Elected Official? Create newsletters in minutes, not hours.
Transparent, authentic, comprehensive newsletters to maximize constituent representation and civic engagement.
Dan O'Brien Newsletter — May 3, 2026
📬 Councilmember Dan O'Brien | Culver City | May 4, 2026
Hello Culver City,
It has been four days that felt like a month. I joined the ribbon cutting for IKEA Culver City in the Helms District on Wednesday morning, moderated the Chamber's annual Economic Outlook at the Wende that same evening, joined city and regional leaders at LAEDC's Select LA Investment Summit on Thursday, and ended Thursday night at Village Well Books going head to head with a Culver City Middle School 7th-grader on the burning question of socks and sandals. A lot of rooms, a lot of handshakes, and a lot of reminders that being present in this city is itself part of the job.
Monday's Council meeting on the back end of all that put real numbers on the page: a bigger bond, a ratified set of strategic priorities, and a green light for our World Cup partnership. Here is what it all meant.
🏪 Economic Development: Four Days That Looked Like a Month
🔹 IKEA Culver City is officially open in the Helms District. Wednesday's ribbon cutting at 3225-A Helms Avenue, followed by Saturday's grand opening Block Party, marked the debut of IKEA's first city-center format store in Los Angeles. The 38,000 square foot space steps into the building that used to house H.D. Buttercup, with about 4,000 products on the floor and roughly 3,000 of those available to walk out the door same day.
→ 💡 What this actually means: Smaller footprint, planning-first design, easy bus and Metro E-Line access. This is the IKEA built for how people actually live in a dense, transit-friendly city, and it landed in our backyard.
→ 🎯 My take: I have been waiting for an anchor like this in the Helms District. Every time a globally recognized brand picks this corner of LA County, the small businesses around it pick up foot traffic they would not have seen otherwise. Helms Bakery, Father's Office, Scandinavian Designs, Room & Board, and the rest of the design-district neighbors just gained a new front door. The city-center concept is also a quiet bet on Culver City's walkability, and I am here for it.
🔹 The Chamber's 2026 Economic Outlook drew a packed house at the Wende. I had the privilege of moderating Wednesday evening's panel at the Glorya Kaufman Community Center, with Mayor Freddy Puza opening the night, LA28 Vice President of Impact Erikk Aldridge delivering the keynote on what the Olympics economic forecast actually looks like, and our new Assistant City Manager for Economic Development, Adam Troy, closing with a Culver City bottom line. Denise Gutches from FilmLA and Darrel Menthe from the Downtown Business Association joined the industry panel.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: This is the first Economic Outlook with Adam Troy in the room as our Assistant City Manager for Economic Development, Vitality, and Equity. His arrival was the headline of last month. His first public report-out was Wednesday. The connection between "we made the hire" and "the hire is now operational and speaking to our business community" is the kind of through-line that does not happen by accident.
🔹 Select LA Investment Summit at the Skirball, Thursday. I joined city and regional leaders for LAEDC's annual gathering of global investors, business operators, and government officials. The summit theme this year focused on the LA region as an open destination for international trade, capital, and partnership, and Culver City sat at the table where those decisions get framed.
→ 🎯 My take: Sports diplomacy and economic development are the same muscle for me, and Select LA is one of the rooms where that muscle gets exercised. Every time a foreign investor, an international consul, or a regional principal hears Culver City's name in a panel discussion, our restaurants, our studios, our hotels, and our housing pipeline get added to a list that matters when capital decisions get made.
👉 Learn about LAEDC's Select LA program
🔹 Culver City Middle School took on City Hall at "Clash of the Clichés." Thursday night, Village Well Books and Coffee hosted CCMS Speech and Debate students against a lineup of city officials in a fundraiser format that was equal parts unserious topic, serious skill, and standing-room-only crowd. Mayor Puza, Vice Mayor Bubba Fish, Councilmember Yasmine-Imani McMorrin, and I each got matched against a different middle schooler. The audience picked the winners.
→ 🎯 The honest reflection: Stand at a microphone across from a prepared 7th-grader and you will leave with two things. A reminder that our public schools are doing remarkable work in speech and debate. And a healthy bit of humility about how fast the next generation can frame an argument. Worth every minute.
