At quarter of 1 this morning, the stumped City Council was flailing over how to gracefully exit from a messy discussion about the arcanity of property maintenance law when Mark Scott abruptly stepped into the circular dispute.
He sought to establish order and also to show that there is a different CEO now in charge of City Hall.
Distinguishing his quietly authoritative manner from that of his cautious, passive predecessor as City Manager, Mr. Scott made short work of what was yet another gathering crisis on the dais.
The Council was almost hopelessly bogged down in its weekly abstract philosophical debate over the precise role activists should play in making law, especially in the vast, dark universe of property maintenance.
At stake is a 45-page modernized version of a 1965 property maintenance ordinance that supporters say is mildly, not importantly, different in content and meaning.
Which Way Is It?
Critics contend the newest version, updated from April, is rife with suspicious, threatening language and vague concepts that may imperil their privacy rights.
At a minute before 1, Mayor Andy Weissman finally managed to snap out the lights on the contentious, meandering argument with a compromise motion.
Taking his cue from Mr. Scott, he offered a dove of peace to populists and to traditionalists. He brought his floundering colleagues into line (on a 4 to 1 vote) with a motion calling for city staff to further refine the modernized public nuisance law by drawing on last night’s comments.
Next, the ordinance would be more or less finalized days later at what Mr. Weissman artfully called “an interactive public meeting,” probably on Monday, Aug. 31.
The following week, the Council could celebrate Labor Day with a new and streamlined public nuisance ordinance — although the Mayor added ruefully, “Nothing ever seems final around here.”
A Cool Peace? Or Is Peace Cool?
In the spirit of compromise, Mr. Weissman said peace is at hand. “We are moving in the direction of satisfying the need for the public to be part of the process,” he said. “We may be criticized, but not for shutting out the public.
“In public discourse over ordinances, we have always found ways to improve the language. In the end, we will have a better ordinance. But the final version will not make everyone happy. It never does.”
Although only two members of the public have complained to the Council every Monday throughout the two months since the reworked ordinance was put up for discussion, last night’s promise of evaluating the latest incarnation brought out two dozen persons, mostly opponents.
Councilman Scott Malsin, who has displayed little patience with protestors, said some critics, especially those assigning dark motives to City Hall, are misinformed, either deliberately or unintentionally misinformed. “The new ordinance is very similar to the ordinance that we have used effectively for decades,” Mr. Malsin said. “It is being updated because legally it is not as clear as it should be.”
This Tasted Like Multiple Desserts
Since this is a City Council that can spend hours mulling the intent of a single word or line, one can imagine how much some of them relished sorting through almost four dozen pages of prospective law, encouraged by the weekly protests of the activists Sandra Kallander and Tony Pappas.
The new City Manager, in his second full week, was not caught unawares by the scene in front of him.
Whether Mr. Scott was in Culver City or elsewhere this spring, he has watched this familar playlet repeat itself every Monday since he was named Jerry Fulwood’s successor back in March.
His first chore this time was to stop the merry-go-round.
Surveying this morning’s dwindled, fatigued crowd of 12 hardy activists, he stated what was obvious, that the hour was too late for effective debate.
Navigating diplomatically through a labyrinth of cloudy rhetoric floating down from the dais, Mr. Scott further acknowledged that community members should play a role in shaping policy. However, the degree should be determined later, much later.
Trying not to seem dismissive, he said the main players as well as members of the public were welcome to visit his third-floor office for discussions of the subject.
Making a Connection
As Mr. Scott softly took his stand for community involvement, the surprised activist Rich Waters happily called out from his seat, “He gets it,” one of the evening’s few highlights.
While others were yawning and slumping in their seats, Councilman Gary Silbiger was definitely not through for the night. He announced that he had prepared three pages of improvements that he wanted to have considered for inclusion in the still-in-progress public nuisance ordinance.
The groan in Council Chambers in reaction to Mr. Silbiger was palpable. Eventually, he agreed to wait until another time.
An ardent advocate of egalitarian rule and a boldly wide role for ordinary citizens, the Councilman applies his personal policy to each significant issue on the agenda.
Mr. Silbiger, in his final year on the Council, appears to believe no policy should be approved until numerous unidentified members of the community have given favorable input.
Vice Mayor Chris Armenta also counseled his colleagues to proceed with greater deliberation in retooling the ordinance since there was no urgency in updating the property maintenance laws.
While the differences among the other four Councilmen were subtle, Mr. Silbiger kept repeating, “We need to slow down, study this ordinance and let people comment.”
He was reluctant to concede that the door for public comment has been open, and mainly ignored, since the first week in April.
Once again, he was the outlier among his colleagues. He pressed hard for a prominent, and perhaps permanent, citizens committee to influence municipal thinking.
But this Silbiger motion was defeated just before Mayor Weissman mercifully managed to close the four-hour discussion by producing his compromise plan.
About 15 minutes passed between Mr. Scott’s “Let’s go home, boys” message and the Mayor’s winning motion. While the Council struggled to create a closing act, the hatless activist Sal Grammatico, who used to be noted for his fedoras, complained loudly from his seat, “I never have seen anything like this.”
Enjoying a Cold One
The two hours of the meeting were devoted to an equally heated disagreement between the public, less so among Council members, over whether a new 7-Eleven store, on the southwest corner of Washington Boulevard and La Cienega, should be awarded a beer and wine permit.
Opponents said the immediate neighborhood was glutted with five such outlets, which should be sufficient. They lost when the Council approved the permit on a 4 to 1 vote, the dissenter being Vice Mayor Armenta, an East Side resident.
