Dear Editor,
Culver City is a diverse, innovative and intergenerationally robust community. Large employers such as Sony, Symantec, Amazon Studios and Apple Studios choose to locate in Culver City because of our high quality schools, our adaptive and responsive emergency services provided by the Culver City Fire and Police Departments and our active civic community.
Similarly, small businesses choose to locate here because of the because of the tendency of residents to see their presence as an integral part of the community.
Unfortunately, both the City of Culver City and the Culver City Unified School District are facing financial challenges due to pension obligations, storm water obligations and a lack of state and federal funding. In order to maintain the quality of life and level of service that we have come to expect in Culver City we must vote YES on Measure C and Measure K.
Culver City’s sales tax is 10%, but the city actually only receives 1.5% of this total. The bulk of what is collected leaves the city. Measure C would add $5 million dollars per year to the city’s budget helping us maintain and enhance city services–even as pension obligations loom large.
As more families and employers move into our area we will face an increased need to upgrade and expand our services so that crucial minutes are not added to our emergency response times and so that lives are not lost.
Similarly, Culver City Unified School District is at risk of having to increase class size and/or cut academic programs and extracurricular activities. Measure K would put into place a small parcel tax that would only cost $189 per year (with an available exemption for seniors). Its passage is essential to preserve the quality of service and level of instruction that have come to be expected from Culver City Schools.
People and organizations across the political spectrum have endorsed both Measure C and Measure K because they know that to maintain the safe, vibrant and responsive community that we all know and love well into the future we must make substantive investments in our present.
Daniel Lee
Culver City Council
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