[img]1307|right|Meghan Sahli-Wells||no_popup[/img]Following her gilded debut last evening as the new mayor of Culver City – only the fifth woman in 97 years to attain that honor – Meghan Sahli-Wells signaled that she may be remembered as the one who lifted the office out of the symbolic category and took it beyond.
She is seeking to inspire the community to pursue ideological goals as ardently as she did during her years as a sunny-eyed, bicycling progressive activist.
Is that possible? Feasible?
Before an adoring, cheering near-capacity crowd in Council Chambers, including her husband Karim and their two young handsome, dressed-alike sons, Ms. Sahli-Wells delivered an extemporaneous 12-minute address, outlining her dream for the coming year.
Mayor Sahli-Wells identified an environmentally sensitive agenda, establishing a daily atmosphere that would be guided by the following mantra:
A Jingle She Hopes Works
“We need to make sure our streets put people before machines.”
This is a realistic philosophy that Mayor Sahli-Wells lives each day of the week – helmet always firmly in place, she first came to community-wide attention a few years ago by circling Culver City aboard her ever-present bicycle, possibly the first mayor in a century to be primarily a cyclist. Many schoolday mornings, she will be found shepherding students and their moms eastward on Braddock Drive, toward the Lin Howe Elementary campus that is her educational home base.
Unlike past elections and perfunctory coronations of new mayors, Ms. Sahli-Wells’s coming-out party was richly sprinkled with ceremony, with rhetoric and her beaming family. Professional camera in hand, the jubilant Mr. Sahli, her impeccably dressed husband, exulted that “this is the best Monday ever.”
[img]2122|right|Mehaul O'Leary||no_popup[/img]Moments after Mehaul O’Leary was elected to succeed her as vice mayor, Ms. Sahli-Wells, speaking as a wife, a mother and leader of all people, laid down signposts that she will seek to reach in the next 12 months.
First, she staked out her territory.
Hoping to demystify notions about just how far Her Honor’s filmy rays of authority extend, she opened by setting the table for her remarks, alluding to the current unprecedented closeness between the historic rivals of the School Board and the City Council. She relied on one friend for a springboard remark to frame message. “Nancy Goldberg, a member of the School Board, told me last night, ‘You’re not going to have more power than the others but you will have more influence,” the new mayor said.
Family-Centric Community
Mayor Sahli-Wells reiterated her recently declared challenge: “I want Culver City to be the best city in the United States in which to raise a child.”
Drawing frequent applause, the strongest hand may have come when she said, “One thing close to my heart is the environment,” smoothly segueing toward a favorite cause: “We need to have the energy we rely on not kill us.”
The new mayor cited four goals for the coming year: “Alternative energy, excellent transportation, a safe city and a visionary city. We are so close to being there. We just need to work a little harder, faster and together.”
And MayorSahli-Wells closed out with several more philosophical pearls:
- “When we make our schools better, property values increase.
- “The arts are out DNA in Culver City.”
- “We need to move forward for all families, not just some.”
- “I moved here (as a schoolgirl) in 1984, and in many ways we are better today. Culver City always has had a sense of history. I want us to make sure that we are grounded in the present with our eyes firmly on the city.”
