Culver City Observer -

Culver City made history this week as it selected Daniel Lee as its first African-American Mayor.

Sticking to its mayoral rotation tradition, the Culver City Council voted Monday night to hand over the mayoral duties to Lee, who has been serving as vice mayor.

But the vote was not unanimous.

Council member Goran Eriksson abstained during the voting after commenting that Lee – who is running for Congress next year – may not have time to devote to his mayoral duties.

But his four colleagues disagreed, voting to appoint Lee to the largely ceremonial, mayoral post. They stressed the need to follow the rotation protocol and maintained all councilmembers can juggle very well their personal, business and civic duties

“We have regular jobs and other commitments,” said outgoing Mayor Alex Fisch. “And we have not had any problem getting the job done. It’s been an honor and a pleasure, and a great experience.”

Following his appointment to the top civic post, Lee said "I look forward to serving as Culver City's first Black Mayor for the next year and continuing this Council's focus on addressing the housing crisis, protecting the health and safety of our residents and stakeholders, while lowering our greenhouse gas emissions and promoting active transportation that gets people out of their cars and into local businesses."

When it came time to choose a vice mayor, the Councilmembers offered no different perspectives after Fisch nominated Albert Vera for the post. The vote was 5-0.