2026 Election

Dear Culver City: The Council should listen to the community

EDITOR'S NOTE: This piece was submitted by a source unaffiliated with Culver Crescent and should not be interpreted as reflecting or confirming the opinion of The Crescent or its writers.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This piece was submitted by a source unaffiliated with Culver Crescent and should not be interpreted as reflecting or confirming the opinion of The Crescent or its writers. Click here to view the full Dear Culver City disclaimer

EN2: The following is a sponsored post. This article was published following a payment to Culver Crescent reflecting the “advertorial” nature of the article.

By Jeannine Wisnosky Stehlin

Dear Neighbor,

At door after door, neighbors tell me, “Sometimes it feels like City Hall isn’t listening.” That matters to me, because the people closest to problems often have the right solutions.

For example, Carlson Park is where kids learn to ride bikes, families picnic, neighbors gather for theatre, and everyone looks forward to pizza Wednesdays. Its corner is also on a path many kids take to school.

For years, parents warned City Hall about speeding drivers there. When a child was nearly hit, we came together, and I helped organize neighbors to push for action. Together, we got a four-way stop, safer crosswalks, and red curbs. That is what happens when residents are heard.

I have done this work at every level, and each experience taught me something I will bring to the Council:

During eight years on the Cultural Affairs Commission (2016–2024), including as Chair, I helped direct more than $1 million in grants to local arts nonprofits and learned to weigh competing requests fairly.
On the Citizens Bond Oversight Committee (2015–2019), I helped make sure school bond money was spent the way voters were promised. I will bring that same careful eye to the City budget.
As co-founder of grassroots organizations supporting our schools, parks, neighborhoods, and civic engagement, including the Culver City Parks Foundation, I’ve been a lifelong steward of our green spaces, and I learned that the best ideas come from neighbors working together. I’m proud to be endorsed by environmental leaders like Marcia Hanscom, a longtime advocate for coastal protection and the Ballona Wetlands.
As a fourth-generation union member, I served two years on SAG-AFTRA’s Government Affairs and Public Policy Committee and am in my third term on its Women’s Committee. I understand how policy decisions affect working families.
As a mom of three CCUSD graduates, a small business owner, and a nonprofit executive, I know firsthand the pressures facing Culver City families and businesses. I know what it takes to make payroll and keep the doors open, and I’ll bring that same responsibility to how the City spends your money.

That’s why I’m proud to be the only candidate for City Council endorsed by both the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and the Culver City Chamber of Commerce.

I’m also proud that nearly 75% of my donors live right here in Culver City. Our community is the reason I’m running, and it’s our community I’ll answer to, with a look to the future.

As your Councilmember, I will:

Make a lobbyist registry one of my first priorities. Our immediate neighbors, including Los Angeles, Santa Monica, West Hollywood, and Beverly Hills, along with many other Southern California cities, already require paid lobbyists to register and disclose who they work for. Culver City doesn’t. I’ve pushed for a registry for six years, and it’s still stalled in the Council’s governance subcommittee. You deserve to know who is paid to influence the decisions that shape your daily life.
Listen before we act, bringing major decisions to the community early.
Build more affordable housing so families, seniors, artists, and working people can stay here.
Keep homelessness programs that work, like Project Homekey and the Mobile Crisis Team, with a focus on real results, and figure out how we can do even better to help people.
Support our local businesses and fight to keep entertainment and other jobs in Culver City.
Fix our streets, sidewalks, and lighting, and expand safe routes to school.
Protect our environment: expand our urban tree canopy, plant native plants that cool our neighborhoods and capture stormwater, and add pocket parks and greenways so every resident has green space within a five-minute walk.
Rebuild the City and schools partnership. Our liaison committees haven’t met since last November. That has to change.
Look beyond a single budget year: weigh the long-term cost of every commitment, separate one-time spending from ongoing costs, and rebuild healthy reserves.

Culver City is for all of us, at every stage of our lives. City Hall should make our lives easier. That is what I will do.

I am asking for your vote by Tuesday, November 3rd. Learn more at Jeannine4CulverCity.com.