📬 Councilmember Dan O'Brien | Culver City | April 13, 2026

Hello Culver City,

Some weeks the work is quiet, and some weeks one Council item can reshape how our downtown functions for the next several years. Tonight is the second kind. The Entertainment Zone Management Plan lands at the dais at 7 PM, and if you care about Downtown businesses, special events, or how Culver City shows up during the World Cup and the Olympics, this one is worth paying attention to. Plus recaps from two public budget conversations, postcards heading to 10,000 mailboxes, Fiesta La Ballona opening its stage, and a personal update I'm excited to share. Let me walk you through it.

🏪 Economic Development: The Downtown Entertainment Zone Hits the Dais Tonight

🔹 Tonight's headliner is the Downtown Culver City Entertainment Zone Management Plan. Back on October 13, 2025, the Council unanimously approved creating an Entertainment Zone, contingent on a real management plan coming back for review. That plan is here. City staff and the Downtown Business Association have spent months building out the details: boundaries, participating businesses, branded cups and wristbands, glass and non-compostable container restrictions, and age verification protocols.

→ 💡 What this actually means: During designated special events, patrons at participating Downtown restaurants and bars with ABC licenses would be able to purchase a drink and walk with it within the zone boundaries (Town Plaza, The Culver Steps, Main Street, and the Downtown BID). Think Summer Concert Series, the Independence Day Drone Show, Third Wednesdays, Pride Ride, Tree Lighting Sled-tacular, and the Car Show. Santa Monica and Long Beach have already done this. We are next in line.

→ 🎯 My take: I have been publicly supportive of this from day one, and my position has not changed. Culver City is competing with Century City, Hollywood, and Downtown LA for every family looking for a Friday night out. Giving Angelenos one more reason to pick our downtown, especially with the FIFA World Cup coming this summer and LA28 on the horizon, is a real economic development tool. As someone who also leads the Chamber, I am focused on making sure this benefits the independent operators who built this city's character, not just the biggest names on the block. The management plan is where that intention becomes practice. If public safety and business equity are built into the details, I am a yes.

→ ⚡ Why it matters for residents: This is a two-year pilot, not a permanent shift. That structure exists so we can actually measure what works and what does not before making it a fixture. If you have thoughts, tonight is the time.

👉 View tonight's agenda and meeting details

👉 How to watch or attend virtually

💰 Budget: Two Public Conversations, Wrapped

🔹 "Let's Talk Budget, Culver City" closed its first two sessions. City Manager Odis Jones hosted community conversations on Tuesday, April 7 at the Veterans Memorial Building and Friday, April 10 at the Senior Center, both focused on the FY 2026-27 budget. These were built as small-group, table-format discussions, not formal hearings, so residents could actually surface priorities before the numbers get locked in.

→ 🎯 My take: A priority-driven budget is only as strong as the priorities residents bring to it. Measure CL is projected to bring in roughly $5.6 million annually, and the JPA the Council authorized in March opens up new financing tools. Those are levers. Where the money actually lands gets decided in rooms like the ones that just happened, and then continues through the Budget Input Box year-round. If you missed both sessions, the Input Box is still open. Send in what you want protected, what you want prioritized, and what you think we can do better. Those notes get read.

👉 Submit feedback to the Budget Input Box anytime

🗳️ Community Development: 10,000 Civic Assembly Postcards Are Coming

🔹 Culver City's first Civic Assembly is moving from concept to invitation. On April 9, the City announced that 10,000 households will receive a postcard in the coming days inviting them to participate in the Civic Assembly, with the first one focused on increasing public engagement in the budget process. If one of those postcards lands in your mailbox, please do not toss it.

→ ⚡ Why this matters: The Council unanimously approved the Civic Assembly remit back on March 16. That set the framework for what assembly members will deliberate on. This postcard is step two: finding the residents who will do the deliberating. A representative sample of neighbors digging into how the budget gets built is exactly the kind of structural upgrade to civic engagement I have been looking forward to seeing operationalized. Check your mail.

