here poised, with a bucket of water. But I am not sure which side’s enthusiasm to dampen.
Can the will of City Hall be thwarted? Yes, it can.
Whether the crucial vote would be taken by the outgoing Council or the incoming Council — with three new members — the outcome smells like a crapshoot.
Reducing to Guessing, Not Calculating
Neither the old nor the new Council majority is a cinch to reject Entrada even though nearly all of the capacity crowd in Council Chambers tonight, except for the developers, will be pulling for that result.
There are too many uncertain members to think it would make much difference whether the outgoing City Council majority votes at a ludicrous hour tonight — seven hours after the one-subject meeting begins — or the incoming Council majority polls members sometime after its induction on Monday, April 28.
The conventional consensus at mid-day was that Entrada, in a slightly more compact form than its current 220 feet, seems likely to pass.
Do not bet more than you can afford to lose.
If I were opposed to Entrada, I would want the incumbent City Council to deliberate and vote because of the advantage these five have in sheer seasoning.
The new Council needs weeks or months to catch up. They may not be abreast of their predecessors for quite awhile. Maybe mid-summer? Or autumn?
Recommended Reading?
Of the three incoming Council members, only Andy Weissman, a past and present commissioner, has been within a hundred miles of Entrada.
I promise you no Councilman-elect spent his weekend the way the mayor did. Alan Corlin said he pored over the voluminous 5,500 pages of the Entrada environmental impact report, absorbing facts and nuances.
The mayor was overwhelmed.
“I read the whole thing,” he said. “But there is no way I remember what it said.”
The least predictable member of the Council for the last eight years, Mr. Corlin could be the pivotal vote tonight, his next-to-last meeting.
Looks Like a Wash
Just because Councilman-elect Chris Armenta declared his opposition during the recent campaign and Mr. Weissman voted against Entrada in February as a member of the Planning Commission, that would not necessarily clinch a victory for protestors.
Even though the mere addition of incumbent Gary Silbiger’s “no” vote supposedly would lock up the outcome in favor of protestors, Mr. Weissman might not even be allowed to cast a vote on the subject.
He already has been told, unofficially, by the office of City Atty. Carol Schwab, that he could not sit in judgment of Entrada again.
As a Planning Commissioner, Mr. Weissman already took a stand at the Feb. 27 meeting. He cast the only discordant vote by the advisory Commission in a 4 to 1 decision to approve Entrada.
Clarification
One of the two reasons for the shrill outcry against Entrada is that it is four times taller than Culver City’s 56-foot height limit, enacted in 1990.
Although it was suggested last Friday by a commentator that no previous height exemptions could be recalled, Mr. Weissman and School Board member Steve Gourley cited two examples:
Sony Pictures in the 1990s for two buildings in the dozen-story range that still have not been built, and Symantec, which won a much more modest concession several years ago in Corporate Pointe.
Around City Hall, some cynics are wondering why Westchester residents are so angry about Entrada when buildings totaling 2.5 million square feet are going planned for their side of the street.
When Does a Guy Sleep?
I have a more imminent concern:
A 7-hour community meeting that starts at 7 in the evening assures that most of the crowd and probably all five Council members will be fatigued beyond reason before the voting hour arrives.
Listening to 90 residents state their opposition to Entrada because their skyline view will be obstructed and the traffic will thicken may only strengthen the resolve of Council members.
Wouldn’t it have been more judicious to schedule one 4-hour evening for protestors, tonight, and one 4-hour evening tomorrow for deliberation by the Council?
