Mr. Mitchell said he supported the defendant’s request for a second reason that fell into the category of mundanity. So many plans can go wrong when moving, he said, that choosing the later day seemed merely a matter of common sense. With prescience, Mr. Gridley said he had a hunch this was going to be the outcome when he entered the sixth-floor courtroom.
A Big Deal or Not?
Among all of the thorny and emotional issues the city and Mr. Surfas have disagreed on over the past three years, this did not seem like a large one.
When the Tide Turns
Momentum may have turned in Mr. Surfas’ favor last week when he made his most substantial decision in the last 3 years. After searching for months, or longer, for an alternate site for the warehouse he says is crucial to his restaurant supply business, Mr. Surfas announced yesterday he had signed a long-term lease for a similar-sized facility on Landmark, 2 blocks away. He also has an option to buy. He said he enticed the current occupant of the Landmark space to end his lease half a year early by paying him a kind of $40,000 bonus. Mr. Gridley was not convinced that was a stroke of generosity or brilliance on Mr. Surfas’ part. The city’s attorney suggested that Mr. Surfas likely will end up billing City Hall for the amount.
Making a Prediction
Following the 35-minute hearing, Connie Sandifur, Mr. Surfas’ attorney, smilingly pleased with the result, said the judge’s decision did not just abstractly tumble through the skylight. “We worked hard to prepare for this morning,” she said, “and we submitted a great deal of paperwork.” Ms. Sandifur predicted that Culver City will not begin to develop the land until at least a year and a half after her client leaves in early summer. By contrast, City Hall had been hoping to oust Mr. Surfas before last summer ended.
A Version of a Vision
City Hall intends to use the triangle-shaped land — 30,000 square feet at the northwest corner of Washington and National boulevards — to develop part of the complex that eventually will host the Culver City stop on the projected light rail line.
Postscript
For the proprietor of the family-owned Surfas Restaurant Supply and Gourmet Foods business, it was a rare sweet moment in his marathon argument with City Hall over whether it can claim a chunk of his property against his will. The city can, and the city has. But this day, briefly, belonged to the underdog.