The June 9, 2025 Culver City Council meeting filled the Mike Balkman Chambers at the end of stressful day for the city. The meeting to finalize the 2025-2026 city budget was topped by the final approval of the city’s support for the affordable housing project Jubilo Village.
The city’s inclusion of the loan in the budget for the new year will allow the construction off Sepulveda Boulevard to begin.
Prior to the council meeting, there were events planned by both the pro-housing and anti-housing forces; people were asked to wear green or white, placards were handed out, and many people signed up to speak from the podium. The green signs in favor of Jubilo Village seemed to outnumber the ‘No Jubilo’ placards by about two to one, but it was not the only business before the council that night. People were there wearing white who had no affiliation to the agenda item, and several, when asked, did not know what the colors were supposed to symbolize.
Dozens and dozens of people spoke from the podium, including Reverend Johan Dodge, the current pastor of the Culver Palms United Methodist Church. “I’m the minister of this [money-grabbing] church, he joked, noting that they would be building a smaller sanctuary after the project was completed. “Helping the poor is a part of the church’s mission.”
The meeting, which ran more than six hours, was the finish line for the annual budget, and the city’s long debated support.
The Jubilo Village project, which had originally been scheduled to break ground in January of this year, was waiting to secure funds after months of re-negotiation. Other possible sources of funding, including state and county grants, are still in the pipeline.
The city’s budget item, which was on the agenda as Public Hearing 3, was approved on a 3-2 vote, with vice Mayor Freddy Puza, Council member Yasmine Imani McMorrin and Council member Bryan ‘Bubba’ Fish all voting in favor.
The details of the loan were taken up by the council as item A-3 on the agenda, and that item passed on a 4- 1, with Mayor Dan O’Brien also voting yes.
Council member McMorrin requested that the council ask city staff prepare a report on the structural deficit issues that the city has been dealing with since 2010, and City Clerk Jeremy Bocchino noted that there were “three nodding heads,” the notation for a council majority to proceed with the request.
Judith Martin-Straw