In the presence of fellow councilmembers, school board officials, public safety personnel, local business owners and community volunteers Mayor Jeff Cooper spoke about the city’s accomplishments and its future during Culver City’s 34th Annual Mayor’s Luncheon.
“I am delighted and excited to be in this incredible city and surrounded by some of the most amazing people that I have ever had the pleasure to have known,” Mayor Cooper said.
The Mayor addressed local issues such as the Hayden Tract where the popular Beats By Dr. Dre musical electronic company will soon relocate its headquarters from Santa Monica. Cooper spoke of the challenges that the city faced due to the state’s dismantling of local redevelopment agencies but how the city has managed to move forward.
“What I can report is that we are making progress,” Cooper said. “We spent a great deal of time and energy negotiating with the state and we have only a few more hurdles to clear until we break ground on what I am sure will be a truly transformative project.”
Mayor Cooper also recognized the city’s first responders, which he expressed his absolute confidence in and considers them to be the best out of any of the departments that exist across the country. In addition, the Mayor acknowledged the hard work and dedication of the city’s staff, including City Manager John Nachbar.
“Culver City employees do an amazing job and we are lucky to have assembled such an incred- ible team of caring, talented and professional employees who really care about our community,” Cooper said. “John came to our city in the midst of one of the nastiest and turbulent economic times in our history. During his time here he has made some major strides and has put our city in a better financial place.”
The city’s education system was also addressed during the mayor’s speech and he confirmed the commitment by the city’s leaders and the entire community to ensure that the city’s schools suc- ceed in providing students with the best possible education.
“This year I joined them [school board] and many other community business and education leaders in Culver City and signed the Culver City Compact,” Mayor Cooper said. “It is an agreement signed by people from all corners of our
community to come together to provide the support and collabora-tion needed to achieve three goals. Number one: ensure that all children graduate from high school; number two, ensure that those graduates have the skill, the pas- sion and the purpose to succeed in higher learning; and three, ensure that all the students have access to pathways that leas to relevant, sustainable jobs and careers.”
For school board member Steve Levin the relationship between the city and the school board is crucial to the success of the city and its students because of how intertwined the two are for the overall wellbeing of the community.
“What the compact does is that it puts it [everyone’s commitment] in writing and makes sure that we are all keeping those goals in mind so that when something comes up with the school district, that it will involve the city and we can go speak with them,” Levin said. “We have things that we have always been doing to work together and what we did here is codify that and acknowledge the relationship. We have an entire community, not just the city and the school district, but an entire community that wants to work together.”
The mayor also acknowledged all the community members and nonprofits that work closely with city leaders to ensure that the every issue affecting the city is taken care of in an efficient and timely manner. In addition, he thanked his colleagues on the council for their work and dedication.
“A short time ago we were on pace to spend our reserves in just three years,” Mayor Cooper said. “Under John’s [Nachbar] leader- ship and with the help of my fellow councilmembers Jim Clarke, Michael O’Leary, Andrew Weissman and Vice Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells our city is currently stocking away more reserves and prefunding our pension liabilities which is something we have never done before.”
“To me, the most impressive thing today was when Mayor Cooper asked for everyone who is involved in nonprofit organiza- tion to stand up, you could see that it was almost everyone in the room,” Levin said. “That was really impressive and it shows the kind of community that we are.”