Slightly under siege 12 days into his first term on the City Council, Mehaul O’Leary’s first reaction was “Wow.”
His second was, he did not expect to start out his career at 100 miles an hour.
“This is really not the way I expected my first couple of weeks on the Council to be,” he said.
But he has been forced to make an emergency adjustment.
From his first hours on the Council dais, Monday, April 28, until this moment, Mr. O’Leary has been the target of an unusually aggressive, pressurized campaign.
Will a Rerun Happen?
After resisting the blandishments of two enthusiastic Council colleagues to link arms with them and formally bring back the Entrada Office Tower project for a discussion and do-over vote, Mr. O’Leary now is facing a different kind of wooing.
From the community.
Beginning just hours after last Monday’s City Council meeting, a united coalition of Westchester and Culver City residents banded together to try and convince Mr. O’Leary to abandon his neutral stance and stand with them.
By bombarding the still like-new Councilman with enough emails and telephone calls before Monday’s meeting, they hope to convince him to join Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger and Councilman Chris Armenta as the badly needed third vote to agendize Entrada.
They formulated a succinct, 94-word, unsigned email that was sent to about 30 persons, urging them to put the heat on Mr. O’Leary immediately.
“CALLING ALL CONCERNED CITIZENS!
“Councilman Mehaul O’Leary needs to hear from you!
“Please let him know you are relying on him to bring the Entrada project back to the city council chambers.
“Tell him we are all relying on his courage and strength of conviction to lead this project back to where it belonged in the first place – the current city council!
“Please tell you friends and neighbors too!
“One little old phone call is all we are asking.
“Mehaul O’Leary (310) 253-5950
“If you prefer to email Mehaul use this link – http://www.culvercity.org/council/
Hanging Out in the Middle
By late this morning, however, the results were undoubtedly disappointing.
Only 9 persons had telephoned Mr. O’Leary, he told the newspaper.
Up to here, the congenial Irishman has played it cool.
So cool that the strong-willed opponents of Entrada have no idea which way he will lean on Monday night when, it is increasingly anticipated, Mr. Silbiger, Mr. Armenta and a team of outspoken residents will seek to force Mr. O’Leary’s hand.
Measuring his comments, Mr. O’Leary allowed only that “I am mulling it over.”
Which may sound to some partisans as if he is rethinking his refusal to commit a week ago last Monday when Mr. Silbiger and Mr. Armenta hoped to sway him.
Tantalizingly, he added:
“I have a lot to say”— when the time is right.
“I don’t feel comfortable saying more right now. I want to hear what the other members have to say on Monday night.”
Mr. O’Leary still is not sure how his four colleagues reacted to last Monday’s closed session program when attorneys explained to the Council the legal peril City Hall will face if a re-vote on last month’s approval of Entrada is attempted.
Monday: Other members of the City Council speak out.
