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Pardon my cynicism. After sitting through eight hours of a County Board of Supervisors’ meeting yesterday, I am not eager to report on another marathon tonight at 7 when the Planning Commission ponders whether to approve a green project at 8665 Hayden Pl.
There is no need to point out that the project is controversial because every proposal this century larger than a band-aid has been sternly protested in Culver City.
A meeting that runs more than six hours, past 1 tomorrow morning, would not be surprising, just debilitating. With a strong will, the meeting could/should be limited to three hours. This is like asking, How long can former wives argue? They need a deadline, too.
On a night like this, I would consider punching free speech — is that really what it is? — in the proboscis. Perhaps 75 Hayden Tract neighbors will speak, which, alone, rounds out to four hours. After the first five neighbors, you will not hear anything new unless some imaginative chap tosses a water balloon toward the dais.
I yearn for a repeat of the night in Council Chambers a few years ago when Albert Vera was Mayor. He was not going to put up with the nonsense of 100 people rubber-stamping each other on a forgotten but bitterly disputed topic.
Mr. Vera espied a crowd of anxious activists ready to pounce toward the dais if he looked at them in a slanted way. I am not going to sit through hours of repetitious testimony, he promised himself. And he did not.
No Talking Back
Addressing the leader of the group, Mr. Vera said, “Give me two or three speakers to represent your point of view.”
He got away with this moment of hubris because he was Mr. Vera, a gentleman of stature in the community.
Unfortunately, no one approaching his revered status sits on the Planning Commission. None of the four voting members would dare emulate Mr. Vera’s bold move. David Rockwell, I hope you are listening and will prove me wrong.
Mr. Vera’s historic pronouncement only looked brave to others, not to the Mayor. For Mr. Vera, it was just another logical call on an ordinary day. Too bad he is not commanding tonight’s meeting.
Hearing 75 testifiers repeat each other would be like listening to your favorite piece of music on the radio. By the 30th hearing, you would be ready to throw the radio, the CD and the nearest smaller person through the highest window in your house.
Smartly Seizing Control
As Chair of the Board of Supervisors, Yvonne Brathwaite Burke — who was very impressive yesterday as the leader of the meeting —made a common sense decision, a novel concept from which all elected officials, and at least one journalist, in Culver City could profit.
One minute per person, she told the scores of resident witnesses eager to testify against the oil drilling company.
Had he been present, Vice Mayor Gary Silbiger would have stood and done 20 minutes on how “The Glories of Free Speech Are Being Ravaged Because People I Agree with Are Being Denied Their Constitutional Rights.”
This, of course, is 10 pounds of stale bologna.
Only disappointed residents protested Ms. Brathwaite Burke’s verdict, understandably but wrongly. The one-minute limit forced them to distill their message while leaving out the shrubbery.
With technological advances accelerating the pace of quality lives, it is unfortunate no one has yet invented a way to boil the thoughts of 75 like-minded persons into 10 snappy minutes.
