City Council Considers New Museum and Moves Market Hall One Step Forward

The City Council discussed two key development projects at Monday night’s meeting, taking steps to move forward on building a motion picture and television museum celebrating Culver City’s heritage in the industry and a .

The council agreed to form an ad hoc subcommittee to explore the feasibility of a motion picture and television museum; the museum project has been requested repeatedly by several residents for several months, with many of them asking that the museum become a part of the development on the parking lot at 9300 Culver Boulevard, also known as Parcel B.

"This has been discussed for a number of years," said Councilman Chris Armenta, who volunteered to be a member of the committee. "I think it's fair to take a look at it."

However, not everyone was supportive of the project. Cultural Affairs Commissioner Marla Koosed pointed out that there are already several museums dedicated to motion picture and television history in the Los Angeles area.

"Culver City already has three museums that need our support," Koosed said, pointing to the City Historical Society Archives, and the .

Koosed also talked about the considerable cost of building, developing and maintaining a museum and urged the council to consider whether it would be appropriate to build a potentially redundant venue.

Resident Ross Hawkins, one of the people behind the push for the museum, said that he wanted the museum to be part of the Parcel B development, which is currently set up through entitlements to be a retail and office complex. Resident Don Cherniss echoed Hawkins statements, adding that he had spoken with some of the developers who are being considered for the project.

"Your first obligation is not to the entitlements but to the citizens of Culver City," Cherniss told the council.

Vice Mayor Scott Malsin said that he wasn't against the idea of a museum, but that given the amount of resources needed even for an ad hoc committee—which would be dedicated solely to exploring what would be needed for the museum—he thought the residents who wanted the museum should do more of the legwork to find out if the project was even feasible.

"I think creating the committee would be extremely premature," Malsin said in his remarks at the meeting. "I welcome the citizens to prove otherwise."

Both Malsin and voted against forming the committee, which ultimately passed with a 3-2 vote.

The other major issue of the evening was the market hall project, which would entail building a small retail center for artisanal food sellers— including kiosks on the lot at Washington and Centinela—with a nearby parking garage.

The lot, which has been vacant for more than five years, has been the subject of concern to some neighbors surrounding the intersection who have been unhappy with proposed projects because of concerns about parking.

And although not all of the six residents who spoke before the council in favor of the project were completely satisfied with the parking mitigations proposed by the city's redevelopment agency, all congratulated the agency for its outreach to the neighborhood.

"I commend Mr. Blumenfeld and his crew," said resident Robert Pine, referring to Community Development Director Sol Blumenfeld and his staff.

Resident Judy Kessell said that she was pleased with the project and the outreach, which included two community meetings during the summer.

"Our section of the city was getting totally ignored, I felt," she told the council members.

The councilmen, in turn, were happy to hear the comments.

"It's great to have this level of support for something the agency is working on," Malsin said in his remarks, referring to the frequent protests such projects often get.

The council then directed Blumenfeld to take the next step in the process by putting out a Request For Qualifications during which developers prove that they can carry out the project as envisioned.

Finally, the council heard an extended report on ways to work out the metered street parking in the city, based on a report from Walker Parking Implementation. Final comments and a decision on implementing the report's recommendations will come at an undisclosed later date.

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