Second in a series

Re “Clarke Celebrated Thanksgiving in Italian”

Devoting half of his 10-day Italian holiday to seaside Capo d’Orlando, Culver City’s newest Sister City, Jim Clarke almost felt at home.

“Because it is a small community (14,000),” said the City Councilman, “on the street I kept running into people I knew.

“Besides Thanksgiving, they did two other dinners for me.” Not bad for a five-day stay.

“How generous and warm they are,” Mr. Clarke said. “They showed me great hospitality.”

Modestly, the Councilman took a step back. “They did not need to do that,” he said. It was not an official visit. I was just there to do sightseeing.”

On the reverse side, Mr. Clarke was in Palermo at the time of last week’s Council meeting.  Starting at 3:30 in the Palermo a.m., he was on the phone for a hefty 3½ hours to participate in the meeting.

Mr. Clarke and Goran Eriksson are the minority who favor a more moderate pace before approving far-ranging cannabis regulations. They teamed on a failed motion to indefinitely delay framework for retail outlets.

Mr. Clarke agrees with City Manager John Nachbar that the first of three retail stores likely will emerge in September or October at the earliest.

“There is a whole vetting and application process that (operators) will have to go through,” Mr. Clarke said.

(To be continued)