Editor’s Note- This is the text of a letter sent from Culver City Council member Andy Weissman to both Rep. Holly Mitchell and Sen. Curren Price. It was forwarded to Crossroads for publication to open more dialogue about redevelopment.
To say that the elimination of redevelopment will hurt Culver City is a gross understatement. [The] Supreme Court ruling is likely the death knell for a whole host of redevelopment projects that we have been struggling to bring forward since the economy fell off the cliff. Two weeks ago, we selected a developer for Parcel B in the center of our downtown. We are waiting for responses from the development community to a Request for Qualifications that has been circulated for the development of the two corners at Washington and Centinela. The Agency has invested over $40 million dollar in assembling the property at Washington National for development of a transit oriented development to be tie d to the Culver City Station of the Expo Line. The economic development potential inherent in all of these projects is gone if nothing is done to revive redevelopment. Culver City is the poster child for redevelopment done right. We have been doing it in our community for more than four decades and are justifiably proud of the results we have helped to bring about.
I would respectfully urge you as a member of the Culver City City Council, and plead with you as one of your constituents, to take an affirmative leadership role in developing the enabling legislation to allow redevelopment in Culver City to continue to exist. If there is anything I can do to advance that effort, please do not hesitate to call upon me.
Thank you
Andy Weissman
It’s not clear to me why these development projects cannot go forward without redevelopment funds.