The trademark calm manner of Mayor Jim Clarke, who ran a smooth-flowing City Council meeting last evening, may have kept a stormy confrontation over residential parking on one busy block from spilling into an oily gutter.
He never raised his voice.
Plenty of combatants did as inflamed passions broke through in an old dispute over how parking should be regulated in the 10700 block of Farragut Drive.
In full control of both himself and the meeting, Mr. Clarke sought to correct residents’ belief that 10700 is their block and that they should be able to determine their own fate about parking plan design.
The mayor reminded them they lived on a city street, not a private thoroughfare.
Explaining that having reached his 68th birthday, he is mostly retired, the Old Sage has been waiting for his mum telephone to ring.
Throughout two terms on the dais, Mr. Clarke has acquired the nickname Mr. Ubiquitous. A bachelor, he makes himself available to all Culver Citians at all times.
If he had been granted his way, Mr. Clarke would have held 40,000 private audiences with the 40,000 residents.
Back in March, he was an ally of the protestors, almost a fellow Farragutter.
He aligned himself with Farragut residents before endorsing a parking study, which did not turn out this summer as Farragutters thought it should have.
To a man, or woman, Farragutters’ response to the KOA Consulting parking study roughly approximated their shrill opinions about the character of former Councilman Andy Weissman and current Vice Mayor Jeff Cooper.
Even though the mayor is permanently on call, Mr. Clarke clearly was disappointed no Farragut neighbor contacted him for strategy suggestions.
In closing, he reminded the semi-packed audience in Council Chambers that fighting Farragut-inspired lawsuits have cost City Hall (which is unbeaten) $300,000 so far.
