There's plenty to look forward to in Culver City in 2012. Here are three things I'm particularly excited to see.

1) Tony Tasset's 9-Story-Tall Rainbow

Tony Tasset's massive Rainbow  -- nine stories tall and spanning 188 feet -- is currently being fabricated off-site, and will be installed in early- to mid-2012 in the Sony Pictures lot. The piece is being created from welded steel, clad with aluminum panels, and finished with resin-based paint in, well, every color of the rainbow. The installation process is expected to take about 8 weeks.

According to the artist's description of his sculpture, it is intended to speak to "the sense of optimism and well-being associated with rainbows in general and more specifically with the rainbow in popular culture as imagined in the iconic Wizard of Oz film, created in the very movie studio that will become home to the Rainbow sculpture.”

I can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finally in -- I hope it turns out as dynamic and dreamy as these images make it look. I think It has a real chance to be an iconic image for Culver City.

2) New Habitat for Humanity Housing Development on Globe Ave

The Culver City Redevelopment Agency has established an exclusive negotiation agreement to work with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Los Angeles to create six duplex buildings at 4044-4068 Globe Avenue. I'm not certain the project will move ahead quickly enough to start construction in 2012, but I hope so. Mayor O'Leary expressed my sentiments exactly when he said at a June Culver City Council meeting  “I’ve wanted to go out and build a house with Habitat For Humanity for years. Any time I saw a story on Habitat For Humanity or a video of a project being developed – when I saw the effect they have had on people’s lives – it just stirred something in me. I’m going to buy a hammer!”

3) Market Hall Project at Centinela and Washington

The Culver City Council continues to drive the creation of a "public market" building on the northwest corner of Centinela and Washington that hopefully will attract independently owned shops, kitchens and cafés to offer artisanal, fresh, local, and organic products such as heirloom coffee, organic produce and meats, local cheeses, fresh-baked breads, sweet confections, fragrant flowers and the like." The idea is to create the same kind of market halls as in places like the Rockridge Market Hall in Oakland, CA, the Oxbow Public Market in Napa, CA, the Ferry Building Marketplace in San Francisco, and The Market in Santa Monica Place. The northeast corner -- currently an empty lot -- will hold a 245-space parking structure.