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I talked to many neighbors and business people during that time. I listened to Bob Champions presentations, and I read his last statement to the press.
After considering all the activities around the South Sepulveda project, I have come to a conclusion. The whole experience is like a Peanuts cartoon.
Casting the Roles
Mr. Champion, the developer, is Charlie Brown. The project is the football. Someone in the city, either an elected official or paid a staff member, is Lucy. In the cartoon, Lucy tells Charlie Brown to trust her and kick the football.
In the proposed project, Lucy tells Charlie Brown to trust her and propose a massive project. In the last frame of the cartoon, Charlie Brown is lying on his back, saying Good grief.
In the last frame of our local version, Mr. Champion is left lying on his back in the Big Lots parking lot, saying Good grief, and wondering what happened.
Lingering Mystery
We will never know who Lucy is. This person will not come forward. And Mr. Champion is Charlie Brown, not Sammy (The Bull) Gravano, ratting out others to get a better deal for himself.
The only differences between the cartoon and our scenario are that I have never seen Mr. Champion in a striped tee-shirt, and in the cartoon Lucy has dark hair.
The conclusion of the South Sepulveda activities was a natural lead into the discussion of allowable density at the July 2 City Council meeting.
A Needed Time-Out
It seemed to be a consensus of the Council members that our current codes allowed too much density on our strip commercial abutting residential property.
They all seemed to agree that the city needed to stop new developments until the codes could be corrected. It sounded as if it would take nine months to a year to complete the task.
While all agreed that we needed to temporarily stop development, some did not want to vote for a moratorium. They want to do what a moratorium does.
Troublesome Word
But it sounded as if they do not like the word moratorium. They want to rely on the staff to inform people coming into the City Hall that there is a temporary halt to development.
I suppose this could work, unless the person coming to the City Hall talks to Lucy.
I think a moratorium is important to communications on this critical issue. It communicates to the citizens that the Council is serious about changing the codes. It communicates, in black and white, to perspective developers that there is a temporary halt to development.
Paper Trail Critical
The importance of written communications was shown at the July 9 City Council meeting. In discussions on the 9900 Culver project, there seemed to questions about what was said to the developer when the parcels were purchased. A written agreement would have eliminated these questions.
So I feel it is important that the Council pass this moratorium. And for those who dont like the word moratorium, they can call it a teddy bear. Nobody hates teddy bears.
Who Is the Visionary?
As I was preparing to send this to thefrontpageonline.com, I read the article where Councilwoman Carol Gross said she was the only one on the Council with a vision. Most people would say that others have a different vision for the city but not Councilwoman Gross. What arrogance.
And I thought she only talked down to her constituents but now I discover she talks down to her fellow Councilmen.
Why I Am Grateful
I, for one, am thankful that the other Councilmen do not have the same vision for the city as she does.
If they did, we citizens of the city wouldnt have a vision. We wouldnt have a vision of blue sky. We wouldnt have a vision of the sunlight on our backyard gardens. We wouldnt have a vision of the westerly winds gently blowing through the trees in our yards.
We would live in a canyon of 56- foot buildings.
Thank God for different visions.
Mr. Supple can be contacted at tomjsup@ca.rr.com
