Aside from Assemblywoman Karen Basss lopsided victory last night, there was grim news for Culver City business and property owners. Resisting a powerful national trend toward narrowing governments power of eminent domain, Californians resoundingly went the opposite way yesterday at the polls. With governments and lockstep newspapers the length of the state howling, fairy-tale fashion, that Prop. 90 would eventually cost taxpayers millions or billions of extra dollars in bogus lawsuits, ill-informed voters fell for the line. Scare works. City governments and their reliable acolytes across the state walloped Prop. 90 into oblivion, 53 percent to 47 percent. Exactly the outcome that businessman Les Surfas and many others did not want. Exactly the outcome that the broker/developer Bill Feldman wanted. The good news was that 90 would have provided drop-dead protection against whimsical intrusion by government moving intimidatingly against vulnerable landowners such as Mr. Surfas. It was a dreadful letdown for Culver City owners of land, businesses and perhaps even homes. Many among them are a twinkling in the eyes of City Hall, which has designs on reshaping this community. City Hall stands unrestrained this morning. It can continue to walk into homes or businesses and announce, I want your property. You may as well hoist your favorite white flag immediately.
City Council Backs Off, Star Academy Wins Yet Another Reprieve
To the surprise of whatever Biblical scholars are hanging out in Culver City these scorching autumn afternoons, the City Council pulled a hat out of a rabbit last night, demonstrating there is indeed life after death. The empathic, beneficent City Council swiftly applied artificial resuscitation to the luckiest private school in town, the Star Prep Academy on Jefferson Boulevard. Like magic, the school that City Hall says has been out of compliance for years, sprang back to life. The schools once uncertain future looks far rosier today than it did on Aug. 21 when the Council gave the schools leaders 90 days to find a new location and close down the facility it shares with the Star Eco Station. However, the widow who founded the school 6 years ago, Katia Bozzi, worked her own brand of magic once more. Even as she admitted last night that the school has neither budged closer to compliance nor found a new site, three Council members practically swamped her with life jackets when she asked for an extension. An extension to do what? That was unclear. Over the objections of members Carol Gross and Steve Rose, the Council appeared to reverse its summertime death sentence by agreeing, 3 to 2, to reconsider the Star Academys case at an undetermined future date.
Coach Stratton Did Not Write the Email Attributed to Her
Rachel Stratton, a much-praised coach of young swimmers, was shocked over the weekend to read in thefrontpageonline.com a strongly worded email attributed to her that she never wrote. The email to which her name falsely was attached, criticized a fellow coach in the ongoing dispute over the assignment of team practice times and spaces at The Plunge in Culver City. Angry that her name had been misused, Ms. Stratton said in correspondence with this newspaper: This fictitious letter that was associated with my name, was not written by me, was not authorized by me and was not released by me. She demanded, and is receiving, a retraction. According to Ms. Stratton and other sources, the email was written by Jon Carroll, who is associated with the competitive youth swim group known as Team Santa Monica and Southern Califoria Aquatics, which is the adult Masters program . Ms. Stratton was the head coach of Team Santa Monica before she left on Oct. 14 for Hanover, N.H., to become assistant coach of the womens swim team at Dartmouth College. At that time, the Royal Swim Team, coached by a former Team Santa Monica assistant, was seeking a more equitable practice arrangement with the Edge Swim Club at The Plunge, where the Edge is designated the main, or home, team. According to Ms. Stratton, a Team Santa Monica coach urged her to send a message to Bill LaPointe, the Parks and Recreation Director in Culver City, criticizing the Royal head coach. Ms. Stratton said she told the coach he himself should create the message and forward it to her for approval. I said I would look at it, she said. At a point last week, the coach wrote the critical email, which was addressed to Mr. LaPointe. After the email was composed but before it was sent to Ms. Stratton for approval, Clay Evans, president of Southern California Aquatics, well-known to all of the principals, entered.
The Unimaginable Pain of Basss Extreme Doubleheader
See the website: www.myspace.com/emiliamike
I cannot imagine the incalculable anguish that is coursing through the grieving Assemblyperson Karen Bass this afternoon. No one should ever have to endure the death of a child. One never completely recovers, we are told. For all persons who pray, Ms. Basss painful welfare needs to be mentioned. Mourning the loss of her only child 8 days ago in a car crash at the age of 23, Ms. Bass is in need of all intercession that can be delivered to her by her thousands of Culver City constituents, admirers and friends. One only may ache for her. Her capacity for tolerating the ugliest and the most beautiful extremities of life will be grimly tested this week. Since winning her first term two years ago, the Democratic Ms. Bass, serving an overwhelmingly Democratic district, has been a cinch to win re-election for as long as she wants to hold office in Sacramento. She was named Majority Whip before she had served a day in office, and Ms. Bass will be elected to a second term Tuesday night. In view of the tragedy-laced circumstances, the margin may be even more overwhelming than it originally was going to be. Four days later, on Saturday morning, there will be a memorial service for Ms. Basss daughter, Emelia Wright, 23, and her husband, Michael Wright, also 23, both of whom were killed in a pre-dawn, one-car crash a week ago yesterday morning. The 10 a.m. service will be held in the Chapel of the Sacred Heart on the campus of Loyola Marymount University, where Ms. Wright had been a student. No other service ever was publicly announced.
