One Square Mile: Veteran's Park

In the past couple of days, teams of USC reporters have presented their competing proposals for which single square mile of Culver City should become the focus of a series of videos and stories in the coming months.

On Wednesday, Patch readers can vote for their favorite square mile. 

This is the final of five square mile proposals. Be sure to vote for your favorite Wednesday. 

We'll post the results late that same day. All voters will receive an invitation to the One Square Mile launch reception in Culver City this fall.

Here's the fifth proposed square mile, from Catherine Cloutier. 

The square mile south of Veteran's Memorial Park in Culver City is quiet by most accounts. Tree-lined streets house cookie-cutter, pastel bungalows.  Lawns are trimmed, bushes pruned, fences white—metaphorically speaking, that is. Yet, on the outskirts of these sleepy streets lies a great tension in Culver City: the clash between a nostalgic resident population and a changing city.

Within the square mile's bounds—which can roughly be sketched by the intersections of Jefferson, Sepulveda, Culver boulevards and Motor Avenue—are Culver City High School and Culver City Middle School, Farragut Elementary School, Culver City Adult School and the city library.  In a city that prides itself on its parks, this square mile has four—Carlson, Coombs, Lindberg and Veteran's. 

There's a 48-year-old ice rink (see audio slideshow) and the Culver Palms YMCA, which was established in 1944. There is a Methodist church, a Lutheran church and a synagogue. The chamber of commerce and a  American Legion post are also found here. And don't forget Sony Pictures Studios and the senior center. 

There is the third most-visited Target west of the Mississippi, and a small locally owned sporting goods store. It is a square mile heavily occupied by and completely in service to the residents of Culver City.

The majority of the streets in the square mile are residential. The residents, according to 2000 Census data, are mostly middle class. Among those surveyed by this reporter, most credited the school district and the low crime rates as reasons for moving to the area.

Although quality of life issues did not appear to be at the forefront of many community members' concerns, the issue of business and development proved more controversial. This square mile is home to a large shopping center of national chains—Target, Bed, Bath and Beyond, and Ross are among them—on Jefferson Boulevard as well as small mom-and-pop businesses like Café Laurent on Overland or Ed Little's Auto Services on Sepulveda.

New developments, especially from major national chains, have sprung up next to familiar Culver City businesses in recent years. Driving around the majority of its residential sections—which are bisected by Ballona Creek—this reporter saw what one might have seen 50 years ago: post-World War II planned neighborhoods with identical bungalows. The high school resides in a building that opened its doors in 1951. Culver City has definitely been kept "the way it is while going forward," said one resident.

Covering an area that is mainly residential brings with it problems, as city government and police/crime stories will mostly fall outside of its boundaries. What it does offer, however, is the ability to get to the heart of hyper-local reporting, that is, to fully communicate with people about the stories that affect them. 

When speaking with residents at Carlson Park and at the Culver Ice Arena, it became apparent that this area is ripe for oral history stories. Also, the inclusion of the senior center opens up the reporting project to interview subjects who may have been living in Culver City for more than half a century.

It is also imperative to cover the changes in the Culver City business economy—more specifically, how small, locally owned businesses are being affected by the influx of national chains and what that means for Culver City's economy.

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