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Silbiger Makes the Chatter Lively at the End of Every Meeting

Ari L. Noonan — 5:00 PM July 22, 2008

During the 3 months that the majority new City Council has been in office, one of the holdovers, Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger, consistently has turned the closing minutes into the most entertaining portion of the meeting.

First-year Councilman Mehaul O’Leary probably has been the most outspoken voice on the dais. He criticized Mr. Silbiger for his so-called harangues at the end of meetings and that he belabors certain subjects. Make your points and move on, was Mr. O’Leary’s attitude.

Council Makes Ochoa, Kim Surprise Choices for Commission Seats

Ari L. Noonan — 1:00 PM July 22, 2008

The City Council fooled every speculator in town last night with single-seat appointments to three city commissions.

They blew up formfulness, which has been the Council’s trademark, whereby friendships with private persons who carry high or rising profiles around City Hall are rewarded.

Culver High Grad’s Body Is Found

Ari L. Noonan — 7:00 PM July 21, 2008

On Sunday, two days after a businessman pleaded with readers to contact the son of a Culver City family if they knew of his whereabouts in Panama, where he had been traveling on vacation for 3 weeks, a Panamanian fisherman discovered the dead body of Joey Lutz when it washed ashore about 2 miles from where he had drowned

No-Smoking Ban Far from a Cinch — Mayor Finds It Unnecessary

Ari L. Noonan — 1:00 PM July 21, 2008

The City Council is scheduled to consider a resolution next Monday night that would outlaw smoking in the outdoor dining areas of restaurants.

Numerous questions remain unresolved.

Would the ordinance apply to every business that serves food?

Would bars be excluded?

Willy Wonka Comes to the Vets Auditorium

My Opinion — 6:00 AM July 21, 2008

Roald Dahl’s timeless story of the candy man, Willy Wonka, and his quest to find an heir will come to life this week at the Vets Auditorium as Culver City’s Musical Theatre Summer Day Camp (ages 7-16) presents a dee-Lightful stage adaptation of “Charlie and The Chocolate Factory,” with songs from the classic family film “Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory.”

A Public Service Bulletin

Jay Handal — 12:00 PM July 18, 2008

Stuart Lutz, a friend who lives in Culver City, reported today that his son, who was in Panama, has disappeared.

It is believed he drowned.

The parents have been trying to get help from the U.S. State Dept. and the American Embassy in Panama with no luck.

Never Too OldNever Too Old

Garth Sanders — 11:00 AM July 18, 2008

Every Sunday afternoon, the intrepid World War II veteran Col. Michael Schirm (U.S. Army, ret.), 85 years old, drives from his Burbank home across the hill to Brentwood to stand with his fellow veterans when they rally, from 1 to 4 every Sunday, in front of the National Veterans Home, to save it from outside interests. Col. Schirm is Commander of the Military Order of Foreign Wars of California.

Running for a Commission Seat on Monday Night, Corlin Changes Directions

Ari L. Noonan — 10:00 AM July 18, 2008

On Monday night in Council Chambers, it may look like the regular rituals in which appointments to city commissions are cloaked, but it really will be an extraordinary occasion because of the candidacy of one of the most visible political figures in Culver City, Alan Corlin.

Bulldog Zeidman Will Get His Question Answered — to His Satisfaction

Ari L. Noonan — 6:00 PM July 17, 2008

Check yesterday’s edition for the Bernard Parks’ photo downtown at the Los Angeles City Council, and you will spot the permanently peripatetic School Board member Scott Zeidman over Mr. Parks’ shoulder. He was not there for a photo-op pass. He earned his ticket to stand behind the Councilman when Mr. Parks prodded his colleagues into taking a stand for Culver Crest neighbors, among others, in their ongoing campaign to have somebody, anybody, stand watchdog over an oil drilling company.

A Person Who Knows St. Patrick’s Stabbing Suspect Says the Story Has Another Side

Ari L. Noonan — 8:00 AM July 17, 2008

Culver City resident Justin Finizza,who allegedly went on a bizarre spree in and around two bars on South Sepulveda Boulevard late on the night of St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, is due back in court for a preliminary hearing on Tuesday, July 29.

L.A. Council Today Approves Parks’ Efforts to Take Closer Look at PXP, Moratorium May Be Explored

My Opinion — 5:00 PM July 16, 2008

The Los Angeles City Council this morning approved Councilmember Bernard C. Parks’ motion asking the Environmental Affairs Dept., Bureau of Engineering, Planning Dept. and Chief Legislative Analyst to review the Baldwin Hills Community Standards District Draft Environmental Impact Report.

