Hardly any subject warms the cockles of the hearts of the five members of the City Council more or faster than an opportunity to gather ‘round a crackling environmental bonfire in the early autumn moonlight, lock arms and break into a few dozen dancing choruses of “Kumbaya.”
On the wings of virginal doves, peace, tranquility and the trilling of smiling sparrows fluttered into Council Chambers in the midst of last night’s meeting.
All was well once more in the world.
There was singing in the hills, and apple-cheeked choristers volleyed their message of joy across the valleys — Culver City was in the process of adopting green building standards.
This was so knockdown easy that the Councilmen could have stayed home and emailed their sentiments to City Clerk Martin Cole.
Feasting on this mama-and-apple pie item, they seemed to frolic, almost like schoolboys, over several extraneous portions of the green building standards proposal. The plan is in its embryonic stages, and it will be months before it assumes the shape of an ordinance or resolution.
O’Leary Steps Out to Volunteer
Enthusiasm ran feverishly high, and here is a sampling:
The Council was presented with three separate options or program formations along with a bushel more of trim-style choices. Their options had the texture of putty. The Council’s alternatives were to embrace one, embrace two or combine two or combine portions of all three. This had the potential for an all-night party.
One provision held that if accepted, a new staffer would have to be hired at a rate of $100,000, the kind of departure that always puts a strain on a small-town government’s budget.
Not to worry, said Councilman Mehaul O’Leary, riding to the rescue.
He volunteered to personally spearhead a campaign to fund raise the salary so it would not impinge on the budget.
The Council members practically could not stop talking about it. Unable to resist their attraction to arcanity, they ran long by about an hour in their exuberance over the environment, which shoved the other hot-button subject of the evening off the calendar — determining the desirable amount of direct community input on development projects.
That was sure to ignite a spirited, contentious scrimmage. And it was, even though the Council agreed to put the discussion over to another Monday because the hour was too late — 30 minutes before midnight — to launch a debate that would easily spin out to an hour and a half or two hours.
A Rivalry Re-arises
The extent of the comradeship that binds Mayor Scott Malsin and Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger ends with their common seating on the same dais every Monday.
Their coolness bubbled to the surface at a predictable juncture when Mr. Malsin, as chair of the meeting, suggested postponing the community input item.
By that hour, the once overflow crowd had dwindled to a precious few, and five of them had waited for more than four hours to address the Council on this matter.
Once the public had its say, Mr. Malsin was prepared to move on. Mr. Silbiger was not. Community input is one of his favorite talking points. He wanted to expound on it and comment on observations community members had just made.
The rare fresh breeze of collegiality that the City Council had exhibited in the forepart of the evening suddenly was in more trouble than a polar bear standing in the path of alleged global warming.
Since the 60 percent new Council was seated last April, observers have noted that a freshly empowered Vice Mayor has been occupying Mr. Silbiger’s seat.
Sensing the arrival of new allies, he has become more of a warrior the last five months.
Will or Will Not?
With a year and a half remaining before he is term-limited, Mr. Silbiger has stopped automatically retreating when an idea or a suggestion is rejected.
It happened again last night when he dueled with Mr. Malsin over whether to continue to shmooze or drop the warm potato and conclude the eveninhg’s business.
Mr. Silbiger thought it was reasonable to be allowed to expound. Mr. Malsin responded by swinging his seat around, effectively turning his back on the Vice Mayor.
Typically this political season, the most drama has been confined to the closing scenes.
