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Mehaul O'Leary
The vice mayor is worried about how easily-aroused tenants will react to Culver City’s approaching ban on smoking in multi-unit buildings.
“I am imagining what is going to happen,” said Mehaul O’Leary when enforcement becomes the bailiwick of hot-headed tenants and normal renters, too. “People will realize they now have an ordinance that they can call their neighbor out on. They could get into an argument and then call the police to see what they can do to force it.”
Did the Council only do part of its job? Did they foist off the awkward part onto unknown parties?
Since enforcement would exceed city staffing capabilities, the City Council washed its hands of the sticky portion of the matter. Members pointed their 50 fingers at the audience two nights ago and commanded, “You guys do it.”
That is the part that makes Mr. O’Leary nervous. “I didn’t want a situation,” he said, “where we create an ordinance, we tell people all these things that are allowed and are not allowed, and then they call the Police Dept. because that is their go-to. But the police say, ‘That’s not our area.’
“I did not want it to look like, ‘What the hell is this ordinance about then?’ We are only saying what they can or cannot do, but you have to do it civilly.
“If my colleagues are not interested in making this ordinance more enforceable,” said the vice mayor, “I would rather it be a team effort at City Hall. We would help the offender and the offended get through this process together.”