In Email to LaPointe, Ex-Colleague Warns About Royal Coach
The boiling controversy over which of two competitive youth swim teams deserves more practice time in the community pool has taken its most personalized turn yet. On a volatile day, a city-sponsored summit meeting of the warring parties has been called for 1 p.m. on Monday to try and restore peace and Vice Mayor Alan Corlin, the father of the much-disputed Share-The-Plunge plan, hardened his stance. A week and a half after the City Council, at the suggestion of Mr. Corlin, ordered the so-called imbalance in practice times for the two teams to be corrected by drawing them dead even, the Internet heated up. In a scathing email sent yesterday by Rachel Stratton, the former head coach of a competitive youth swim team in Santa Monica, she appeared to warn Bill LaPointe, Parks and Recreation Director in Culver City, against allowing the Royal Swim Team wider use of the community pool than it already has. She cited the alleged actions of a former coach on her staff who now coaches Royal. Presently, the Edge Swim Club, Culver Citys longtime home team, has several times as much practice time in the pool as Royal. Ms. Stratton, currently an assistant swim coach at Dartmouth College, said she was not advocating on behalf of the Edge Swim Club. Rather, she said, she was writing in a spirit of warning to Mr. LaPointe that he should know more about the conduct of Val Bagri, the head coach of Edges rival, the Royal Swim Team. My intention is solely to shed light on the ethics of those in leadership, who may soon be representing Culver City, wrote Ms. Stratton. She feared this communitys reputation could be jeopardized. It is a city with a fine tradition, Ms. Stratton said, and is increasingly gaining prominence as a center of competitive swimming. It would be a shame to see that tarnished by those chosen to represent the city. Until recently, Ms. Stratton was the head coach of Team Santa Monica. She told Mr. LaPointe she was concerned that he was even considering naming the Royal Swim Team Culver Citys home team, given the way that the teams leadership, and Val Bagri in particular, originated the club. With that, she proceeded to relate her story.
A Difficult Week for Bass: Funeral and Election Day
Funeral arrangements were incomplete this afternoon for the daughter and son-in-law of Assemblyperson Karen Bass (D-Culver City, who were killed in a single-car freeway crash shortly before dawn last Sunday. Emilia Wright, a student at Loyola Marymount University, and her husband, Michael Wright, both 23 years old, died when their car struck a support beam on the 405 Freeway near the La Tijera off-ramp. Friends this week praised the fortitude of Ms. Bass who is facing the awkward twin prospects of the funeral of her only child and standing for re-election to the State Assembly on Tuesday. She is an odds-on favorite to be returned to Sacramento for a second two-year term. “Karen is a trooper,” her friend Saundra Davis, president of the School Board, told thefrontpageonline.com this morning. “She is a very strong woman who always is able to put matters in perspective. She deals with life on that basis. From what I have seen, she is faring as well as can be expected.” Ms. Davis lauded Ms. Bass’s moderate approach. “Part of having perspective is Karen’s other main strength: She never jumps the gun. She always thinks things through.” If the Majority Whip of the Assembly has not thoroughly reviewed a subject, she does not comment on it, Ms. Davis said. Ms. Davis recalled a time when Ms. Bass was asked if she had a desire to hold office in Washington by running for the Congress. “Karen did not really give a hint,” Ms. Davis said. “Her answer was, ‘It will come if it comes.’”
Edge Leaders Fight Back Furiously, They Draw Corlin and LaPointe into Their Sights
[Editor’s Note: The controversy between a high-profile competitive youth swim team and the city started publicly 10 days ago, Monday, Oct. 23, at a City Council meeting. An overflow crowd poured into Council Chambers. Most were children, swimmers, eager to see how the City Council would respond to the challenge of a relatively new competitive swim team seeking practice time at The Plunge, where a rival competitive swim team already was long established as Culver City’s home team. A spokesperson for the sanctioning group that oversees competitive youth swimming told the Council it strongly recommends against two teams sharing a pool. The group contends such proximity leads to recruiting and dysfunctionality. Recruiting is expressly prohibited by the sanctioning organization. City staffers recommended to the City Council that it select the newcomer Royal Swim Team over the established, much larger Edge Swim Club on the grounds that Royal would generate more revenue in fees for the city. During the Council’s deliberations, Vice Mayor Alan Corlin proposed a seemingly shrewd solution to the conundrum. He recommended that Edge and Royal be designated the co-home teams. He said they could share workout times. Parks and Recreation Director Bill LaPointe was instructed to draw up a schedule that promised to be complicated. Going into the City Council meeting, leaders of Edge believed that a hidden agenda was at work, an attempt to undermine their team. Subsequent events have convinced them of the correctness of their position. While Royal apparently has quietly accepted the Council decision, leaders of the Edge have not, as you shall shortly see.]
