When Mayor Mehaul O’Leary was introduced yesterday morning at Habitat for Humanty’s groundbreaking for 10 Globe Avenue housing projects, it was said he is known for going off-script.
A few minutes later at the podium, he himself joked about his tendency.
This afternoon at the Chamber of Commerce’s Mayor’s Luncheon, emcee John Nachbar, warned/reminded his sold-out audience of 370 of Mr. O’Leary’s penchant for stepping away from his official oration.
When it was the mayor’s turn and he opened with “Good morning,” the intake of breath rampant in certain chests of certain reasonably important persons was palpable.
Mr. O’Leary’s jokester reputation remained untainted as he glided, seemingly daringly, through his opening paces. He identified Laura Chardiet, late of the School Board, as the person chiefly responsible for tamping down his original oration.
Although he himself spiked a dramatic buildup of what he would say by teasing and coyly evading the thrust of his talk, Mr. O’Leary’s 20 minutes on stage was both child and old-person friendly. No one needed to close his eyes or cover his ears.
“You should have seen the original document,” said a woman who had inspected the first-generation O’Leary script.
Once he settled in, the mayor gave a talk that blueprinted all of his predecessors.
At the 20-minute mark, Mr. O’Leary gave way to the equally witty Vice Mayor Andy Weissman who peppered his traditional talk with well-tested light, pointy and always harmless humor.
Moments later, the two funniest prominent gentleman in Culver City, nudged out of elective office by term limits, departed the stage. They took the fun with them.
So what’s the point here?
What was the speech about?
What is his legacy?
Who was there?
What good did it do the city?
This article is just a waste of words.
For those of us who have known and followed Mr. O’Leary throughout his service in the city, we are grateful to have had him on council and hope he will continue his legacy of good works. Since Ms. PB is not aware, it means she does not know about his work delivering meals to seniors, and making their lives richer – not for votes, but because he is part of a bigger community. – one made of people who do not cast stones if they do not happen to agree with a limited view of who and what matters. He has an open ear, and the courage to stand up for people without publicizing it.
I think Ms MW that if you actually read my post, you’ll see that it was a comment on the lack of actual reporting rather than any kind of indictment on Mr O’Leary. However now that I know that he helped feed some of our older citizens, I am reassured that his years in office have helped create a better Culver City for all.