Jim Clarke: Envisioning a Center for Media in the Heart of Screenland

This is the fifth in a series of one-on-one sit down interviews with each of the six individuals running for four open seats on the Culver City Council in the April 10 elections.

Mention the name Jim Clarke and many people say, “Oh, he’s that guy that works for Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.”

Yes he is. But he’s also a Culver City resident and is anxious to begin taking the experience he has had as the L.A. Mayor’s Director of Office for Grants and his former role as the director of federal relations for the City of Los Angeles and applying some of them to Culver City.

Just one of his visions is to make Culver City the epicenter of hi-tech creative media. “It would create paying jobs in a non polluting industry with lots of young people with lots of disposable income,” Clarke said. “They’re going to spend that income in downtown restaurants and on night life activity. I see that as a win-win situation for us: A hot spot for night lift and doing business.”

Culver City Patch: If elected, can you transition from working in big city L.A. to small, community-oriented Culver City?

Jim Clarke: There are other candidates running that have a tremendous amount of in-depth knowledge of what goes on in this city so whatever experience I bring I think will complement what already exists within the council. But I think the issue is you can be too inwardly focused. I can bring an outside perspective. One of the things that I’ve done in working with the Mayor of Los Angeles is that he’s the head of the U.S. Conference of Mayors and I’ve been to those conferences and a lot of those meetings with other mayors is about finding and promoting best practices.

Patch: Are there any that you’ve come across that you think would work well in Culver City?

Clarke: The Expo Line is coming and I don’t want Culver City to just become a parking lot for people to take it downtown to LA Live or the Staples Center. One way I think we can do that is to create a shuttle bus system here. I know that Sony is thinking about something for their employees; the Hayden Tract would be interested; [as would] Downtown Culver City, the Westfield Mall and West LA College. I think if we all put a little something into this, the city, through grants, could obtain the actual buses and the operational and maintenance activities would come from the various entities that put money into it and we would have a system and people would have a reason to come to Culver City.

We could create cultural clusters  - a museum cluster, a gallery cluster and if people come on the Expo and we market it we have a way of getting them around; on the shuttles or through rent-a-bikes – people can come spend a day in Culver City.

Patch: Would you consider creating some type of plan or zoning laws for the city to create the types of cultural clusters you speak of?

Clarke: I think you can do that through incentives rather than restrictions, if we move Culver City from the Heart of Screenland to the Center of Media. Let’s identify the hi-tech and creative industry and move that here and make it a critical mass. I would try to set aside an area where you could form a critical mass and create incentives to attract those businesses to locate here and fulfill that creative media concept in Culver City.

Patch: What are your ideas for trying to overcome the loss of the Redevelopment Agency and still provide essential services?

Clarke: In the short term we’re going to have to look at some belt tightening and that’s going to be very difficult. People want safety services, and police and fire represent almost 50 percent of our budget. That means cuts are going to have to come out of other areas.

In the immediate future we need to find additional sources of revenue through what I call competitive grants that are available at the federal, state and particularly the foundation level. Those kinds of grants usually require a partnership so you’ve got the City partnering with non-profits. The whole public/private partnership idea is that everybody puts a little bit of money into it.

One of things I’ve seen about Culver City is that either government has to pay for it or government can’t afford it so we can’t do it. I’m looking at it a third way. We can do it if government puts a little in; business puts a little in, the non-profits and the residents.

The third thing is private philanthropy that I’m calling “Culver City Proud.” There are probably several thousand people here who are well off enough to make sizable contributions to activities and organizations here. I’ve been a 15-year subscriber to the Ahmanson Theatre downtown but I’m not a season ticket holder to the Kirk Douglas. I plan on rectifying that. But the idea is that people here are generous but they’re generous outside Culver City because they don’t really know what’s available here.

I’ve talked with non-profits and there’s no real network for them and they’re all struggling with bake sales in order to raise money for their programs. If we could create a network for these programs and let people know what’s available they’d give money and be able to help Culver City.

Patch: How would you plan to do that?

Clarke: Firstly, we shouldn’t have the Cultural Affairs Foundation being run by the City Manager. It should be run by private individuals - people of stature in the community. We create a campaign, we ask people to make sizable contributions to the Foundation – they get a tax write off for doing that and we would allow people to nominate projects that go on a website that would be tied to a way in which people could donate. It would be like an American Idol contest. I could nominate a project, talk to my neighbors and tell them if we get the top votes on the project, we’ll get bonus money on the program. People will then go to the website and vote and they might see other projects or organizations they want to donate to. It’s a way to help the community know what’s going on. I say this because when the cuts come they’re going to come in the cultural and recreation areas.

Patch: Do you believe council members should take a stand on school board issues?

Clarke: I believe that [the city council] should opine, because the quality of life in Culver City is determined as much, if not more, by the quality of our schools as it is by the quality of public safety.  Whether it’s appropriate to do it in a public session? I would prefer to provide counsel to the school board members.

I have not signed the parent petition [in the ACE union dispute]. I’m in support of the parents’ position but if I’m fortunate enough to be elected I’d want to have the same sort of relationship with school board members where they feel they can come to me but I’m not leading the charge on a particular issue.

Patch: What has made you decide to run for the council now? 

Clarke: Four reasons. The first is political. There are four positions available and only two incumbents running. I don’t know the last time there were four out of five positions available. Those opportunities don’t come along very often.

The second is the change in my job. Until December I was the Director of Federal Relations for the City of Los Angeles and was traveling to D.C. all the time and working long hours. There was no way I could run. But since December I have a new position as the head of the mayors’ office of grants. It’s regular hours. 

Thirdly, I look at 40 or 50 grant opportunities every day now and I’m looking at how some of these can help Culver City. I think my experience in this area makes my run good timing, especially with the loss of the Redevelopment Agency when we’re looking to find new sources of revenue. The fourth thing is very personal. I grew up in Northern California in a small community. My Dad got elected to the City Council and became mayor when he was 78. In some respects it’s following in his footsteps. It’s a tribute to my Dad.

Patch:  If your campaign had a bumper sticker, what would it say?

Clarke: ‘Listening To Your Concerns, Responding To Your Needs.’

To read more about Jim Clarke's election campaign, visit his website at www.jim4culvercitycouncil.com 

Click the links below to read other council candidate profiles:

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