[img]1|left||remove link|no_popup[/img]
There we sat at last Monday night’s yawning City Council meeting.
Tired and cranky by 11:20, the 4-hour wait would be worthwhile because when it was time for Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger to speak during the Council comment period, he probably would attempt to resuscitate the explosive Entrada Office Tower proposal.
However, when the Vice Mayor’s turn came, he didn’t even use words that had the letters of E-n-t-r-a-d-a in them.
Instead, Mr. Silbiger talked of a scheme to make it easier for him to get his often controversial and commonly resisted projects lifted onto the agenda.
Then he turned to another supposed dead horse, a Youth Advisory Council, which teenagers for a number of years have been saying they ain’t interested in. “We have a lot of youth activities, but none dealing with city activities,” Mr. Silbiger said.
The reason is, they don’t give a hoot.
Changing the Subject
His material seemed to be thinning out fast by the time he inquired of Charles Herbertson, the Public Works Director, about the status of the Caltrans project at Sepulveda and Culver boulevards. My attention was wandering faster than the Vice Mayor was speaking.
I kept listening for E-n-t-r-a-d-a.
Never happened. By the time Mr. Silbiger steered the conversation toward a new Council Room in City Hall, my boredom was galloping.
A Little History
At the end of last week’s maiden meeting for the three new members of the City Council, when my late first mother-in-law was believed to be the only person left in Council Chambers, freshman member Chris Armenta and Mr. Silbiger bandied Entrada about.
A core of activists, in Westchester and Culver City, was thrilled. They are churning the commentary lines, hoping to keep already-approved Entrada visible, and to bring it back for a do-over.
Once thought to be restricted to children’s play, do-overs are becoming increasingly popular with grown-up politicians.
Before Monday night’s meeting, City Atty. Carol Schwab briefed the two old and the three new Council members about the financial and legal liability trouble City Hall likely will be in if Entrada is brought back.
One Side Has Been Declared Victor
A perfectly legal City Council vote has been taken.
As far as City Hall is concerned, the game is over.
The lights are out.
Does anyone out there in Newspaperland want to re-do the 1932 Presidential election?
This is why rules are written.
When I spoke on Tuesday with Mr. Armenta, I asked whether he or Mr. Silbiger will try to bring back Entrada at next Monday’s meeting.
He gave an intriguing answer, perhaps linked to his newness on the City Council. But maybe not.
“I can’t talk about it,” Mr. Armenta said. “For right now, it is what it is.”
Who Knew? No One
Going into the comment period last Monday night, no one on the dais had a clue as to whether Mr. Armenta or Mr. Silbiger would try to bring Entrada back into play.
Ms. Schwab told the gentlemen of the Council that at least potentially they would be exposing City Hall to enormous financial risk of lawsuits from at least two parties if they tried to call Entrada back from the quite dead.
Along with Mayor Scott Malsin and Councilmembers Andy Weissman and Mehaul O’Leary, we presume the liability talk cooled the fervor of Mr. Silbiger and Mr. Armenta.
But who knows?
If reason is abandoned and Entrada is placed back on the table, we are dispatching a professor from Bollaxed-up University to cover the darned thing.
Guaranteed, the perpetrators will regret their action, no matter how loudly they think people are complaining — which is the next subject to address.
Prohibition Returns
How is this for rich irony?
Having participated in previous voting on Entrada, Mr. Weissman, Mr. Malsin and — drum-roll — Mr. Silbiger will be barred from taking part in certain significant portions of the re-run. The ruling is, “One may not sit in judgment of a previous judgment one has made.”
That would reduce the discussants to Mr. O’Leary and Mr. Armenta. I am positive this is not what Mr. Silbiger had envisioned.
To summarize, sources tell us that if Mr. Silbiger or Mr. Armenta intends to bring back Entrada, he or they need to move in the next week or two at the most.
Otherwise, the project will be so far along that they — and the city — will end up with pie and egg on their faces.
