Re: “Mayor Slams Claim by Rose”
You cannot change facts. You may try to bend the truth.
Let me first clarify that yesterday’s essay (“The Night the City Council Gaffe’d”) represents the thoughts of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce. It was not my personal opinion that was voiced in the essay. My name is attached to the article as the Chief Executive Officer of the Culver City Chamber of Commerce. Now let me address the misinformation stated by the mayor.
During my eight years on the City Council, 2000-2008, I was a supporter of affordable housing and workforce housing on every occasion the city’s Housing Office through the Redevelopment Agency brought a project to the Council/Agency.
A check of the records would show that fact as well as many other facts lost to people who just moved into, or back to, the city in 2007.
Let me list a number of them:
- The Olson Project– This was a plan to replace one of the mobile home parks on Grandview with 24 mobile homes with approximately 150 affordable units and a redo of the Centinela Shopping Center. It failed by a vote of 3-2, with Gary Silbiger, Albert Vera and Carol Gross opposing the project.
- While I was on the Council/Agency, we started the Globe Avenue Project with Habit for Humanity. After the end of my term, the Redevelopment Agency did not push the project forward because Council members Silbiger and Armenta stalled progress, citing that, in essence, “there was never enough information to go forward.” I remember a “community activist” who spoke out against the Globe/Habitat project and volunteered to organize the neighborhood against it.
- I hope the same NIMBY attitudes that blocked the construction of the 4043 Irving Pl. project, especially when affordable housing was included, does not stop members of the current Council from going forward on other affordable housing developments.
In closing, may I quote a longtime friend: “History does not start when someone moves into Culver City.”
Mr. Rose may be contacted at ssssteve@culvercitychamber.com
