In a landmark victory for second-year School Board member Karlo Silbiger, who was nowhere around, the City Council last night unanimously approved his dream of shifting School Board meetings to the roomier, classier and live television-accessible Council Chambers.
Simple as swallowing twin toasted marshmallows at a moonlight beach party.
A transfer that looked iffy as recently as last summer turned out to be as uncomplicated and as fragrant as a dawn hour stroll through Kenny Hahn State Park.
“Seems like a no-brainer,” said Vice Mayor Mehaul O’Leary.
Councilman Scott Malsin said he thought the matter had been settled weeks ago, at least.
Silent Jeff Cooper, not known for his stoicism, tacked on “Ditto.”
Numerous pleadings by Mr. Silbiger, plus a patch of back-room finessing, melted the hearts of any resistors.
One wrinkle remains, possibly temporarily.
The School Board meets two Tuesday nights a month, but will only be able to convene in Council Chambers on the fourth Tuesday. A city commission meeting presently has priority on the second Tuesday of the month when the Board will have to cozily huddle closer together in the pocket-sized Board Room on Irving Place.
Mayor Chris Armenta was feeling transfer talk-weary. “Seems like we have been talking about this for years,” he said. “I am happier we are closer to reality.”
Recalling a rental price break that Mr. Silbiger earlier had seemed to advocate, Councilman Andy Weissman said he had no objections as long as the tenant paid the bills.
For one evening a month, the School Board is expected to pay $331 to its new landlord.
Board member Patricia Siever graciously thanked the City Council, saying her colleagues did not want to dislodge the Cultural Affairs Commission from its regular meeting night. “We love our commissions, our Mayor and our City Council,” she said.
Ms. Siever indicated the Board will make its permanent debut in Council Chambers on Tuesday, Feb. 22, recalled by elders in the room as Washington’s birthday, a school holiday, and recalled by youngers as Feb. 22, a school day.
COUNCIL NOTES — Community activist Donna Le Blanc created the most moving moment. She said that after her mother died at a facility at 3975 Overland Ave., she was horrified to return there last Saturday and find that her mother’s room had been “vandalized, ransacked. Everything had been taken.” Worse, said Ms. Le Blanc, after she completed a police report, the Police Dept. declined to investigate. However, as soon as Ms. Le Blanc left the podium, police Lt. Ron Iizuka approached her with a tablet in quest of further information. He pledged to get back to her today…
Striking a considerably lighter note, Bill Reid, the softest-spoken activist in Culver City, has been attending movies since 1933, when he was five years old. He recently reached the milestone of having seen 18,500. Is that as impressive as the fact that four years ago he reached the million-mile barrier with his driving, which, surely, he did not begin in ’33. He also has compiled a streak of Rose Bowl games and Tournament of Roses parades…