When It Comes to Confidence About Oil Drilling, County’s Efforts Off to a Slow Start

Ari L. Noonan — 4:00 PM July 16, 2008

With the next community meeting on oil drilling in Baldwin Hills coming up on Thursday night, at 7, at the Vets Auditorium, Mike Bauer hopes it will be more illuminating than the first meeting in the series, last Thursday night at a home in Culver Crest.

Junior Vera Is Back in Jail — Could Return to State Prison

Ari L. Noonan — 8:00 PM July 15, 2008

Six months after being paroled from state prison, Albert Vera Jr., who is building a lengthening record, was arrested in an alley just before dawn this morning by Culver City police.

His last arrest was 16 months ago.

Do Not Let the (No-Smoking) Ban Play on, Plead Restaurateurs

Ari L. Noonan — 5:00 PM July 15, 2008

Two muscular community factions— each unpersuaded by competing convictions — collided without resolution in Council Chambers this morning during the final round of public comments on a proposal to ban smoking in outdoor dining areas of Culver City.

Determining How Culver City’s Neighborhoods Can Retain Their Charm

My Opinion — 8:00 AM July 15, 2008

Later this month, the Planning Dept. at City Hall plans to present the City Council with a prototype for Neighborhood Design Guidelines that can be used by the Planning Commission and others to preserve Culver City’s “small town charm” as neighborhoods update and change.

Two weeks from tonight, at 7 o’clock on Tuesday, July 29, at Livingreen, 10000 Culver Blvd., jsut west of Duquesne, the Gateway Neighborhood Assn.’s Development Study Group will explore this very issue:

Ridley-Thomas, the Only Sitting or Almost-Supervisor at Key Oil Drilling Meeting in Culver Crest

Ari L. Noonan — 6:00 PM July 14, 2008

His presence was unobtrusive but significant.

State Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas was the only person on the property who came close to resembling a County Supervisor at last Thursday night’s Culver Crest neighborhood informational meeting on expanded oil drilling. The meeting, that attracted more than 100 persons, pitted worried residents against Los Angeles County officials, on the feared expansion of nearby oil drilling, scheduled to resume in a few weeks.

Crest Neighbors Make a Strong Statement — but Will It Provoke the County into Meaningful Action?

Ari L. Noonan — 1:00 PM July 11, 2008

With oil drilling soon to resume within view of their hilltop properties, more than 100 grim-visaged residents, mostly from the Culver Crest neighborhood, marched into a parlor meeting with Los Angeles County officials last night to learn how the ultimate decision-makers were going to treat their concerns about air quality conditions and the health and safety of their families.

Jewish Home and Brotman Strike a $23 Million Deal, and Expect to Become Neighbors

Ari L. Noonan — 4:00 PM July 10, 2008

In a blockbuster transaction destined to dramatically alter the commercial face of Downtown, the ambitious Jewish Home for the Aging, based in the San Fernando Valley, and Brotman Medical Center, battling to escape from bankruptcy, last night signed a two-fold agreements valued at $23 million.

Defining the Differences Between Karlo and Gary Silbiger — from the Inside

Ari L. Noonan — 9:00 AM July 10, 2008

Karlo Silbiger, a refreshingly unique public figure in Culver City, makes his second try for a city commission appointment on Monday night at the City Council meeting, and he judges that the competition “will be pretty close.” Across America, there are not many 25-year-olds who are considered political lightning rods, as some view him. Nor are there many, or any, 25-year-olds as astute, as articulate, as outspoken, who are brandishing a hefty resume claiming about 15 years of experience. Those 15 years, say friends, were well used for training and polishing to a high gloss.

For First Community Meeting, Crest Residents Will Enter Apprehensively

Ari L. Noonan — 6:00 AM July 10, 2008

Part V

[Editor’s Note: Following Los Angeles County’s release last month of a draft environmental impact report on the effects of soon-to-resume drilling in the nearby Baldwin Hills oil field, this is the fourth in a series of articles on the efforts of Culver Crest residents to influence the tone of regulations that the County will impose on the drilling company. See Part IV, ‘Crest Residents Have a Problem with Supposedly Impartial PXP Drafting Own Regulations,’ July 3. Keywords: PXP, Kuechle, Kutcher.]

Stung Multiple Times by the Old Council on Commission Appointments, O’Leary Promises a New Approach

Ari L. Noonan — 7:00 AM July 09, 2008
The City Councilman to watch on Monday night when commission appointments are made will be freshman member Mehaul O’Leary.

Before winning election to the Council last April, Mr. O’Leary applied four different times in two years for a seat on a variety of commissions.

Will Corlin’s Council Years Give Him an Edge in Bid for Civil Service Appointment?

Ari L. Noonan — 6:00 AM July 09, 2008
No question that the highest Culver City profile among a flock of candidates for the last appointments of the season to three city commissions belongs to two-term former City Councilman Alan Corlin.

Whether that will make a winning difference when the City Council settles in on Monday night to fill the fifth seat on the Civil Service Commission is not clear.

“I put my hat in the ring because no one else did,” said Mr. Corlin, who left the Council 2 1/2 months ago.

Almost Like Kissing Your Sister — City

Garth Sanders — 5:00 AM July 09, 2008
In a special Sister City Committee ceremony, Culver City Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger, second from right, foreground, presented a welcoming proclamation to His Worship Mayor Bob Tarleck, who led a 26-person Sister City delegation here last week from Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. In the background, from left, are Culver City Sister City President Kathleen McCann, City Councilman Mehaul O'Leary, Mayor Scott Malsin and City Councilman Christopher Armenta.

A Siegel-Silbiger Legacy: The Ouster of a Disgraced Officer from the Rodney King Beating

Ari L. Noonan — 4:00 PM July 08, 2008
Of all the present and former elected officials in Culver City, Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger probably was closer than anyone else to Adele Siegel, a much-admired political activist, who died last Wednesday at the age of 92.

Born activists deeply dedicated to progressive causes, they met under perhaps predictable circumstances — when they were espousing a volatile cause.

The Last Endorsement from Adele Siegel

Ari L. Noonan — 12:00 PM July 08, 2008
City Councilman Christopher Armenta occupied a special niche in the final weeks of the life of the progressive community activist Adele Siegel, who died last Wednesday at the age of 92.

When he was running for a Council seat during the spring, Mr. Armenta was the only candidate Mrs. Siegel endorsed.

His Garage Was a Laboratory for Henry Siegel

Ari L. Noonan — 2:00 PM July 07, 2008
Part II

[Editor’s Note: The second of a two-part perspective on Adele and Henry Siegel than originally was published Sept. 27, 2006, shortly after Mr. Siegel’s death. Mrs. Siegel died last Wednesday, July 2.]

Adele Siegel, the longest running political activist in Culver City’s history, became a widow last week at the age of 90 when her husband Henry, 93, died on Sept. 18 at an Orange County hospital. Through their years of activism, Mr. Siegel, soft-spoken, spaced his statements widely and preferred to remain in the shadows.

Sun Shines, And So Does Mrs. Siegel

Ari L. Noonan — 1:00 PM July 07, 2008
Part I

[Editor’s Note: In the wake of the death of Adele Siegel, here is a two-part series, that ran Sept. 25 and Sept. 27, 2006, on the lives and activities of Mrs. Siegel and her husband Henry shortly after his death.]

The Culver City sun shone brilliantly along Braddock Drive this afternoon, and also in the smiling face of the newly widowed Adele Siegel. Halfway to her 91st birthday, Mrs. Siegel was upbeat and dashing in her vivid pink skirt and white, fluffy-sleeved sweater. Strong and resolute in her well-known liberal political beliefs, she is fulfilling the same muscular role in her newly narrowed private life. Alone for the first time since girlhood, she looked plenty sturdy enough to confront and conquer her new responsibilities.

Adele Siegel Was 92

Ari L. Noonan — 11:00 AM July 07, 2008
Adele Siegel, a towering peace activist who was one of the most politically active and enduring figures in the history of Culver City, died last Wednesday. She was 92 years old. The announcement came in an email from Mrs. Siegel’s daughter, Roberta Osgood.

Crest Residents Have a Problem with Supposedly Impartial PXP Drafting Own Regulations

Ari L. Noonan — 12:00 PM July 03, 2008
[Editor’s Note: Following Los Angeles County’s release last month of a draft environmental impact report on the effects of soon-to-resume drilling in the nearby Baldwin Hills oil field, this is the fourth in a series of articles on the efforts of Culver Crest residents to influence the tone of regulations that the County will impose on the drilling company. See Part III: ‘Gaseous Wakeup Call at 2 in the Morning Was Catalyst for Crest Residents,’ June 30. Keywords: PXP, Kuechle, Kutcher.]

Council Enjoyed a Good Time When It Retreated to Fox Hills

Ari L. Noonan — 5:00 PM July 02, 2008
Boys Night Out was attracting favorable reviews this afternoon.

Away from bright lights, cameras and the whole darned world except for 8 curious souls in the audience, the City Council and 10 titled persons from City Hall caravanned to the shiny new Courtyard by Marriott hotel on Bristol Parkway in Fox Hills last night for what Councilman Chris Armenta called “a bonding session.”