👉 Read the Civic Assembly announcement

🎭 Community: Fiesta La Ballona Turns 75

🔹 The 75th Annual Fiesta La Ballona is officially accepting entertainer applications. Parks, Recreation & Community Services announced the call on April 7 for this year's Fiesta, taking place August 28 through 30 at Veterans Memorial Park. Local musicians, dance groups, performing artists, and family-friendly acts are all encouraged to apply.

→ 🎯 My take: 75 years is not a small number. Fiesta La Ballona is one of those community traditions where the value compounds every year it keeps going. As someone who has worked alongside our scouts and volunteers at past Fiestas, I can tell you the best performances almost always come from right here in town. If you or someone you know belongs on that stage, get the application in.

👉 Entertainer application details

🌲 Parks & Environment: A Good Weekend to Be Outside

🔹 Baldwin Hills Trail Day and the Compost Hub both landed this week. Saturday morning, volunteers met at the upper lot of the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook for a few hours of trail work hosted by State Parks, Stoneview Nature Center, Parks Project, and the City. Earlier in the week, LA Compost's Syd Kronenthal Park hub took another round of food scraps from neighbors on its regular 2nd Wednesday schedule.

→ 💡 What this means: The Overlook has one of the best views in the county, and it stays that way because volunteers keep showing up. Same idea with composting: a ten-minute stop on a Wednesday morning is one of the lowest-effort, highest-impact environmental habits this city offers. Thank you to everyone who pitched in on both fronts.

👉 Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook

👉 Environmental programs

🏃 Campaign: The Announcement Is Officially Out

🔹 Potluck with Dan is this Sunday, April 19, 3 to 5 PM. It’s official. I am running for re-election to Culver City's City Council, and the kickoff celebration is a potluck. Many of the goals I ran on for my first term got accomplished, some are still works in progress, and there are new priorities in front of us that deserve the same energy I brought to the first run. On Sunday I will share my thoughts on where the city is going and the challenges I believe we need to take on next. A few friends are going to speak on my behalf. We will share food and drink, and it is genuinely meant to feel like a neighborhood gathering, not a rally.

→ 🎯 The ask: RSVP at the link below so we can send the location. Bring a dish to share if you can. Bring what is on your mind about Culver City even more.

👉 RSVP for the potluck

📅 Dates and What's Ahead

🔹 CCFD Girls Camp, Saturday and Sunday, April 18 to 19. Registration is open. A weekend with our fire department for young women interested in seeing firsthand what our firefighters actually do.

🔹 Earth Day Elenda Street Activation, Wednesday, April 22. The second annual open-streets event along Elenda between Culver Boulevard and Farragut Drive. Students biking and rolling to school on a car-free street, with community groups and Earth Day education activities along the route.

🔹 Fire Service Day & Pancake Breakfast, Saturday, May 9. A Culver City tradition worth getting on the calendar early, and one of the first big events of the season for Downtown.

👉 City events calendar

🔹 Every Tuesday, 2-7 PM. Downtown Farmers Market. Main Street. Grab produce, support local growers, and say hello to neighbors.

👉 Visit the Farmers Market page

🔹 How to watch and participate in meetings. Agendas post Wednesdays before Monday meetings. You can attend in person or virtually.

👉 How to watch meetings

👉 View Meetings Agendas

🙏 Closing Thought

A quick personal beat to close the week. On Friday I picked up a basketball for the first time in over a year. I have not shot or jumped since the meniscus repairs, and I honestly was not sure my body would cooperate. I fired a few jump shots and actually made a couple. That is the whole story.

But if you have been on the slow road back from anything, you know those small wins count more than they have any right to. It is a good reminder heading into a busy stretch: tonight's meeting, the potluck on Sunday, Girls Camp the same weekend, Earth Day on the 22nd, and the work that comes after. There is no shortage of ways to show up. Hit reply if something is on your mind. I read every note, and they genuinely shape how I show up at the dais.

Let’s win this thing together.

Together, we can build a stronger, more connected Culver City. Thank you for being part of our community.

Dan O'Brien
Councilmember, Culver City
dan.obrien@culvercity.org