Some Council Members Saddened by Not Being Able to Choose All Citizens

Last night, the retooled Council reversed roles with the public, seemingly becoming more passionate and overwrought than the seat-seekers themselves.

With an arm-waving flourish, old and new members spectacularly hailed the individual accomplishments of applicants. Declining to decelerate when faced with more applicants than openings, they emphatically anguished that a seat could not be found. They abjured the losers not to abandon hope. Typically, Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger sought to assuage the disappointments of the rejected by repeatedly declaring that, in the name of accommodation, he would love to find a resting place for them by enlarging some commissions.

Except for the Civil Service Commission, for which there were no applicants.

Except for the Landlord/Tenant Mediation Board, which was forced to leave one vacancy due to lack of community interest.

Except for the Los Angeles Airport Advisory Committee, which fell one applicant short of the minimum.

Except for the Homelessness Committee, which attracted just the right number of applicants, 7, only because the committee was shrunk, a few minutes later, from its previous capacity of 11. It was downsized, members said, because during the past year, the group had experienced difficulty gaining a quorum at meetings.

Except for the Disability Advisory Committee, which also attracted just the right number of applicants.

In only three instances were there a surplus of seekers:

Eight persons for two openings on the Planning Commission,

Six for one seat on the Parks and Recreation Commission, and

Seven for a single slot on the Cultural Affairs Commission.

This comes with an attached caveat: Community activist Cary Anderson, a recent candidate for the City Council, applied for positions on three commissioners, Landlord/Tenant/ Parks and Recreation and Homelessness. After Mr. Anderson was passed over on the Parks and Recreation selection, the Council reasoned that it would be easier to track down a Landlord/Mediation prospect than for Homelessness, and subsequently designated him for Homelessness.

Even in cases where every applicant was assured of appointment to his commission of choice, the seeker insisted on speaking to discuss why he or she was a proper winner.

Besides dangling participles, Council members left assorted minor tasks dangling when they sleepily adjourned at 12:30 this morning — such as:

Whether Mayor Scott Malsin or a third, unknown, person should be appointed to Airport, or perhaps take a pass on the position;

Whether to seat a member of the Downtown Business Assn. and a Chamber of Commerce member alternately, simultaneously or on odd-numbered Thursdays on Homelessness;

Whether an almost-resident, like a non-resident, should be rejected out of hand, and

Whether a resident may serve on more than one commission simultaneously.

Meanwhile, from the audience, the pendulum swung heavily in both directions, from the evidently frivolous to the bonechilling.

The lightest interlude was essayed by an applicant named Dana. When he arrived at the podium, she rebuked the extremely precise City Clerk, Martin Cole, for mispronouncing her name.

He called her Day-nuh.

She said that her name should be pronounced Dah-nuh (as in buh-nana).

Or was it the reverse?

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The single solemn episode came when Barbara Effros-Schwartz, an incumbent on the Disability Advisory Committee, mesmerized the audience.

No one stirred until she finished.

As ordinarily as if she were reviewing what she had eaten for breakfast, but with uncommon insight, Ms. Effros-Schwartz modestly, touchingly, compellingly recounted how she was diagnosed 7 years ago with Parkinson’s Disease. She calmly related its affect on her, analyzed the committee as it never has been done before in Council Chambers, and ultimately circled back to a life-changing incident, when her father, at 57 years old, became an amputee.

The appointees: