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Dan O'Brien Newsletter — May 31, 2026
📬 Councilmember Dan O'Brien | Culver City | June 1, 2026
Dear neighbors,
The stretch opened with Memorial Day, when City offices closed and we paused to honor the people who gave everything in service to this country. Now the calendar pivots hard toward home, and it leaves a week that asks something of all of us. Ballots for tomorrow's statewide primary are due, the refuse rates that touch every household just had their public hearing, a new state housing law is reshaping what gets built near transit, and the budget I have been writing to you about for weeks reaches its final vote on June 8. Here is what is on your plate, in the order it lands.
🗳️ Your Vote: Ballots Are Due Tomorrow
🔹 Election Day is tomorrow, Tuesday, June 2. The statewide direct primary closes at 8 PM. If your vote-by-mail ballot is still sitting on the kitchen counter, it needs to be postmarked by Tuesday or dropped at an official box or vote center before polls close. You can also vote in person.
→ 🎯 My take: Primaries decide who you actually get to choose from in November, and they are the elections the fewest people show up for. A ballot left on the counter is the one regret I never want a neighbor to carry. If you have already voted, thank you. If you have not, tomorrow is the day.
👉 Culver City election information
💰 Budget & Finance: The Final Vote Is June 8
🔹 The FY 2026-27 budget reaches its adoption hearing on Monday, June 8 at 7 PM. Last Tuesday, May 26, Council took up the proposed budget for discussion and set this date as the public hearing where it gets adopted. City Manager Odis Jones built it as a balanced budget, our first in three years, organized around the strategic priorities we ratified in April: long-term financial sustainability, investment in public spaces and infrastructure, and affordability tied to housing and homelessness.
→ 💡 What this means: June 8 is the last scheduled moment for public comment before the numbers become law for the year that begins July 1. Everything from this spring, the community conversations, the bond proceeds, the input box submissions, funnels into that one night.
→ 🎯 My take: I have said all spring that a priority-driven budget is only as strong as the priorities residents bring to it. This is the closing window. If a line item matters to your block, your kids' field, or your small business, June 8 is the night to say so out loud or in writing.
👉 View Council meetings and agendas
👉 Submit feedback to the Budget Input Box
🏘️ Housing: New State Rules for Building Near Transit
🔹 Council introduced an interim ordinance last Tuesday to put local guardrails around Senate Bill 79. The new state law, the Abundant and Affordable Homes Near Transit Act, allows taller and denser housing within a half mile of qualifying transit stops, and it takes effect July 1. Culver City has four Tier 2 transit locations in play, including the Expo Line stations and the Venice corridor stops. The ordinance sets local standards for those projects and is written so it does not kick in until the state law does.
→ ⚡ Why this matters: SB 79 is going to apply here whether the city acts or not. The real choice is whether Culver City shapes how that density lands or lets the state default decide for us. The interim ordinance gives us a framework now while staff builds a longer-term transit-oriented development plan over the coming months.
→ 🎯 My take: Council asked for more analysis before the second reading on how this squares with our existing medium-density standards and what happens when they conflict. I am glad we did. Getting housing near transit right is one of the hardest balances this Council handles, and I would rather take the extra step to understand it than rush a rule we have to unwind later.
👉 Read the Council's SB 79 recap
♻️ Environment & Infrastructure: A Hard Look at Refuse Rates
🔹 Proposed five-year refuse rate increases got their public hearing on May 26. The city is proposing to raise trash, recycling, and organics rates for FY 2026-27 through 2030-31, starting with a 9 percent increase next year. Our refuse program runs entirely on customer fees, not the General Fund, and it serves roughly 8,000 households and 1,500 businesses.
→ 💡 What this means: Rising recycling and organics costs, plus new state composting requirements under SB 1383, are outpacing what current rates bring in. Because this runs through a Proposition 218 process, property owners have a formal right to weigh in through written protest.
→ 🎯 My take: Raising a bill that lands in every mailbox is not something I take lightly. The honest tradeoff is real, though: underfund the system now and we pay more later in service gaps and deferred infrastructure. I want residents to see exactly where every dollar goes before anything is finalized, which is why the full details are posted.
👉 Review the proposed refuse rates
🎖️ Around Town: Honoring Service and Our Older Neighbors
🔹 The Council named Michael Monagan our 2026 Senior of the Year. At the May 26 meeting we recognized Michael for years of service to Culver City, alongside proclamations marking May as Older Americans Month and as Jewish American Heritage Month.
→ 🎯 My take: Older Americans Month this year carried the theme "Champion Your Health," and Michael is exactly the kind of neighbor it celebrates: someone who keeps showing up for this community long after most people would have hung it up. Recognizing one person well is how a city says thank you to a whole generation of them.
👉 Visit the Culver City Senior Center
📅 Dates & What's Ahead
🔹 Tuesday, June 2. California Statewide Direct Primary Election. Polls close at 8 PM.
🔹 Saturday, June 6. Culver City Friends of the Library Children's Pop-Up Book Sale. A good morning for young readers and the library that serves them.
🔹 Monday, June 8 at 7 PM. Regular Council Meeting and the Public Hearing for FY 2026-27 Budget Adoption, in the Mike Balkman Council Chambers.
🔹 Wednesday, June 17. The Downtown Business Association's Third Wednesday summer series kicks off, the first activation inside our new Downtown Entertainment Zone.
🔹 Looking further out. The FIFA World Cup screening comes to Downtown on July 19, and the 75th Annual Fiesta La Ballona returns August 28 to 30.
🔹 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
Memorial Day reminds us that service is the rent we pay for the community we get to live in. The rest of this week is a quieter version of the same idea. Casting a ballot, reading a budget before it passes, showing up to say what your neighborhood needs: none of it makes headlines, and all of it is how a five-and-a-half-square-mile city actually governs itself.
Two dates carry the most weight. Tuesday is yours to spend at the ballot box. June 8 is ours to spend together in the Council Chambers, turning a year of priorities into a vote. I will be there for the second one, and I would be glad to hear from you before then. The notes that reach my inbox often become the questions I ask during council meetings.
