In recent years, the night when the City Council selects citizen members of its various advisory commissions, appointments have been conducted in a businesslike manner, an obligatory mechanical exercise shorn of external emotion.
Last night, the retooled Council reversed roles with the public, seemingly becoming more passionate and overwrought than the seat-seekers themselves.
With an arm-waving flourish, old and new members spectacularly hailed the individual accomplishments of applicants. Declining to decelerate when faced with more applicants than openings, they emphatically anguished that a seat could not be found. They abjured the losers not to abandon hope. Typically, Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger sought to assuage the disappointments of the rejected by repeatedly declaring that, in the name of accommodation, he would love to find a resting place for them by enlarging some commissions.
Except for the Civil Service Commission, for which there were no applicants.
Except for the Landlord/Tenant Mediation Board, which was forced to leave one vacancy due to lack of community interest.
Except for the Los Angeles Airport Advisory Committee, which fell one applicant short of the minimum.
Except for the Homelessness Committee, which attracted just the right number of applicants, 7, only because the committee was shrunk, a few minutes later, from its previous capacity of 11. It was downsized, members said, because during the past year, the group had experienced difficulty gaining a quorum at meetings.
Except for the Disability Advisory Committee, which also attracted just the right number of applicants.
In only three instances were there a surplus of seekers:
Eight persons for two openings on the Planning Commission,
Six for one seat on the Parks and Recreation Commission, and
Seven for a single slot on the Cultural Affairs Commission.
This comes with an attached caveat: Community activist Cary Anderson, a recent candidate for the City Council, applied for positions on three commissioners, Landlord/Tenant/ Parks and Recreation and Homelessness. After Mr. Anderson was passed over on the Parks and Recreation selection, the Council reasoned that it would be easier to track down a Landlord/Mediation prospect than for Homelessness, and subsequently designated him for Homelessness.
Even in cases where every applicant was assured of appointment to his commission of choice, the seeker insisted on speaking to discuss why he or she was a proper winner.
Besides dangling participles, Council members left assorted minor tasks dangling when they sleepily adjourned at 12:30 this morning — such as:
Whether Mayor Scott Malsin or a third, unknown, person should be appointed to Airport, or perhaps take a pass on the position;
Whether to seat a member of the Downtown Business Assn. and a Chamber of Commerce member alternately, simultaneously or on odd-numbered Thursdays on Homelessness;
Whether an almost-resident, like a non-resident, should be rejected out of hand, and
Whether a resident may serve on more than one commission simultaneously.
Meanwhile, from the audience, the pendulum swung heavily in both directions, from the evidently frivolous to the bonechilling.
The lightest interlude was essayed by an applicant named Dana. When he arrived at the podium, she rebuked the extremely precise City Clerk, Martin Cole, for mispronouncing her name.
He called her Day-nuh.
She said that her name should be pronounced Dah-nuh (as in buh-nana).
Or was it the reverse?
The single solemn episode came when Barbara Effros-Schwartz, an incumbent on the Disability Advisory Committee, mesmerized the audience.
No one stirred until she finished.
As ordinarily as if she were reviewing what she had eaten for breakfast, but with uncommon insight, Ms. Effros-Schwartz modestly, touchingly, compellingly recounted how she was diagnosed 7 years ago with Parkinson’s Disease. She calmly related its affect on her, analyzed the committee as it never has been done before in Council Chambers, and ultimately circled back to a life-changing incident, when her father, at 57 years old, became an amputee.
The appointees:
Planning Commission
Incumbent Marcus Tiggs and Tony Pleskow (who will serve out the term of new Councilman Andy Weissman).
Parks and Recreation
Rick Hudson will succeed Charles Deen.
Homelessness Committee
Cary Anderson, Lezlie Brazil, Wanton Davis, Karen Lamp, Elaine Struhl, John Wahlert and James Wright.
Disability Advisory Commission
Incumbent Barbara Effros-Schwartz, Dr. Bob Montgomery and Neil Rubenstein.
Cultural Affairs Commission
Incumbent Ronnie Jayne.
Los Angeles Airport Advisory Committee
Jamie Wright and Kevin Klowden.
Building & Safety Board of AppealsIncumbents Paul Ehrlich and James Rowlands.
Landlord/Tenant Mediation Board
Incumbents Dr. Janet C. Hoult and Theodore Kreps.
COUNCIL NOTES —In two other events of note, the Council acceded to a request by Chamber of Commerce President Steve Rose to waive $4800 in fees for the annual CulverExpo, which is changing locations this year. On Wednesday, June 25, from 3:30 to 7, the business exposition will shift from the front lawn of the Culver Studios to roughly across the street to Media Park…
One year after the popular Thursday night Summer Music Festival had its schedule nearly chopped in half, the Council strongly opposed a staff recommendation to swell the number of concerts from 8 to 11 next year and the year after. By agreeing to add a single concert for next summer, the Council left available an option suggested by Councilman Andy Weissman. Since the extravagant enlargement of Towne Plaza is due to be completed by autumn of next year, Mr. Weissman suggested exploring the possibility of transferring the concerts from the apron of City Hall to the newly sprawling Plaza, starting with the concert season of ’10…