Dear Editor – Neighbors United Supports O’Brien, Renteria for Council

Dear Editor, 

Culver City Neighbors United, a grass-roots neighbor-to-neighbor group that advocates for government accountability, sensible leadership, and community-based solutions, endorses Dan O’Brien and Denice Renteria for City Council. Voting Ends November 8th.

Dan O’Brien and Denice Renteria will bring accountable and accessible leadership to the City Council. Creative artists with deep roots in Culver City, they are natural collaborators who will restore the public’s trust in our local government. Through their civic involvement, volunteerism, and actions, Dan O’Brien and Denice Renteria have demonstrated an authentic commitment to engaging stakeholders in our community and not just the people they agree with. Their dedication to respectfully bringing people together to find solutions to our problems is one of the reasons why Dan O’Brien and Denice Renteria are the leaders that we need in City Hall NOW. We trust Dan and Denice to make smart decisions regarding:

Smart, sustainable, and sensible development

Upholding California’s laws that protect our unique neighborhoods

Affordable housing where it is possible and where we need it the most

Safety for everyone in Culver City

Effective, practical, and earth-friendly transportation solutions

Compassionate and collaborative solutions for the homelessness crisis

Diversity, equity, inclusion, and access for all who live, play, visit, and work in Culver City

Accountable and accessible leadership in City Hall

Dan O’Brien has decades of community involvement in Culver City and a reputation for being a collaborative leader with a record of getting things done.CCNU is especially impressed with Dan’s approach to leadership; as a city council member, he is committed to communicating with constituents respectfully, with a desire to listen and understand, regardless of their position on any topic. He plans to actively seek to meet with the public “where they are.” Regarding Affordable Housing, Dan stated that too much of our time has been focused on dismantling our R1 neighborhoods, and instead a focus needs to be placed where we can have the greatest impact: in large-scale developments on land that could be zoned as such. Other top issues are: using a balanced approach to addressing the homelessness crisis, public safety and policing, traffic and mobility, and lack of public amenities such as a community center, world-class performing arts venue, multifunctional sports complex, expanded swim stadium, and a greener Ballona Creek with expanded bike lanes and pedestrian space.

Denice Renteria is a true “hometown” candidate. A Culver City native whose family has lived in our community for over 60 years, Denice is a first-generation American and will be the first Mexican-American Latina to serve on Council. CCNU is especially impressed with Denice’s “back to basics” approach to leadership; as a city council member she is committed to immediately implementing initiatives that will help our unhoused population obtain safe housing; promoting sensible solutions for creating needed affordable housing without making drastic changes to what makes our neighborhoods unique; enhancing the safety and security of all our residents, workers, and people who visit Culver City; championing safe and convenient transportation downtown and throughout Culver City; and advocating for environmental sustainability by finding innovative solutions for the city, businesses, and individual households.

Vote for Dan O’Brien and Denice Renteria before Nov. 8th and support new leadership on our City Council!


Jeannine Wisnosky on behalf of
Culver City Neighbors United Founded March 2021 CulverCityNeighborsUnited.org FPPC# 1439599

The Actors' Gang

15 Comments

  1. Like Sydney, I too would love to hear these candidates’ positions on rent control. Surely they’ve had sufficient time to form a position on such an important issue. Why will they not share it with us voters?

  2. Culver City Neighbors United (CCNU) has existed since 2021, funded primarily by grassroots donations from neighbors across the city, averaging $25 a donation. CCNU has thrived on the free labor of Feminist Democratic women who are longtime Culver City volunteers in our schools and community, who have spent a lot of time and effort deciphering what has been happening with the city’s housing element and city council agenda items. One may note that the above endorsement and our two flyers in support of Dan O’Brien and Denice Renteria are positive endorsements touting the reasons why we independently believe they are the council members that our community needs. Please vote before November 8 for Dan O’Brien and Denice Renteria for Culver City Council.

  3. You are all foaming at the mouth as if Culver City is not part of the LA County Rent Control: https://dcba.lacounty.gov/rentstabilizationprogram/

    There are already rules, regulations & policy in place for THE COUNTY no matter their position.

