Happy Fiesta Weekend, Culver City!
Howdy friends and neighbors, happy weekend! Big news ahead, so let’s get right into it.
Council Funds School District, Passes Resolution in Support of Workers at Local Hospital
First, here’s the run down from last week’s council meeting, which wrapped close to midnight.
Watch the video below where I do my millenial best to make sure our young people see the big news about Council helping out the school district.
Or just read on!
🏫 Council comes in clutch for the school district
In response to my motion from the previous meeting, staff came back to Council with a list of funds from capital projects that could be used to assist CCUSD.
Council unanimously voted to use staff’s recommended list of capital projects to give CCUSD a one-time payment of $2.5M to assist the district during this fiscal crisis.
These funds will reduce the number of painful cuts the district will have to make in order to show the state they are solvent.
Thank you to the school board members for their advocacy and our community for such a strong show of support.
Schools are the heart of Culver City. I’m so grateful our city could be a lifeline when our district needed it the most.
This action did remove $1M from our Mobility Fund, a newer portion of funds dedicated to safe streets infrastructure. These are critical funds, so we directed staff to come back with a plan to replenish the Mobility Fund which I am also working on in the Mobility Subcommittee with Vice Mayor Puza.
I advocated for a few conditions on the $2.5M grant -- such as a commitment from the schools to pursue a parcel tax and a commitment to continue the process of exploring various revenue-generating land uses (such as market rate housing) on CCUSD property.
The conditions and donation will be finalized at the September 8 meeting.
👩⚕️ Council passes resolution supporting Culver City hospital workers
Council also voted 3-2 to pass a resolution backing the SEIU-UHW workers at Southern California Hospital. The hospital has declared bankruptcy and might sell, but the Council’s resolution supports the workers in their efforts to maintain fair wages, proper benefits, as well as safe and healthy working conditions.
5 Days Left to Vote YES on Measure CL!
Reminder that you have just 5 days left to turn in your ballot to vote YES on Measure CL, a quarter cent sales tax that will raise $5.6M annually for our growing city.
You can mail your ballot back or drop it off at Culver City Hall during regular business hours. You can even drop off your ballot this weekend at Fiesta La Ballona!
Those funds will help us maintain a whole host of high quality services including: our fast emergency response times, our Mobile Crisis Team, renters protections, permanent supportive housing, senior programming and childcare, events like Pride and Fiesta La Ballona, and so much more.
AND it will help the city close our deficit and reduce the amount of painful cuts to services and programming that we would otherwise have to make.
We are likely going to pay this increase one way or another. Let’s pass Measure CL and keep those dollars local.
Measure CL is supported by a broad coalition from across the political spectrum from the Culver City Democratic Club, to the Chamber of Commerce, our Police and Fire, the Downtown Business Association, advocacy group Our Culver, and ALL five Council members.
See you at Fiesta La Ballona this weekend!
This weekend is one of Culver City’s biggest events and oldest traditions-- Fiesta La Ballona!
I’ll be at the City Council booth, the Bike Culver City Bike Valet, and the Culver City Democratic Club Booth for at least some of the weekend.
Come on by and say hi!
CicLAvia Rolls Through Culver City
The open streets festival CicLAvia rolled through Culver City last weekend for the first time in years!
Businesses had lines out the door as happy crowds rolled through with their kids and (in our case) pups in tow.
Fifteen years since it began, this open streets event still inspires us to reimagine what we can do with our public space when we use it for more than just cars.
We absolutely can have safe streets, clean air, and easy efficient ways to get around. We can build a city where kids can get to school safely and independently and our seniors can stay mobile and active well after they stop driving.
Thank you CicLAvia! Come back soon 🚲💕
Stay Cool!
We are now in the hottest part of the year, so stay cool out there! Here’s a handy list of tips and resources from the city (including where to find cooling centers).