Culver City Observer -

In my job as a real estate agent I often find myself talking to buyers who are considering somewhere on the westside to live. They are often not too familiar with all the nuances of the different cities and neighborhoods. When the conversation comes around to Culver City and Culver City Schools, it's the "local" and "small" features I spend some time discussing. I talk about how residents can feel they can make a difference in their community.

This is somewhat more challenging if you happen to live in the City of Los Angeles, Santa Monica or Beverly Hills for example, as great as some of the neighborhoods are, due to the vastness of it's citizenry, it's is simply more difficult to truly effect what's going on in your particular part of town.

Case in point Cuvler City resident, Todd Johnson. One of Todd's passions is reducing the carbon footprint, in his own home and neighborhood. He had solar panels installed in his own home 6 years ago, and is serving as the Co-Chair of the CCUSD (Culver City Unified School District) Sustainability committee. Todd is one of those people that instead of sitting back and complaining things aren't the way they should be, Todd rolls up his sleeves and get's involved. In a big way.

So, when the School Board was deciding how to spend around 8 million dollars that was sitting in the districts capital improvement fund back in 2008, Todd focussed like a laser beam and made sure the board would invest a large chunk of that fund on installing solar panels in some of our schools. Today, Todd's dream is a reality, the benefit to the schools is not just environmental. As a result the schools general fund (money that can be spent in the classroom), will be better off to the tune of around $400,000 every year!

Todd will be the first to say he has received a lot of help and support from many other concerned CC residents, but there is no doubt he played a major role in "making" this happen. A fine example of being able to "make a difference" if ever their was one. If that sounds like you, Culver City is a great place to live!