    Apparently Culver City spent over a million dollars on our own “Rent Control” administration with only 2 complaints needing actual assistance. Personally, I would rather give the $$ to Rental Assistance for those in need. You know, really allow for the City to be a place for all socio-economic backgrounds.

  4. Hi Jeannine, just as a statement of fact: of the $12,125 that CCNU has raised thusfar in 2022, exactly $10,000 of it was contributed by one single corporate developer (that’s over 80% of CCNU’s funding for the year).

    Those two fliers in support of O’Brien and Renteria may have had CCNU’s name on them. But they were paid for— almost down to the penny— by Hackman Capital Partners… the multi-billion-dollar real estate developer which is CCNU’s personal patron. People can decide for themselves if the above is a good thing or a bad thing, but they’re objective facts, with obvious relevance to numerous policy choices the next Council will face.

  5. The housing issue is of extreme importance to me. I want my child, along with his friends, to be able to live in the town they grew up in. What is happening now with the unaffordable housing crisis verges on being a human rights issue-not able to find shelter. A young man came back to Culver City, where he grew up. He desperately seeks an affordable place in Culver City, and the surrounding area is technically homeless. The housing issue is outrageous and just wrong.

    Why aren’t those two candidates informing us about their Renter Control stand?

  6. Hi Melissa, I’m sorry, but you’re incorrect. The regulations you cite apply only to tenants and landlords in unincorporated LA County, and provide absolutely no protection to Culver City renters. Our city currently has its own suite of renter protections (much more robust, fwiw, than the ones you linked to for unincorporated LA County), and to this point, Dan and Denise have refused to state whether or not Culver City’s vulnerable renters will retain those protections should they be elected. That’s a big deal, and that’s why we’re “foaming at the mouth.” Just fyi.

  7. May I make a suggestion, instead of asking questions about rent control here, why don’t you contact the candidates themselves and ask?

    Additionally, California has rent control laws that would come into effect if there were any changes in a city’s rent control regulations. Unless California laws change, rent control is the law in California.

  8. Mr. Meighan has incorrect information on CCNU’s donation history and finances. We ask Mr. Meighan to cease making uninformed attacks on CCNU, a grassroots entity helmed by Feminist Democratic women volunteers. Unlike Mr. Meighan, CCNU’s grassroots volunteers and supporters do not have the privilege or ability to donate $20,000 of our own personal money to a PAC in support of candidates.

  9. Mr. Meighan is being disingenuous. From July 2021 through Sept. 25, 2022. CCNU raised approximately $12,125 through contributions from our grassroots campaign. By saying “thus far in 2022” he is completely erasing our pre-election campaign that focused on informing people about what was going on in City Hall.

  10. Jamie, thank you for the suggestion, but unfortunately Dan and Denise have thusfar refused to state their position on this very important issue when asked privately. I guess I’m hoping that we Culver City voters might have better luck getting their position clearly stated if they’re asked here, publicly.

    Regarding your second point, California’s renter protections are much less robust than Culver City’s, and state law currently allows annual rent increases that are literally twice as high as those allowed under current Culver City law. Is it Dan’s and Denice’s position that Culver City tenants should lose their current protections and be forced to pay a double-digit rent increase (again: twice as high as what’s currently allowed)? Our vulnerable renter population deserves to know the answer to that question before Election Day gets here.

  11. Regarding CCNU’s funding in 2022, I respectfully urge anyone reading not to take my word for it. Feel free to look at CCNU public campaign filing (link below) and note that— of the $12,125 collected by CCNU since January 1st— over 80% of it came from one single corporate real estate developer: Hackman Capital Partners.

    https://public.netfile.com/pub2/RequestPDF.aspx?id=205305655

  12. Mr. Meighan is disrespectfully choosing to target a grassroots organization that offers community benefit. While CCNU’s mission has been to educate the public on issues such as housing and what’s next on the council agenda, the sole purpose of *his* PAC is to donate and raise funds to support his candidates of choice.

    It is unclear why Mr. Meighan is fixated on a grassroots Feminist/Democratic women-helmed, community-led organization like CCNU.

    Please vote for Dan O’Brien and Denice Renteria. The positive reasons, stated in the positive messaging in the original post, are why. Thank you.

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