🏛️ City Hall: Council Voted, Numbers Got Bigger
🔹 The bond authorization passed, and the Council added $3 million on top of staff's recommendation. Action Item A-2 on Monday night's agenda authorized lease revenue bonds through the new Public Finance Authority, with City Manager Odis Jones recommending $39.42 million issued and roughly $36.9 million in net proceeds folded into the FY 2026-27 budget. Council went further, voting to issue additional bonds adding $3 million in net proceeds specifically dedicated to "safe streets" and "complete streets" projects, in direct response to public comment from residents pushing for more focus on micromobility and transit conditions.
→ 💡 What this means: Roughly $39.9 million in net proceeds is now headed into next year's budget framework, with that extra $3 million carrying a clear instruction from the dais about where it should land. That is a meaningful upgrade for our bicycle, pedestrian, and street-safety pipeline.
→ 🎯 My take: This is what priority-driven budgeting actually looks like. Residents showed up Monday, made a specific case for safer streets, and the Council moved a real number in response. It also bears repeating: the JPA is a financing tool the Council authorized in March, and we are now seeing the second-half of that decision arrive as actual dollars connected to actual projects.
👉 View the April 27 meeting agenda and materials
🔹 2026 Strategic Priorities and Key Indicators ratified (Action Item A-1). Council formally adopted the framework that came out of the Valentine's Day strategic planning retreat with Gorman Partners. The Key Performance Indicators will be measurable with data, and an online dashboard is being planned so residents can track the city's progress toward each priority.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: The strategic priorities are the lens that gets pointed at every budget request, every staff initiative, and every Council action for the next year. The dashboard, once it is live, will be the public-facing version of "are we doing what we said we would do."
🔹 World Cup screening partnership and Olympics planning update approved (Action Item A-3). Council unanimously approved the collaboration with Afro Village and Bahati House Sports Lab for the July 19, 2026 World Cup screening in Downtown Culver City, alongside a status update on our LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games planning.
→ 🎯 My take: The Entertainment Zone we approved earlier this month is the venue. The Olympics is the long horizon. The World Cup partnership is what fills the calendar in between. All three pieces are now connected on the record.
🔹 A few more items worth knowing. Council also passed an official position on AB 1537 (Bryan), a state bill addressing peace officers and secondary employment, and approved Small Business Month and National Bike Month proclamations for May 2026. The South Coast AQMD resolution on industrial boiler decarbonization was on the consent calendar.
💰 Budget: The Calendar Just Got Real
🔹 The FY 2026-27 budget process moves into its public-facing phase this week and next. With Strategic Priorities ratified and bond proceeds authorized, the Proposed Budget arrives at Council on Monday, May 11, alongside two new community conversations and the formal Departmental Budget Presentations later in the month.
→ 📅 The dates to put on the calendar:
- Monday, May 11 at 7 PM, City Council Meeting includes the delivery of the Proposed Budget and the budget overview presentation.
- Wednesday, May 13 at 6:30 PM, "Let's Talk Budget, Culver City" Community Conversation at Culver West Alexander Park.
- Saturday, May 16, an additional "Let's Talk Budget" community conversation.
- Monday and Tuesday, May 18 and 19 at 3 PM, the Departmental Budget Presentations, where each city department lays out its proposed FY 2026-27 budget in front of Council.
→ 💡 Why this matters: The bond proceeds, the Strategic Priorities, and the public input from earlier sessions all converge here. If you have wanted to weigh in on where the money should go, the next three weeks are the highest-leverage stretch you will see this year.
👉 Submit feedback to the Budget Input Box anytime
🔹 A quick note on Measure ER, on the June 2 ballot. LA County voters will be asked to approve a half-cent county sales tax increase for five years, projected to generate roughly $1 billion annually to backfill hospital and clinic budgets after federal Medi-Cal cuts. If passed, the county sales tax would rise from 9.75 percent to 10.25 percent.
→ 🎯 My take, and why Measure CL last year mattered: One of the key reasons I supported Culver City's Measure CL last fall was not only to raise needed funding to reduce our structural budget deficit. It was also to beat the county to the punch. We were a quarter-cent below the state-mandated sales tax ceiling, and there was a real concern that one of the agencies above us would move to add a sales tax of their own. We were right. With Measure CL passed, Culver City is already at the ceiling, which means our local sales tax will not rise even if Measure ER passes countywide. You can vote for or against Measure ER on its merits. Just know that the local protection we built last year is what is keeping the math at home.
