Before a near-record crowd for the 30th year of the Mayor’s Luncheon at the Vets Auditorium this afternoon, City Manager Mark Scott, bidding a permanent farewell and Mayor Andy Weissman, a temporary adieu, treated those old walls to the smartest oratory they have heard in decades.
It should not detract from the lofty level of their rhetoric that the Mayor’s Luncheon is known to historians for dreary locution salvaged from the hollow recycling bins.
On the 10-month anniversary of his arrival in Culver City, Mr. Scott is about a week away from returning to his hometown of Fresno for a new city manager gig, where, by night, he will help comfort his aging parents.
Mr. Weissman, who gave the audience 17 snappy and compelling minutes, merely steps down next month after a one-year spin on a supposedly ceremonial carousel. He will be succeeded by the most outgoing member of the City Council, Chris Armenta.
Any Mayors Hiding Out There?
Before starting, Mr. Weissman nearly wore himself out introducing so many former mayors of Culver City in the crowd. LaGuardia and the original Dick Daley appeared to be the lone absentees.
As for Culver City’s departing officeholders, they were born a hundred years too late to star on the East Coast chautauqua circuit. A pity. They could have been a favorite attraction they way they playfully play off of each other.
Mr. Scott possesses a gift for deceptively sophisticated and silky understatement. Mr. Weissman, equally effective in a different manner at the podium, is blessed with finely tuned, cagily spaced wry humor. Between them, they fed the appreciative audience of about 375 tasty oratorical calories that only could have bloated their own minds, so regular were the bursts of applause.
Barring a plan change — say, a candlelight birthday party at the Hollywood Bowl — the Mayor’s Luncheon afforded Mr. Scott his best opening for a closing in these final days.
He was suave, sincere and softly spoken in a manner that made his invocations an anticipated staple of Monday night City Council meetings. Nobody ever had heard of that before. Many of his memorable Moments of Reflection were printed in this newspaper.
Syrupy and sincerity are sometimes indistinguishable. Mr. Scott never took the risk. He cruised down the middle of the highway, sounding genuinely regretful about abruptly leaving Culver City after less than a year to return to his hometown as the second in command of a much larger city government in a community five times the size of Culver City.
Deftly swirling around neatly turned verbal corners, he designed a Culver City Heart of Screenland fare thee well:
“I will not plan to be ‘Gone With the Wind,’” he said, “because frankly my dears, I give a darn about this community.”
The Mayor’s Turn
On stage for the final major time as Mayor, Mr. Weissman was the master of the quip, adroitly weaved into a blend of light and serious civic education.
Mr. Weissman’s equally gentle senses of irony and humor rested comfortably at his fingertips.
Such as when he did what all mayors do, hold up a mirror is intended to reflect only favorable accounts of what the mayor dhas done during the past year.
Not quite this time.
He could not avoid alluding to Mr. Scott’s sudden departure.
“Each year,” said Mr. Weissman, “our annual Mayor's Lunch affords us an opportunity to look back on the past year, reflect on the current year and look forward to the upcoming year.
“Let us remember together where we were last year about this time.
“Our City Manager was retiring, and we had just hired a new City Manager. We were coping with a modest budget shortfall of about $3 million.
“Westfield Culver City was still known as the Fox Hills Mall. And of course, we still thought there was a possibility that some of the stalled development projects would be able to get financed and built.
“This year, with You Know Who as your Mayor?
“As you know, our City Manager is moving to Fresno, and we are looking to hire a new City Manager. The economy continues to struggle, and the gap between revenues and expenses may be twice what it was last year.
“I am extremely pleased to report that Westfield Culver City is thriving. And there are signs that some of the stalled development projects around town will actually be able to get financed and built.
“As for next year, well, Good Luck, Mayor -to-be, Chris Armenta.”
The most talked about City Councilman of this century, Gary Silbiger will be sidelined next month by term limits. Mr. Weissman reserved a salute for him.
“I want to give special recognition to our retiring Council member Gary Silbiger,” he said.
“The Don Quixote of the Council, laboring week after week, night after night, committee meeting after committee meeting, for eight consecutive years, Gary was always our outspoken idealist.
“Thank you alone seems inadequate.
“But we pretty much blew the budget on this lunch. So we don’t have anything to present to you today. We will, though, on April 26.”
Monday, April 5, will be Mr. Silbiger’s last Council meeting.
An unscheduled, but touchingly eloquent, moment was quietly contributed by Police Chief Don Pedersen. Speaking with his heart before leading the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance, he asked the audience to pause, study the large, historic flag, ponder its history, its deeper meaning, and to remember “we are part of the greatest nation on earth.”
In an era when American exceptionalism routinely is scorned, Mr. Pedersen made a notable statement.
