[Editor’s Note: A City Councilman and Mayor in the 1980s and ’90s, on Tuesday night, Steve Gourley, President of the School Board, officially returned to Council Chambers as an elected official for the first time in 14 years when the Board held its first-ever meeting there. What follows are Mr. Gourley’s ruminations on the evening.]
I really did not think much about it before the meeting although I was sure I would show up at the School District offices by mistake.
I knew I wanted to open this link with the city and the use of City Hall while I am still President of the School Board. I liked the ironic full circle of the experience. I feel strongly every future President of the Board will continue to make this a long lasting relationship and will try to use the city chambers in the future.
All City Council members and current School Board members should be proud of their work in this effort, and, of course, city and School District staffs.
The City Hall chambers were constructed to INVITE people to come to City Hall, to talk to Council members, to meet neighbors. While one person said that the District meeting room was more informal, compact and intimate, I believe that the videographer, the maintenance personnel, the teachers, school employees and citizens looked around and said: “Yes, this is the kind of user- friendly environment, with live cable broadcast, to boot, where our elected leaders should meet.”
I think they were especially grateful, given the size and the air-conditioning limitations at the School District.
All of the computer stuff at each Councilperson's desk is new and unfamiliar to me. I needed the assistance of my colleague Mr. Zeidman to find out how to turn my microphone on. (I used those same switches when I was on the Council.) Slides and documents were easier to prepare and to be read by presenter, District member and the audience.
The Truth
I have always been convinced that one of the reasons that the School Board turned down our (the city's) offers from 1989 to 1990 to build them a new District building with their own chambers and entrance was that the then-School Board members did not want a meeting room that would be big enough to hold their audiences. They actually wanted their audience to get uncomfortable in the tight surroundings and the unmentionably backbreaking foldout chairs, leading them to either stay away from meetings or to go home.
I looked at what we had built in City Hall, looked at the faces of the attendees, remembered that the city chambers had the solemnity and dignity to hold the Middle School Mock Trials, and I felt good about it all, at least by a City Council that was forever interested in serving the public.
Notwithstanding all of the above, when I first got to the City Hall Tuesday night, I thought about parking in the Mayor's parking space. But with respect, for the man and the office, I declined to do so.
I was fine until I got off the elevator at the first floor. Then I got chills up my spine, my step quickened and I started to whistle, if only for a few seconds.
May I mention as a footnote that the City Council offered to build space for the entire District Office in the new (1995) City Hall, thus creating a real Civic Center. The District Board declined. Instead, they decided to use $2.2 million-plus of city Redevelopment funds to “remodel” the District headquarters on Irving Place.
After all of that, it was good to be back.
Mr. Gourley may be contacted at stevengourley@ca.rr.com