At the Last Second, Disputed Swim Schedule Halted
Confronted by a sizzling controversy that has been building by the day, Parks and Recreation Director Bill LaPointe rendered a surprise last-minute decision this morning. Under tremendous pressure, he postponed todays scheduled implementation of a new practice scheme for swim teams at the Culver City municipal pool. In emergency emails fired off this morning to the three affected swim groups, Mr. LaPointe informed them that the new practice plan was being indefinitely delayed. He said he told the Edge Swim Club, the Royal Swim Team and a Masters group, Southern California Aquatics, I think it is best if we dont start today. Mr. LaPointe acknowledged that he does not have a new target date. I sure hope we can do it before November is over, he said. I dont want to keep extending and extending. The purpose of the postponement, according to Mr. LaPointe, is to hold a meeting early next week with representatives of the two youth competitive swim teams to thrash out complaints. A meeting will give us a chance to hammer out a few things, Mr. LaPointe said. The delay came as excellent news to the Edge Swim Club. Edge had been seeking a postponement until it could gain more input into the scheme laid out by Mr. LaPointe. Edge officials said they never understood why there was a fire-engine hurry to impose a schedule when, typically, the implementation of Council decisions is weeks, often months, in the making.
Unbowed, Corlin Says Corlin Plan for Sharing The Plunge Is Looking Stronger
On second thought, Vice Mayor Alan Corlin said this morning, his groundbreaking suggestion last week that the two student swim teams should share the community pool looks even better than when he thought it up. He nicely survived a shower of pointy criticism at Monday nights unusually stormy Town Hall meeting. He was charged with being unfair toward the brawnier Edge Swim Club by treating its in-town rival, the Royal Swim Team, as its equal. One week after the choice of deciding on a new Culver City home team in competitive swimming drew a record crowd to Council Chambers, the audience at the Town Hall meeting gained a glance at just how fierily competitive the universe of competitive swimming is. Standing up to the criticism, Mr. Corlin said he feels validated. He is even more convinced than he was last week that his unanticipated compromise suggestion was the right decision for all parties. Unsolicited, the Vice Mayor served up a pragmatic suggestion to the feuding parties. I would like to see them stop being so vexed and to take all this energy they obviously have and put it into working out a solution to open the Natatorium (Culver Citys indoor pool), he said. I know it is incredibly expensive to operate. This is why it is closed. I seem to remember that the Natatorium costs about $1500 a day to operate. The cost for a year is close to $400,000. Instead of these people arguing, being so angry, they could do something practical, useful like fundraising. Mr. Corlin is convinced that the ultimate rub for the angriest team partisans is not long course v. short course preferences or working out side by side. The issue, Mr. Corlin said, is total number of hours. If we can (afford to) get the Natatorium open, I think the main problem is solved. Bill LaPointe, the Parks and Recreation Director, who is overseeing the implementation of the Corlin Plan today, said that the three groups who work out at the pool are less than thrilled with the practiced agenda he has devised. But, he said, he4 is confident they will practice side by side in relative harmony while smoothing out the most rankling wrinkles. The Vice Mayor, meanwhile, continues to smile. I have been getting lots of emails (of gratitude) from and about the Royal Swim team, Mr. Corlin said. They are so grateful to have practice time at The Plunge. They are grateful they dont have to go out of town. Even though the controversial some say notorious scheme to share practice time/space was not implemented until today, Mr. Corlin said his objective in making the compromise suggestion at last weeks City Council meeting already has been achieved. My idea, said the Vice Mayor, was to keep Culver City people from being forced to traipse all over the Westside to find a place to swim when we have The Plunge for them right here.
Some Swimmers Need to Learn the Value of Sharing
As my people, starting with Moses, have said for the last 3300 years, Its a living. Succinct. Spot-on. Who needs a flurry of fancy verbiage? The spoonful of money that Parks and Recreation Director Bill LaPointe scoops out of the till every other Friday probably would feed my empty-nest household as handsomely as his, with rattling change to spare. Not only will he earn a years salary in the next few days, Mr. LaPointe will deserve a 10 percent raise. By the time the remarkably self-controlled, enviably placid Middle Westerner finishes wrestling at the bargaining table with three upset teams of swimmers, his reputation for remaining unruffled will be shaken if not dented. This, Mr. LaPointe, is a test of your values, and I am wagering on you to escape alive. Get all the pillow time you can squeeze in between now and next weeks summit meeting with the feuding boys and girls. A marathon is coming. Given the perceived self-importance of some parties, dont gamble that anyone will have the courage to check his ego at the door. This is a war of egos at least as much as facts. This aint going to end with a prosaic shrug. The sweaty-palmed words that are welling up inside of the pounding chests of the swim teams negotiators may not drown out Iraq, but they will make a run at it.