👉 Read LAist's Measure ER guide
🚒 Public Safety: Fire Service Day Is This Saturday
🔹 CCFD Fire Service Day and Pancake Breakfast, Saturday, May 9. This is one of the most family-friendly mornings on the Culver City calendar. The firehouse opens up, the apparatus comes out, kids climb on the trucks, and the pancakes are real. If you have ever wanted a closer look at the people who answer the call, this is the day for it.
→ 💡 Why I keep flagging it: CCFD is an ISO Class 1 department, one of only a handful in LA County, and that rating is built on the kind of culture you only see up close on days like this. Bring the kids. Bring a friend who has been meaning to learn what their tax dollars actually look like in uniform.
👉 Fire Service Day 2026 details
🏘️ Community Development: One Week Left for CBC Applications
🔹 CBC applications close Monday, May 11 at 5 PM. Thirty-four positions across thirteen Commissions, Boards, and Committees, and we are now inside the final week. If the link has been sitting in your tabs, this is the week to do something about it.
→ 🎯 A reminder that bears repeating: Most of the decisions that shape daily life in Culver City get shaped at the CBC level long before they reach the Council dais. Zoning, rent, parks, transit, arts funding, finance, public art, and more. You can apply, change your mind, or withdraw. What you cannot do is get the time back if you skip a cycle.
👉 Apply to a Commission, Board, or Committee
🌍 Environment: Enviro-fest Filled the Boulevard
🔹 Saturday's Enviro-fest stretched from Veterans Park to the Wende Museum. The Public Works Environmental Programs and Operations Division co-hosted a day of free compost, mulch, fruit trees, and vegetable plants, alongside drive-through Household Hazardous Waste collection, an e-waste and paper-shredding event with Homeboy Industries, a Recycle Truck for the kids, the Magic Soil Bus, a clothing swap, and live music from The Kicking Giants. Culver Boulevard turned into a sustainability fair from 9 AM to 1 PM.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: Earth Month, Arbor Day, and International Composting Week all rolled into one Saturday is the kind of layered programming that makes a sustainability calendar feel less like a checklist and more like a community event. My thanks to EPO, Homeboy Industries, the Wende, and every neighbor who showed up to drop off a paint can or take home a tree.
📅 Dates and What's Ahead
🔹 Parks, Recreation and Community Services Commission, Tuesday, May 5 at 7 PM in the Mike Balkman Council Chambers.
🔹 Fire Service Day and Pancake Breakfast, Saturday, May 9. See above.
🔹 CBC Applications Due, Monday, May 11 at 5 PM. See above.
🔹 Next Regular Council Meeting, Monday, May 11 at 7 PM, with the Proposed FY 2026-27 Budget on the agenda.
🔹 Compost Hub at Syd Kronenthal Park, Wednesday, May 13, 10 AM to noon. Second Wednesday of the month.
🔹 "Let's Talk Budget, Culver City" Community Conversation, Wednesday, May 13 at 6:30 PM at Culver West Alexander Park.
🔹 "Let's Talk Budget, Culver City" Community Conversation, Saturday, May 16. Time and location to be confirmed on the city calendar.
🔹 Departmental Budget Presentations, Monday and Tuesday, May 18 and 19 at 3 PM.
🔹 California Statewide Direct Primary Election, Tuesday, June 2. Vote-by-mail ballots are already arriving in mailboxes.
🔹 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.
🙏 Closing Thought
A caption I posted this weekend started with the line, "Being present and supportive as a city leader can be as important as the work we do from the dais." A few of you replied to ask whether I really believed that. The honest answer is yes, and this past week is the proof of concept. A ribbon cutting, a panel I moderated, a summit on global investment, and a microphone showdown with a middle schooler are not the headline items in a councilmember's job description. They are also where trust gets built between this office and the businesses, students, families, and partners who make Culver City what it is.
What comes next leans heavier on the dais side of the ledger. Fire Service Day on Saturday, the Proposed Budget landing the following Monday, two community budget conversations after that, two days of departmental presentations, and a CBC application deadline that closes the same evening as the Council meeting. Whichever of those finds its way onto your week, I hope to see you there. If something else is on your mind, send it over. The answers I bring to the dais are usually the ones you helped me find first.
