It is too early to know whether City Councilwoman Meghan Sahli-Wells, erstwhile champion of public comment, will succeed.

She is investing her time in deflecting/ignoring/demeaning criticism of the way she and her colleagues are rushing cannabis regulations through a twisting, unfamiliar, unformed process to be ready when the state rings the legalization bell in January.

Signs are the community is boiling mad.

Virtually all objective observers would agree that making the complicated regulations publically available for the first time the night before Thanksgiving and then voting on them five days later blatantly disregards community input.

Numerous surrounding communities have indefinitely delayed inauguration of retail cannabis sales, and critics have urged the Council to slow down. They are not. Further, they have pushed back hard at their scolders for daring to disagree.

Three members of the Council, Mayor Jeff Cooper, Vice Mayor Thomas Small and Ms. Sahli-Wells, are trying to make Culver City first or close to the first in opening its proposed three retail outlets.

Never mind that the processing is not close to being in place.

A Westside businessman was furious over what he called “a needless rush to judgment.”

He explained: “I find it appalling that after eight months of discussion at the subcommittee level of whether to allow cannabis to be sold in Culver City, the Council releases the regulations to the public for the first time on the Wednesday before the Thanksgiving holiday for discussion and vote the following Monday.

“What happened to the ‘always necessary’ public input and an opportunity to study?

“Just two weeks ago at the Council meeting when members of the public asked for additional time to study the (Inglewood Oil Field) oil drilling environmental impact report, the Council granted 120 days. Here, they give the pubic five days over a four-day holiday weekend to even know about, much less review, these cannabis regulations.”

(To be continued)