By Christian May-Suzuki
On Monday, it was officially announced that the city council of Culver City will begin the process of officially agreeing to terms with the Wende Museum for the conversion of the property at 10858 Culver Blvd.
The building was occupied by AmVets Post 2 and other veterans’ organizations for 70 years on a $1/year lease from the city before it was vacated on Nov. 5, 2018.
While the city claims that the vacation of the premises by AMVets, members of the organization disagree with that assessment. The city attributed the need to refurbish the building as the primary reason why AMVets needed to be removed from the building.
Fast forward to about a year later, July 8, 2019, where several options for use of the now abandoned 10858 Culver property were considered at that night’s council meeting. This included affordable housing, a veterans’ services center or veteran housing, and the Wende Museum project.
Other uses were suggested at a community meeting held on Sept. 24, 2019 at the Culver City Senior Center, in which over 170 people attended.
These ideas included a skate park, dog park, affordable housing for seniors, a community garden, and a homeless shelter, as well as the potential to simply rehabilitate the existing site or leave it as it currently is.
In March, city council made the decision to move forward with a request for proposal (RFP) for changing the site into affordable housing, but that plan was eventually scrapped in favor of the Wende Museum plan.
The meeting discussing this issue will start at 7 p.m. on Monday, with the deadline for citizens to submit comments at 3 p.m. that day. For more information on how to submit comments and attend the meeting, visit Culver City’s meeting webpage at https://www.culvercity.org/city-hall/city-government/commissions-committees-boards/public-meetings (culvercity.org > City Hall > Commissions, Committees & Boards > Public Meetings).