More Expo Delays? Fight Between Expo Board, Culver City Could Delay Final Phase I Station

11:42 AM PDT on July 6, 2011

Construction on the Culver City Station as of March of this year. Photo:##http://www.friends4expo.org/culvercity.htm##Friends 4 Expo##

In November of 2007, the Expo Construction Authority and Culver City agreed that instead of building a "temporary" station at the terminus of Phase I of the Expo Project, that the Authority would build the permanent aerial station in time for the grand opening of Phase I. As part of that agreement, Culver City agreed to pay the Authority $7 million to cover some of the construction costs.

The deal seemed a classic win-win for everyone. Culver City moved forward not just with the most ambitious "Transit Oriented Development" project slated for the line, but also on a public health grant to connect the station to the Downtown through a safe and attractive pedestrian walkway. For once, everything was going smoothly.

Until last week's Expo Construction Authority Board Meeting.

Culver City officials are withholding payment of $7 million, $4 million of which is for station construction, they promised the Authority in large parts because the city feels the station that is being constructed is not the one they were promised in the M.O.U. The Construction Authority doesn't dispute that plans for the station have changed and have been somewhat downsized, but that they didn't promise a certain station to Culver City in the M.O.U., just that they promised an aerial station for Phase I.

At the meeting, much of the confrontation was between Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky and Culver City staff.

"We agreed to build a station in Phase I, you agreed to pay $4 million." Yaroslavsky lectured the staff. "The State puts up $50 million, you put up $4 million and we build a station in Phase I." Expo Authority Lawyers backed Yaroslavsky's claims, while Culver City Attorneys stated the opposite.

So here's where we stand. Expo is now refusing to build anything in Culver City other than a bare-bones minimal light-rail station -- no bike path, no National Boulevard improvements, no facilities around the station. Culver City won't pay anything to Expo unless the Expo Board passes a motion to build the station as Culver City wants. Expo says they won't build anything in Culver City until the City pays what they promised. Culver City says they will pay the money once they get what they want, but Expo is asking for an escrow. CulverCity won't do an escrow unless Expo builds what they want.

You get the idea.

I'm trying to find a draft of the M.O.U., which is quite a bit harder than looking through old agendas. Once I have it, we'll post an update here. In the meantime, you can listen to part of the showdown between the Expo Board and Culver City staff thanks to audio recorded by Gökhan Esirgen who alerted me to this story in the first place.