In a visit to City Hall last evening that eventually wandered down strongly emotional avenues, Albert Vera spoke candidly about each member of his family as he basked in the fresh air of a rare appearance at his old workplace
“First time here in two years,” said the three-term former City Councilman, still held in reverential regard in certain neighborhoods of Culver City.
A decade beyond standard retirement age, Mr. Vera said he continues to press his daily work schedule at his popular ethnic market, Serrano’s, while continuing to undertake regular business trips to his ranch spread in the Central Valley, a rugged outing even for a young man.
Explaining his mission of last evening, Mr. Vera, who has not lost his flair for succinct, soaring rhetoric, said that “I came to congratulate the three new members of the City Council. I am here to offer my help, if they want it.
History Lesson
“I will not try to tell them what to do, but just to give them the spices of life of the city of Culver City, how it went from a celery-and-lettuce city to a major community in the United States of America.
“I am happy and ready to co-operate.”
Mr. Vera’s frequently determined face softened as soon as his thoughts turned to his ailing wife Ursula, who suffers from scleroderma, an auto-immune disease that leads to rigidity of the skin or organs.
His eyes moistened.
“She is in bad shape, and I cannot walk away from her,” he said.
“I still am working hard for the city. God knows how much I am doing for the city behind the scenes.
“But it is not the credit that a person needs. It is what the results are. So I can take care of Ursula, take care of the city and still do what I have got to do.”
Mrs. Vera, on dialysis, has battled scleroderma for more than 4 years. Her husband asked his friends and admirers across Culver City to include her in their prayers.
Junior’s Comeback
Following a brush with the law last year that included a state prison sentence, the Veras’ surviving son, Albert Jr., known widely as Junior, is working more closely than ever with his father.
“Junior, after the problem he had, is co-operating a lot more,” said Mr. Vera, “and I am hoping that I can guide him to be a man.
“I want him to remember that he is not by himself. The world is with him, if he is the kind of man we want.”
More than almost any wish in life, Mr. Vera would love to turn over his business empire to his son, who never has shown an aptitude for treading that path.
“Junior has shown more promise this time,” his father said. “Junior was guided by the wrong crowd before. He believed in them. But he realizes now it was the wrong crowd. He has a terrific soul, you know. He has the qualities of a leader. All I have to do is give him support.”