Week by week, the powerfully articulate Mr. Corlin and the equally verbally savvy Ms. Gross fire salt-drenched words at each other’s ears far more than they agree.
“You’re darned right saving the grass is an election issue,” said Mr. Corlin, who is not running in the April 11 balloting.
“Anytime you have a chance to save fifteen thousand feet of grassy park area in a city that already is park-poor, it should be an Election Day issue.
“And a Presidents Day issue.
“And a Groundhog Day issue.
“Carol may as well have said that it is a Valentine’s Day issue because it is. Saving grassy areas is a subject for every day. If the Skateboard Park vote stands as it is now, we never, never will get those fifteen thousand feet back. Any excuse for talking about saving a grassy area is a good excuse.”
“We need more park space. We should do everything we can to preserve it.”
An Ulterior Motive?
Ms. Gross was a little more personal in her remarks to thefrontpageonline.com a day ago. She said the only reason Mr. Corlin was flogging the subject was because he wanted to make the candidate he is backing on Election Day look good and shine a negative light on another contender.
With the slightest touch of irony, both Council members have promised to reveal new, independently obtained information that they hope will persuade their opponents.
At last Tuesday night’s meeting, Councilman Steve Rose, who voted for the grassy area, raised the subject, declaring that he would be willing to give the evaluations of both areas a second look.
Ms. Gross strenuously objected. But when a head count was taken, all four members concurred on a revisit. (Mayor Albert Vera was away delivering a speech and missed the meeting.)
Returning for a halcyon moment to the days of his Culver City childhood, Mr. Rose said that watching skateboarders frolic on what is now the grassy area of the park adjacent to Jefferson Boulevard would bring back pleasant memories of his ball-playing youth.
He repeated an objection to the paved area that he expressed at the time of the January vote. A sloping road runs alongside this region of the park. He fears that skateboarders, being irrepressible young people, will be tempted to ride their boards down the gentle hill —and skid across heavily traveled Jefferson Boulevard.
At Mr. Corlin’s behest, Interim Police Chief Bill Burck and Parks and Rec Director Bill LaPointe recently checked out the more secluded paved area of the park for security purposes.
The three Council members who favored the grassy park area in January all noted that the grassy patch was far preferable partially because it was more visible to the drive-by public. Therefore, the youngsters skateboarding were more secure, they said.
However, Mr. Burck and Mr. LaPointe concluded that the relatively secluded paved area also was safe.
Is the Argument Over?
“That should be the end of the visibility issue,” Mr. Corlin said. “If people are going to hang their hats on the claim that the grassy area is better because it is more visible, they are choosing the easy way out. In Culver City, we don’t take the easy way out. We take what is the better way for the community.”
How all of this will play out remains somewhat mysterious.
Will Mr. Rose be persuaded to flip his vote?
Since both Ms. Gross and Mr. Corlin have promised their teammates they will divulge new information before a second vote, Mr. Rose said, “Let’s hear what they have to say.”
Will Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger hold onto his vote for the paved site after saying on the night of the vote he was not convinced it was the wiser option?
There is at least one more vexing wrinkle that may need to be explained. Before the Council members were polled the first time, Ms. Gross said that Mr. Burck, the chief, had told her the paved area was not as safe as the grassy area. Yet the chief has said publicly the area indeed is safe.
Banking strongly on the conclusions of the two top level city officials, Mr. Corlin said when he votes, he relies on the input of “the people we have hired,” not, he added, non-expert opinion.
Is he optimistic he can swing a reversal of the January vote ? “I am hopeful,” he said.
