CULVER CITY – The legal battle over the future of Culver City’s landmark ice skating rink will continue. The property on which the rink sits is in a high-traffic, commercially viable area, and new owners of the property had announced their plans to get rid of the 52-year-old rink and replace it with a rock-climbing and yoga facility. For the most part, local residents were incensed, looking at the facility as a landmark where, over the years, luminaries such as such as Scott Hamilton, Michelle Kwan and Wayne Gretzky have honed their skills. The issue right now isn’t the ire of locals, but a clause sewn into the fabric of a court ruling back in 1960 that sought to assure the ice rink would remain an ice rink. A spokesman for Planet Granit, which purchased the ice skating rink, is going to look into the legality of the 1960 construction variance, as well as other city documents which deal with the future of the skating park.
BRENTWOOD – Henry Waxman’s announcement that he will retire from Congress at the end of the year has a lot of people considering a run for the seat the liberal Democrat has held for the past four decades. Former Los Angeles City Controller Wendy Greuel told KPCC Radio she would definitely make a bid for the seat held by the 74-year-old lawmaker, who was elected to the post back in 1974, representing an affluent territory that includes Santa Monica, Bel Air, Brentwood and Malibu. In a statement, Waxman said, “It’s time for someone else to have the chance to make his or her mark.” The area is also heavily Democratic, giving a big boost to whichever candidate makes it as the party’s endorsed candidate going on the ballot. In addition to Greuel, Democratic State Senator. Ted Lieu has also announced he will run for the seat. In his 3 1/2-page statement announcing his retirement, Waxman had nothing good to say about Republicans recently elected to the House of Representatives. And among those who took note of Waxman’s dealings in Congress was President Barack Obama, who issued a statement of his own, saying Waxman has been “one of the most accomplished legislators of his or any era.”
BEL AIR – Much of the focus will be on food in the upcoming election for California’s 33rd congressional district. That area covers a wide and largely prosperous swath of Los Angeles County, including Beverly Hills, Bel Air, and beach communities including Santa Monica, Venice Beach and Manhattan Beach. In late February, Marianne Williamson declared herself a candidate for the post. She enters the crowded field of politicians hoping to win the right to represent western Los Angeles County, and numbers among her achievements being a four-time New York Times bestselling author, who has a deep and abiding sensitivity for the ways food gets from the seed to the table. Williamson was a speaker at the Food Revolution Summit, whose main theme seemed to be legal efforts to insure genetically engineered fruits and vegetables are labeled as such, improving the quality of school lunches and supporting other health-conscious endeavors all across America.
MALIBU — The Malibu City Clerk’s office says that this time, June Louks has qualified for a place on the ballot in the race for City Council. Initially, Los Angeles County officials barred the Malibu resident from a run for City Council because her election petition contained names of some people who had not listed valid addresses. In order to run for that office, a candidate must gather 20 signatures from registered Malibu voters, along with their correct addresses. City Clerk Lisa Pope said the candidate had 12 bad addresses among the 30 signatures on her election petition, a situation now remedied by Louks. Fellow candidate Jacky Tomlinson also failed to qualify for the April 8 ballot because of a lack of proper addresses on her petition.
LOS ANGELES – Researchers at the University of California have identified 1,451 large concrete buildings in the city that were built before construction rules were changed to prevent building collapses that might occur in the event of a powerful earthquake. A report by the Los Angeles Times said civic leaders are now trying to come up with a way to compel owners of those buildings to determine if an actual risk exists, and if it does, how to get them to perform expensive retrofitting to make the structures safer for the estimated 220,000 people who use them every day. The newspaper said UC Berkeley initially resisted The Times and City of Los Angeles efforts to get the list, which was drawn up with a $3.6 million federal grant in 1976 but then kept secret by UC Berkeley scientists. The structures identified as being potentially at risk include public schools, universities, warehouses, and office buildings. Several hospitals, malls, schools, condo towers and landmark buildings are on the list, as are city-owned office buildings.
CENTURY CITY – Transportation officials say the opening of the Expo Line light rail system hasn’t done a very good job of cutting into traffic problems that plague the Westside. Annenberg Digital News says that in Century City, where the transit corridor opened in April of 2012, most of the people who come to the neighborhood continue to use their cars. About 44,000 non-residents come to the area every workday, to take advantage of jobs or to shop in the busy consumer and entertainment corridor. About 27,000 people ride the Expo Line every workday, but that number isn’t big enough to make a difference in traffic in an area where transit officials note there are is an abundance of parking places, and a large percentage of commuters who have enough cash to pay for the convenience of having their car nearby at all times. In 0.7-square-miles that makes up the Century City district under consideration, visitors can find the Century City Shopping Mall and Fox Studios, as well as a host of other attractions that lure commuters to drop in.
SANTA MONICA – Mayor Pam O’Connor talked of things that are good about Santa Monica, and about some things that are not so good, though they’re being worked on. In the 2014 State of the City address, the mayor reminded civic leaders and reporters that it wasn’t all that long ago that the L.A. Raiders won the Super Bowl and O.J. Simpson ran the Olympic torch up the California Incline. But some things that aren’t so good have lingered in the city by the sea, including airport noise, chronic traffic woes and parking problems fueled by the fact that Santa Monica is such a nice place to visit that a lot of people come to do just that, and the vast majority need to park their cars. O’Connor noted that Santa Monica officials are hard at work on those problems, and looking for solutions where none immediately present themselves. Santa Monica is also investing in public transit, in a bid to relieve traffic congestion, and the mayor said efforts are underway to deal decisively with air pollution problems and the ongoing problem of affordable housing. The State of the City address was hosted by the city Chamber of Commerce and held beneath the big top of Cirque du Soleil at the beach.
