Vilifications of the past were vanquished.
Offended feelings melted.
Starting with a nicely staged club-like reception in the decorated courtyard of City Hall at 6 sunny o’clock last evening, the final lingering fumes from personal slights evaporated as three unusually strong Culver City politicians were bade farewell by the cream of foe, friend, family and stranger.
Outgoing City Council members Carol Gross, Alan Corlin and Steve Rose sure know how to attract a classy crowd:
You run Culver City, together, at least aesthetically, for 8 straight years, and then you get knocked off your horses, unceremoniously, by term limits.
Ten tables were strategically arranged in the courtyard, which was warming up for the Summer Music Festival that starts in 75 days.
Almost unnoticed, chamber music was humming in the background.
Even if the festive setting did not remind oldtimers of the Copacabana, the mood was right.
With City Manager Jerry Fulwood, comfortably, jovially assuming his by-now familiar role of emcee for City Hall events, the tributes, the libations, the stories and even the liquefied bologna flowed.
Three Los Angeles City Councilman floated into town— Culver City favorite son Herb Wesson, Bill Rosendahl, whose territory surrounds Culver City, and Bernard Parks, whose district is a few miles away but who happens to be running for office, the prized seat held by Yvonne Brathwaite Burke on the County Board of Supervisors in the June 3 election.
If Mr. Parks was in town, it meant his chief rival, state Sen. Mark Ridley-Thomas (D-Culver City), must have been nearby. In fact, Sen. Ridley-Thomas was close enough to make presentations with personalized comments about each term-limited Council member, a concept he knows better than most politicians.
Reliving What Used to be
Once more, the Old Culver City Gang was reunited — if Ms. Burke, who is retiring later this spring, was around, could her most ardent political admirer, former Mayor Albert Vera, be far away?
By his own testimony, Mr. Vera, resplendent and untouched by the aging process, appeared at City Hall for the first time since he was term-limited two years ago.
The ceremonial purpose of the evening was for City Hall to trade in the old for the reupholstered as the departing triumvirate was replaced on the dais by Andy Weissman, Mehaul O’Leary and Chris Armenta, as of the April 8 election.
There was no question, though, that this grand night, first, last and always, belonged to the departees rather than the new Councilmen, who staged their own maiden meeting much, much later in the evening in near privacy.
Trucking Along
Bekins was on standby all night.
Gifts of grateful City Hall colleagues, gardens of verbal bouquets and plaques from out-of-town politicians piled up 14 inches taller than the proposed Entrada Office Tower.
When Mr. Weissman briefly stepped into the center chair on the dais — before holdover Councilman Scott Malsin unanimously was elected Mayor — he noticed that outgoing Mayor Corlin had left behind several volumes of stone-heavy budget booklets.
Hoisting them above his head, Mr. Weissman calmly remarked, “Look what Alan forgot.”
A voice from the audience rang out, “Alan who?”
So much for legacy — even before Mayor Corlin had left the building.
Words Not Emotion
Even though it was a hugely emotional evening, a massive rite of passage for Ms. Gross, Mr. Corlin and Mr. Rose, tears were internalized.
They were flooded with graphic, meaningful mementoes of their two terms at the seat of power in City Hall.
The years 2000 to 2008 will be remembered as the era when Culver City transitioned from sleepy little community to a vibrant player, even on the national scene as national media recognized an influx of imaginative restaurants and a blossoming of Downtown as never before in the city’s 90-year history.
Making a Difference
Once mistaken for a cemetery, today it is the throbbing heartbeat of a modernized, ambitious community.
Mr. Rose was proud that for all of the historic changes that this Council wrought, he and his colleagues were conservative, economic, judicious, prudent.
“We only built 2 new buildings,” he said. “The Pacific Theatres complex, the hub of Town Plaza, and the Ince Parking Structure.
“Otherwise, we used the buildings that were here.”
Changing Centuries
Mr. Rose said the City Council employed vision and imagination to make over Culver City from, some said, a 19th century town to a bustling 21st century magnet for the upwardly mobile, professionally and personally.
Each member had his or her precious image:
Ms. Gross’s acquisition of encyclopaedic knowledge of the most minute details of how government works, her legendary attendance at meetings from incidental to crucial,
Mr. Rose’s finger-tip knowledge of the business and commercial landscape of Culver City, and
Mr. Corlin’s glistening sense of command and authority — all drew mounds of kudos rich in political calories.
One of the prescient observations of the evening was authored by the City Atty. Carol Schwab:
“People don’t realize how incredibly complicated being a Council member is,” she said in foreshadowing difficulties that some incoming members struggled through later.
Rather than unrolling a predictable pageant of exaggerated clichés, high-flying eloquence intended to echo through the ages, Mr. Fulwood and his comrades more realistically designed 90 fast-moving minutes of celebration in Council Chambers that were nice, neighborly and genuine.
For an authentic flavor of the farewell party that drew an overflow crowd for the third consecutive Monday, here is former Mayor Corlin’s Farewell Address:
It was my honor to serve this city the last 14 years as Commissioner, Councilman and Mayor. I hope I leave Culver City a better place.
I want to take just a few moments to thank some special people.
On a personal note, I want to thank my two-time campaign manager Sandi Levin. Without her help, I would not be here tonight.
I want to thank both Lauren Hunter and Vicki Daly Redholtz who each managed the volunteers in one of my two campaigns.
I want to thank Dan Gallagher who was my treasurer for 8 years.
I also need to thank Alan Levin, my business partner, for allowing me to take untold hours away from the office.
I have been thinking lately what I will miss by not being Mayor any longer.
First, I will miss working with my fellow Councilmen. We may have had our differences. But the work that we accomplished during the last 8 years has changed the very face of Culver City. To all of the elected officials that I have had the good fortune to work with over the last 8 years, I say thank you.
Second, I will miss hearing from my constituents on a regular basis. Their calls and emails alerted me to many jobs undone and ideas not hitherto thought of.
Lastly, I will miss working with a wonderful staff. Their perseverance and steadfastness was something I always counted on. The team assembled here in Culver City is truly a resource we need to nurture. For without a motivated staff recruitment and retention will surely suffer.
To the incoming Council members, I give but one bit of advice. Use your brain to think about every vote that you cast. But always vote with your heart.
As I remove the Mayor’s pin for possibly the last time, I wish to end this term by paraphrasing George Washington’s Farewell Address to his officers.
“With a heart full of love and gratitude I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.”
Good night. Be well. Goodbye.
