Mayor Chris Armenta and freshman City Councilman Jeff Cooper were billed as the marquee attractions at last night’s meeting of the Culver City Democratic Club, but the youngest man in the room pre-empted their thunder and deftly slipped it into his hip pocket.
He is Karlo Silbiger, a member of the School Board who didn’t make a serious pledge to hew to Democrat Party principles until he turned 11 years old.
Tastefully, he paid homage to his now-retired father’s lengthy record of communal service as he did during the spring in Council Chambers.
Gary Silbiger completed his second four-year term on the City Council 2 ½ months ago, sidelined by term limits. Dividing his 20-year career about evenly between elected office and communal activism, he was the most controversial member of the Council all eight years because he was miles more progressive than any of his colleagues.
It wasn’t just the words or the respectful tone struck by Mr. Silbiger’s 28-year-old son.
Seldom have fathers and sons been so levelly placed in public life that, as twin professionals of stature, the younger has a direct, logical channel for honoring his father.
In Karlo Silbiger’s words:
“The Executive Board of the Culver City Democratic Club has asked me to come up here for a few minutes and give a little tribute to my dad, Gary Silbiger, who left the City Council in April.
“My dad got involved in Culver City in the early ‘90s as founding president of the Culver City Community Network. It was formed primarily to insure that we promote racial diversity, diversity in general in our community, to fight against militarism in our schools, to make sure our schools get the funding support they needed.
“It really was the beginning of the current progressive movement in our city. He was so well respected that both our City Council and our School Board appointed him to serve on their strategic planning committees that laid out visions for our community for years to come.
Digging in Deeper
“He helped (U.S. Rep.) Diane Watson (D-Culver City) get elected in 2001. She was impressed and asked him to serve as a founding member of her advisory committee.
“He was elected to the Council first in 2002 and again in 2006.
“I want to quickly run through his top five accomplishments on the Council.
“The first was a focus on finding a humane solution to homelessness. This has plagued the community and become more of an issue n the last decade. In the early 2000s, there was a movement in Culver City to have a police presence, to block people off, that sort of response. My dad really took the lead on the Council, along with Carol Gross, to change around our response. He was successful. He formed a homeless committee and brought in the St. Joseph Center to provide services.
“Second, those of you who enjoy the Music Festival concerts Downtown on Thursday nights, can partially thank my dad for that. One of the last times we had budget cuts, the Cultural Affairs Commission was on the chopping block. My dad, along with Mim Shapiro and a number of other people, came up with a really smart idea, to transfer Cultural Affairs to the Community Development Dept.
“Third, environmental activism and sustainability. Now it is so popular. A central part of our community. That was not always the case. There was a time when the environment was a very controversial subject. My dad came in supporting projects like the all natural gas bus fleet and an ordinance for green building designs, water conservation, light rail, which was very controversial at first.
“Fourth, he championed increasing community activism in Culver City, like creating more active neighborhood associations, something as small as having attachments on the website so people could actually read what the meetings were going to be about. He loved when people came to Council Chambers to speak.
His Philosophy
“Finally, fifth, he represented, in the words of the late, great (U.S. Sen.) Paul Wellstone, ‘the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party’ here in Culver City. This often meant he was a minority of one. He fought the tough fight against some very tough folks.
“He was endorsed by this club every time he ran for Council, often overwhelmingly. But he did have to do his share of fighting on the Council.
“Thinking back on those monumental 4 to 1 votes, I came up with these:
“He was the only Council member to vote against the Playa Vista EIR.
“The only Council member to strongly support our Baldwin Hills Park Overlook, and making sure we did what was needed to get that done.
“The only Council member to support giving a few thousand dollars to the Santa Monica Legal Aid Society so we could support their efforts to help Culver City homeless women.
“The only Council member to vote against all parts of the Entrada development.
“And so it has been an interesting time. Last thing I want to say is that he has sort of an interesting reputation in the city. People love him and people hate him. He became a very controversial figure.
“But I always love to tell people when he ran for re-election in 2006, after being on the Council for four years, after he was in the newspaper every week after meetings, and everyone knew exactly what he stood for, he got 3,053 votes. That was the highest total in the last three election cycles, more than any of the people on the present City Council.
“This was an incredible accomplishment in my opinion.”
A Father’s Response
A moment later, Democratic Club President Ronnie Jayne presented former Councilman Silbiger with a plaque.
In his brief acceptance speech, Mr. Silbiger urged the two dozen members present to “please keep involved in Culver City. Community activism gets so much done. Even three, five, seven people can. You can make a huge difference.”
