Dear Editor,
I am correcting false claims that suggest that former Mayor Alex Fisch as well as council member candidates Bubba Fish and Nancy Barba are behind the lawsuit filed in October 2023 challenging Councilmembers O’Brien, Eriksson, and Vera’s decision to alter MOVE Culver City infrastructure without proper California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review (i.e., Friends and Family for Move Culver City v. Culver City).
In a July 15th Letter to the Editor, Gary M. Zeiss, Esq., stated as much and I have heard and read similar statements from local residents, including Councilmember Albert Vera, who are suggesting that this is a faceless campaign that is propped up by progressive leaders in our city. To make such claims is not only offensive to me (I have spent a lot of my time and energy involved in this litigation!) but also patently incorrect and dangerous in a political environment where misinformation spreads like wildfire.
For those residents interested in knowing the truth: the only petitioner/plaintiff in the lawsuit is a community organization called Friends and Families for MOVE Culver City (FFMCC). I am the chair. None of the current city council candidates are members of this organization or otherwise involved in the litigation. Former Mayor Alex Fisch is also not involved in this organization or the litigation in any way. Albert Vera should know this because, as a member of the city council of the defendant (Culver City), he is privy to confidential information about the litigation and attends closed-door council sessions with the other council members and attorneys.
It is true that there are many residents who support our cause and donated to a GoFundMe campaign raising over $10,000 to fight the council’s decision to ignore CEQA and an honest review of the impacts it will have on our lives. This GoFundMe campaign, however, is entirely separate from the lawsuit, and in donating to the campaign, donors did not agree to be litigants in a lawsuit filed against the city, therefore any claims that donors to the GoFundMe “are suing the city” are also untrue. While the funds are available for FFMCC to use, to date, we have not used any of them.
The members of FFMCC came to the decision to sue the city as regular users of MOVE and as advocates for policymaking that is responsive to community concerns. No one influenced our decision except those who voted to remove MOVE’s infrastructure in the first place.
CEQA was enacted to provide notice to and protect communities when a planned project generates environmental threats. FFMCC asserts that the City Council’s approval of a CEQA exemption to these modifications is a violation of the law, as it would remove a protected bike lane and pedestrian safety features to accommodate an additional lane of vehicular traffic without disclosing, analyzing, or mitigating the impacts of those changes in an Environmental Impact Report. So if people are looking for someone to blame for the lawsuit, blame councilmembers O’Brien, Eriksson, and Vera, who hastily voted to exempt the city from reviewing a project that poses environmental risk, and ignored facts and recommendations from dozens of elected officials, environmental and community organizations and legal experts.
We are encouraged by our legal representation, and the many community members, who believe in the grounds of our case and share an overriding belief that it is always within the rights of citizens to hold our government accountable. We suggest when it comes to the matter of MOVE Culver City, politicians and voters focus on responsible policymaking and governance and leave the matter of the lawsuit to be worked out exactly where it’s intended to be worked out: in court.
Yotala Oszkay Febres-Cordero, PhD
Chair, Friends and Families for Move Culver City
