In the waning hours yesterday of the best-attended Fiesta La Ballona in history, the busiest elected official in Culver City, City Councilman Jim Clarke, slowed long enough to mull the neon issue on tonight’s 7 o’clock agenda in Council Chambers:
Where does he stand on a proposal up for informal discussion – a potential ban on smoking in multi-unit housing?
Already 11 cities in Los Angeles County have forged variations on this prohibition advocated by Councilperson Meghan Sahli-Wells.
Mr. Clarke opened modestly.
“I want to hear the arguments first – I am sorry. I have questions I want to ask staff, and I will try to be well-educated by the time the meeting begins.”
Now his perspicacious personality was not going to let go of the buzzing and controversial topic so easily. He travels so constantly, locally and beyond, that frequently his own paths crisscross. Having tirelessly harvested opinions of others by the hour since taking office a year and a half ago, it seemed most unlikely that Mr. Clarke was neutral or opinion-less.
Indeed, he was not.
“My initial response is,” said the King of the Road, “I would like to see us work with the individual homeowner board of directors and see if they could address it rather than trying to address it necessarily as a citywide policy.
“I am in a condominium association, and they put all kinds of rules and regulations. Like, you can’t put a towel on the balcony.
“The board of directors could take a position that people within the condominium could vote on whether they want smoking.”
If a citywide policy is approved for Culver City, it might be wise to hide the children before the announcement is made.
Major blowback would not surprise Mr. Clarke.
Entering this evening’s preliminary round of community discussion, the Councilman is concerned the affected residents will interpret the ban as “though government is mandating something on people’s civil rights.
“That,” Mr. Clarke concluded, “is why I think it would be better if a policy came from within various homeowner associations.”
