Could last night have been the swan song of City Councilman Gary Silbiger?
He seemed to act that way — the reluctantly departing politician who needed to comment, possibly at record length, on every subject of the moment.
Last night represented a veritable feast for Mr. Silbiger because subjects that have monopolized his mind throughout both terms were strewn across the table, and he picked them apart like a homeless man with a steaming 20-pound turkey on his plate at Thanksgiving.
He did not merely gain a broad stage to billboard his well-known views in Council Chambers so much as he seized the forum. Once at the microphone, bulldog-style, he settled in. He would not easily relinquish possession.
Depending on your perspective , Mr. Silbiger either was the star of, or he hijacked the 4-hour meeting as if he were hostingan intimate private gathering in his den at home.
He staged a one-man oratorical marathon. One soliloquy lasted so long three of his four colleagues stepped off the dais, vanishing into a back room. His breathessly long orations seemed to sap his normally spirited colleagues. Minus their customary joie de vivre, they lost interest in agreeing or resisting him.
Three Months and Counting
Technically, Mr. Sibiger is 91 days out from the April 13 election when perhaps the most stubborn but, admirably, the most resilient solo purveyor for populist causes in modern times, will be swept to the sidelines by term limits.
Sadly for Mr. Silbiger, the results were familiar — no victories or notable achievements, except for one, uncommonly dense, dry and arcane 40-minute x-ray of City Hall’s slightly retooled approach to public notification.
Otherwise, the meeting was a disappointing wash for Culver City’s most fervently committed crusader for populist causes.
On the three main subjects of the meeting— an update on the recommended tightening of guidelines for public notification, the deeply divided state of the two-man Sustainability Sub-committee, and the deteriorating condition of the 40-plus Council sub-committees — Mr. Silbiger was unable to accomplish any mind-changing with his fairly isolated ideas.
On another hand, as a perennial optimist, Mr. Silbiger might disagree with the winless assessment. Since being elected eight years ago this spring , he has often seemed happy enough to merely air his niche views rather than score conquests.
He has often complained that his niche causes are purposely bypassed, or acknowledged and quickly dropped. But last night that assertion was obviated for his final three months since his favorites were showcased.
The quintessential refinement of the concept of “public notification” has driven Mr. Silbiger perhaps more than any other cause. The latest developments almost but not quite mollified him. Unlike any colleagues on the Councils on which he has sat, he is convinced that Monday night meeting crowds would grow exponentially if only residents knew when and where the policy body was convening.
But, if They All Came at Once…
As of last March, the last time the subject was closely examined, 700 people had signed up to receive a special notice, by email, snail-mail or telephone, of when the Council would be discussing a topic that interests them. By last Friday, the count was up to 1,030. However, 800 of them would have to be turned away if they all showed up on the same night.
Nevertheless, crowds remain pocket-sized. After Sol Blumenfeld, the Community Development Director, patiently detailed the numerous ways City Hall informed thousands of residents of three separate recent community meetings for pending projects, he revealed the turnouts:
Seven, six and three.
Doggedly, Mr. Silbiger insisted that if only more people knew the agenda and the meeting schedule, Chambers would be flooded.
His central objective always has been to more directly involve community members, to create an egalitarian environment where residents are co-equal with elected officials.
He and Councilman Scott Malsin form the bureaucratic-sounding Sustainability Sub-committee where there is a strong focus on water conservation. Their opposing views clash bitterly. Mr. Silbiger wants the community to sit as equals with them. Instead of throwing the whole range of subjects open to the community indiscriminantly, Mr. Malsin would engage certain and limited numbers of experts in each field. This sub-committee can serve as a metaphor for Mr. Silbiger’s philosophical approach, which is generic and decidedly non-specific.
Finally, on the matter of between three and four dozen Council sub-committees, City Manager Mark Scott has repeatedly made it clear a goodly number fit under the rubric of “operations,” his area of responsibility. They need to go. Against Mr. Silbiger’s wishes — he suggested citizen-dominated sub-committees — an unspecified number will be dropped after the April election.
What was intended by Mr. Scott to be a library-quiet evening, an introductory Study Session, never resembled the desired form. Its immediate future is not known. No meeting is scheduled for next week.
COUNCIL NOTES — County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas rhetorically put his arms around the shoulders of the five Council members and thanked them for smoothing his first year in office…Activist Tom Camarella suggested many more Town Hall meetings. The City Manager and Council promised to reflect on the idea…Activist Tony Pappas believes he is gaining mileage from his strikingly salty comments to select Councilmen each week for the past 10 months…The fifth year of Music in the Chambers begins two weeks from Friday, on Jan. 29, at 7 o’clock, in Council Chambers…All four Council candidates were visible, three in the audience and Mr. Malsin on the dais…
