May I Hand You an Owners Manual?
The chief royally valid criticism of Mr. Silbiger is that he seems to have a fundamental misunderstanding of how representative government functions, whether local or beyond. You, Mr. Mayor, were elected to be a decision-maker not a buck-passer. The people voted you into office, Mr. Mayor, to represent them, as a proxy for them. They did not elect you, by 1 vote or a by a million, to have the arrow flipped around and pointed at them. In the beginning, this style had an aspect of cute. Like bringing an oldtimer back to his job for one more fling. Like watching a dumb dog count to 10 with all 4 paws at once. The novelty died more than 4 years ago.
First, the People Should Vote
Lately including last nights City Council meeting Mr. Silbiger has shown a growing tendency to detour every subject of interest to him to a peoples panel. He acts as if the City Council is upstaging the residents of Culver City who voted the five persons into office by daring to render a verdict before receiving expert amateur approval from the people. His latest creed is that no subject that engages him should harden into policy or law before gaining a nod from the gentle folks out in the neighborhoods, who dont know when the Council meets.
The Sum of the Mayors Parts
In spite of unfailingly shlepping a largely single-note philosophy to every City Council meeting, Mr. Silbiger is a complexity. He is a congenial, aw-shucks kind of fellow, open-faced, easy to like. I like him. He is courteous and, in his way, sensitive. A few months ago, we were conducting an evening interview in his ground-floor Washington Boulevard office. His son Karlo, a recent and very bright college graduate, telephoned two or three times. In each instant, his father cordially postponed their visit in deference to the interview. Mr. Silbigers aw-shucks attitude has two dimensions. His style often manifests itself as casual, who-me type of shoulder shrugging by an ordinary, faceless citizen. Wrong. In the second dimension, the Mayor is relentless in tooting his one-note philosophy, a tactic Mr. Silbiger is employing far too often these days. When Councilman Steve Rose was Mayor a couple of years ago, he was criticized for his severe, by-the-rules style of running meetings. After a resident had spoken 3 minutes at a meeting, not 3:01, Mr. Rose sharply let the person know he was finished, even if the speaker did not realize it. Mr. Silbiger has developed the annoying habit of sending everything out for rum-dum approval. If we ran government the way Gary wants to, said a colleague, we never would get anything done.
They Call Them Silbiger-isms
There are two types of Silbiger-isms, each annoying in a separate way. Both were on display last night. The first case involved what almost laughingly is referred to as a public hearing. In the years I have been covering the City Council, I think two of the public hearings have drawn any fire from the public. Otherwise, public hearings are yawn times. This involved a 6-unit condo subdivision on Lucerne Avenue. Immediately, Mr. Silbigers colleagues were ready to vote assent. Announcing that he had comments and questions, the Mayor recounted the minutes from a Planning Commission meeting where the vote was 3 to 1 to approve the project. Itemizing each objection, Mr. Silbiger engaged in extended dialogue with a staffer to ensure that each perceived shortcoming had been resolved. This was either presumed or previously learned by the Mayors colleagues since the Planning Commission vote had been clear-cut. Mr. Silbiger probed further and repeatedly with City Atty. Carol Schwab. Belatedly conducting arcane searches for eminently knowable information has become di rigeur for the Mayor. The second example was even more frustrating, what public art should be displayed along Washington Boulevard, west of the 405 freeway. Knowledgeable cultural connoisseurs on the Cultural Affairs Commission previously had made a recommendation. The Council had allocated $100,000 to satisfy 8 criteria that had been outlined. Three artists (or teams) were selected from a pool of 44. Without boring you further, painstaking steps had been taken by persons deeply invested in the genre. Comes the vote last night. A concept by the artist Kyungmi Shin had been recommended for approval. Wait just a darned minute, Mr. Silbiger says. The people should be heard from. He wanted to know what they thought. I rest my case, and my weary mind.
