On another routinely bombastic Monday evening in Council Chambers:
- Two infuriated partisans of the ousted Edge Swim Club unleashed an acerbically personal attack on Mayor Alan Corlin and a rhetorically unorthodox assault on other members of the City Council.
- Normally the City Council’s response is ho-hum when City Manager Jerry Fulwood announces he would like to pull an item from the agenda for further study. But two Council members became inordinately distressed last night when Mr. Fulwood asked to postpone a discussion of the city’s green policy until January.
Activist Cary Anderson and Mr. Corlin engaged in a doubleheader clash over Mr. Anderson’s ongoing video-based campaign to win much closer supervision of boys, girls and young adults cavorting at the new Skateboard Park.
- Mr. Corlin and Vice Mayor Carol Gross collided explosively over postponement of a second agenda item — the city’s campaign to “provide public education advisory services” over “modernizing” the Utility Users Tax in next April’s election.
Surely it would have been even noisier in Council Chambers if another disputed subject — installation of Lafayette Place parking meters/free underground parking at City Hall — had not been yanked from the agenda earlier on Monday.
Even if strained baling wire was the packaging form of choice last night, that decorum was held together at all throughout an uncommonly fiery series of attacks — on and by denizens of the dais — is a tribute to the administrative skills of Mr. Corlin.
With equipollence, the mayor stoutly, unflinchingly weathered withering words meant to wound from nearly every point on the Culver City political compass.
Controlled and measured at all times, especially under fire, he treated his strongly hostile citizen critics with unassailable administrative courtesy. It was entirely different when he engaged in mutual — but still measured — dart-throwing on the dais, notably with Ms. Gross and Council member Scott Malsin.
Administratively, the most important developments were the hotly disputed postponements of the two most controversial agenda items — a round-table type of discussion (or expansion) of Culver City’s green policy and the campaign to promote a sophisticated plan to sway voters to the city’s side next spring on the Utility Users Tax.
For dramatic entertainment, though, the public forum appearances of Edge Swim Club spokespersons Patrick Moran, the founder/coach, and Cindy Popp, described as a parent representative, and by Mr. Anderson were the headline events.
Since the City Council overwhelmingly agreed a month ago to bust the latest agreement with the Edge at The Plunge, the city’s outdoor pool, mainly over allegations against Mr. Moran, several parties have attacked Mr. Corlin at Council meetings.
Targeting the Mayor
Regardless of whether the public presentations by the Edge advocates were coordinated, the language, the tone and the fault lines have been faithfully similar.
The pro-Edge speeches have been distinguished by their unadulterated personalized attacks on Mr. Corlin.
For the sake of emphasis, to underscore their unhappiness with the mayor, Mr. Moran repeatedly departed from the social etiquette norm of referring to his prime target by his surname, preceded by the honorific “mister.”
First-Name Basis
While both Ms. Popp and Mr. Moran read from prepared remarks, Mr. Moran discarded the honorific, and typical Council Chambers etiquette, in numerous instances, calling the mayor “Alan.”
Mr. Moran also addressed secondary targets on the City Council by their first names, as in “Scott,” “Gary” (Silbiger), “Carol” and “Steve” (Rose).
Mr. Fulwood, the City Manager, and Bill LaPointe, the Director of Parks and Recreation, scarcely fared better. Mr. Fulwood was merely “Fulwood” and Mr. LaPointe was “LaPointe.”
Fruits of the Swim Program
Ms. Popp said the presently sidelined Edge swimmers benefited from a “wonderful program” devised at the turn of the century by Mr. Moran. “Not only did our children learn to swim, they gained self-esteem, self-confidence and, of course, general camaraderie. Even the city of Culver City could not have created a better program.”
And then Ms. Popp, employing muscular locution, launched her central point:
“It is an absolute crime that Mayor Corlin has been allowed to destroy the children’s swim team.”
No elected official escaped her opprobrium. “Shame on Steve Rose, Gary Silbiger and Scott Malsin for going along with Mayor Corlin’s kangeroo court,” Ms. Popp said. “Even though you all knew the real truth behind Mayor Corlin’s witch hunt, you have selfishly protected your individual self-interests instead of investigating” the circumstances.
The Only Dissenter
Ms. Popp thanked Ms. Gross for “standing up for the truth” in disagreeing with other Council members about the ultimate decision. Ms. Popp said the Edge family has “witnessed the damage that can be done by someone who temporarily has acquired a small amount of power. In these unjust moments, we must all remember that we, the people, ultimately hold the real power. This community has nothing to fear by unifying and asking for positive change.”
Mr. Moran turned out to be the main event critic.
“I want to be crystal clear,” he began. “I accuse Alan Corlin of public corruption. When it all goes down, he has abused the public trust and caused direct harm to Culver City families over nothing more than personal resentment…and a desire to give an unfair advantage to one of his friends.”
Helping a Friend?
From there, the coach’s assertions, especially regarding the mayor, grew progressively darker.
Although appearing to be short on specificity, Mr. Moran charged Mr. Corlin with a backstage manipulation that eventually would benefit a “friend” associated with a rival swim team. The mayor told the newspaper the gentleman identified by Mr. Moran not only is not a friend, “if you lined up six people, I could not pick him out.”
Mr. Moran’s relationship with City Hall has been vulnerable to city criticism dating back to the popular swim team’s early years.
Edge’s 30-day notice at The Plunge expired last week.
To Supervise or Not Supervise
The allegedly still unresolved problem of sufficiently close adult supervision of the Skateboard Park, where many skaters do not wear safety equipment, made its almost weekly appearance when Mr. Anderson, the chief — and almost only — critic spoke up. As has been his practice, he brought a video intended to suggest that skaters not only are spurning safety gear but exceeding the bounds of civilized behavior.
As also has been Mr. Anderson’s weekly experience, his video suffered glitches when placed inside city technology.
In its defense, the city said that spot enforcement at the park has been stepped up.
When Mr. Anderson was denied a second chance to comment on what he believes is City Hall’s too-relaxed approach to safety and supervision, he shared his feelings at the microphone.
No Shortage of Fodder
Even if Council Chambers had been empty, Council members had enough to fight about between and among themselves.
Mr. Malsin and Mr. Silbiger sternly objected to delaying a full-blown airing of the city’s green policy, as suggested by Mr. Fulwood.
Mr. Silbiger said the state of the environment is an urgent matter that needs to be addressed immediately rather than in January.
A Talk That Can Wait?
Mr. Malsin asked why a concept as uncomplicated as a non-voting discussion among members would require postponement.
Was there a more subtle reason?
Not amused by the protracted byplay over a postponement request that usually causes nothing more than a shrug, Mr. Corlin sarcastically cracked that his loquacious colleagues had just blown 20 minutes talking about a subject they were not going to talk about.
A Vote That Must Wait Its Turn
One more fire was left to extinguish.
Mr. Corlin, who has been called the shrewdest politician on the dais, showed why when he teamed with Mr. Rose to put off the UUT/promotional campaign item until a later date.
The item required a four/fifths vote. An unabashed advocate of the plan, it soon became evident to Mr. Corlin he was one vote short.
Charge Leveled
Ms. Gross, who yields no ground to the mayor when it comes to political maneuvering, accused Mr. Corlin of delaying a vote until he could shore up his side.
Employing one of the favorite traditional weapons of successful politicians, Mr. Corlin did exactly that, to the apparent consternation of Ms. Gross and Mr. Silbiger.
