“I doubt the story about their mother is wholly true,” sneered one resident of the neighborhood. “I refuse to believe that at least one of the brothers could not tear himself away long enough, for a couple hours, to be here. They just didn’t want to face us.”
So poor is the reputation of the Woo brothers that:
The 5 members of the Redevelopment Agency simultaneously swallowed their Adam’s apples, nearly choked, then voted the unpopular fellows the designated developers for one corner of the star-crossed intersection.
Residents who have known the Woo brothers for years had their own simultaneous reaction: “Oh, no.”
Of all the residential critics who blistered the choice of the Woo brothers to develop the northwest corner of the intersection, the refutation by Joseph Rosendo emerged as the strongest. He delivered one of the most brilliantly crafted orations in modern Council Chambers history.
Mr. Rosendo, who is himself a media figure of stature, delivered a tightly argued case in less than the assigned 3 minutes. Unapologetically, he blamed the Woo brothers for putting part of the neighborhood on the skids, and he urged the Redevelopment Agency to keep the designated developer on a short leash.
Here is his speech:
Dear Councilpersons and Mayor,
I am Joseph Rosendo of the Herbert Street Neighborhood Assn.
I come before you tonight to once again express my feelings and the feelings of my Neighborhood regarding the development on Washington and Centinela.
After the many years that we have struggled with this project and redevelopment in the area, we are bloody, but not beaten; weary, in fact exhausted, but unbowed — and willing to soldier on into the next phase in order to achieve our goal of creating a development that works for everyone.
You know what we want in the area.
I received the Restaurant/Retail matrix and the Ideal Washington-Centinela tenants list from Joe Susca. Thank you, Joe.
I have no doubt that those lists consist of what the residents of Herbert Street and all the streets in the Westside have said over the years…from the visioning meetings — how long ago was that? — to the Olson (the developer) meetings. We have spoken, and we expect to be heeded.
The lists are proof positive that you have all the information you need on what we want.
To reiterate: We want a clean, beautified streetscape with safe lighting, trees, plantings to match the quality of environment that downtown Culver City boasts.
We want construction that is equal to the quality of the people that live in the neighborhood.
We want retail that serves the community — places that unite us – where we can grow together, not grow apart.
Places that are not a magnet for crime, graffiti and trash.
Please, say it isn’t so. Say it isn’t so Carol, Alan, Steve, Scott and Gary.
I have lived on Herbert Street for 28 years.
Say you are not going to put the future of the neighborhood into the hands of the same people that did such a stellar job of contributing to the overall quality of the neighborhood that you declared their property derelict and took it over under eminent domain.
People that never showed any sign of caring for the advancement or betterment of the neighborhood — who couldn’t give a hoot if their property added to the welfare of the community.
In fact, they contributed to the worst elements in the community and to the long undervaluing of the neighborhood.
In my opinion, the best thing they ever did for the neighborhood was to leave it.
And yet, some see this as an opportunity.
So if you do move forward and trust the untrustworthy — trust those who have proven for 13 years their disdain for the neighborhood — and their single-minded interest — then we beg you to exert what power you have to force them to construct and maintain a development that will add to the neighborhood and not detract from it, which is their history.
So, please take my comments as more than a statement.
Take them as a prayer that you will do what is right by the Westside of Culver City and that what you leave behind in my neighborhood a development of which you, my neighbors on Herbert Street, the residents of the Westside and every citizen of Culver City can be proud.
Let that be your legacy. You deserve nothing less.
Culver City deserves nothing less, and we deserve nothing less!
A History of Flops
City Hall has tried and failed for at least 7 years to blot out the long-festering blight of rundown businesses that have been identified with the Washington-Centinela intersection.
Back around the turn of the century, the city envisioned magically converting the hub intersection from a back-alley image to a glittering Broadway-like setting.
At the Crest of Optimism
The grandest plan of all was a 5-dimension project that would include the Von’s market/shopping center, the two mobile home parks on Grandview Boulevard and the intersection itself, which visitors and locals agreed was a fulltime embarrassment. They would raze all of those buildings and start over.
The Good Old Days
In the heady days before the project began shrinking, the prestigious Olson Co. laid out plans for a 4-story corner, blending commercial and residential, a blueprint so fragrant and overwhelming even residents would forget how bad it once was.
But as the shopping center and the mobile home parks were eliminated — not necessarily with enthusiasm — from the project, interest in the makeover sagged badly on all sides.
Nobody Was Happy
City Hall thought Olson’s cost demands were excessive. Neighbors thought the blueprint was too grandiose for their very mixed neighborhood.
When Olson and City Hall ended their agreement, the city had to scramble to find somebody — almost anybody — to step in and do something, almost anything, on the one acre that is the northwest corner.
There is no evidence City Hall was overwhelmed by the response from potential developers. Or that the Woo brothers had any competition.
Which Is Worse? Or Better?
Meanwhile, residents were saying the old blight was so disgusting that even the vacant lot that now is the northwest corner is aesthetically more appealing than the shabby-looking businesses were.
In changing developers for the long-ignored west Culver City intersection, residents concluded that City Hall was swinging from one extreme to the other, from an overly optimistic developer to a developer unlikely to meet even minimal residential requirements.
Saving Millions
The Redevelopment Agency approved a 6-month performance agreement last night, meaning the Woo brothers have to meet certain objectives between now and Labor Day. Progress will be monitored monthly.
Although Agency vice-chair Scott Malsin said changing developers ultimately will save the city $10 million, nary an Agency member nor a resident admitted to the slightest enthusiasm or optimism for the Woo brothers alliance.
REDEVELOPMENT AGENCY NOTES — After Monday’s ballyhooing of the Agency’s intention to hire a demolition company to knock down the Exposition-National boulevards triangle, the item was scrubbed from the agenda shortly before the meeting. The staff needed to take a deeper look at the details, said Todd Tipton, interim director of the Community Development Dept…