[Editor’s Note: Former Mayor Andy Weissman delivered these memories at Sunday evening’s memorial for Scott Wyant.]
This is about the last place I want to be.
But it is the place I need to be to share Scott with all of you.
It is my honor to be able to speak today. When Leslie and Molly asked me if I would, I hesitated. Being up here talking about Scott is hard. Very hard.
Scott was many things. Someone who was always interested, available and involved. A person you knew you could count on regardless of the circumstances. Above all else, Scott was a friend.
I didn’t know Scott as long as many of you here today. I met him for the first time about 20 years ago at, of all places, a community event. Who’d have imagined that he and I would be at something concerning Culver City?
What struck me the first time I was introduced to Scott was that he looked you in the eye. He wasn’t looking around the room or over your shoulder. He was focused and listening.
When you spoke with Scott, he was there with you. He looked at you and listened. What a concept.
Scott was a mensch. According to the Joys of Yiddish, not a book I refer to often, a mensch is a someone to admire and emulate. The key to being “a real mensch” is nothing less than character, rectitude, dignity, a person who knows and acts with a sense of what is right and responsible. That was Scott Wyant.
Scott was hugely involved in all things Culver City. He was on the board and the Executive Committee of the Chamber of Commerce, the Education Foundation. He was a founding member of the Culver City Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan
He had been a member of Planning Commission since 2009. He chaired the Planning Commission twice. As a Planning Commissioner, Scott worked hard on issues like affordable housing, economic development, alternative transportation, design guidelines and protecting neighborhoods.
But civic involvement was not enough for Scott. He decided to get involved in local politics. He was deeply involved in my re-election campaign,
During the summer of 2015, he decided that he wanted to do more than be a Planning Commissioner. He decided to run for City Council.
He asked me what I thought. I told him he would be a great Council member.
You see, politics is the process of making decisions amid diverse opinions. It involves conversation, calm deliberation, self-discipline, the capacity to listen to other points of view and balance valid but competing ideas and interests.
To accomplish anything requires the ability to work together, to listen to each other, to be prepared to defend a principle, but also be able to recognize that none of us has a monopoly on good ideas.
A good Council member requires a person to be both ready and able to share, to advocate for and, where necessary, to be willing to compromise.
It means being prepared to listen to the entire community, not merely those who scream the loudest or the longest or with the most passionate sense of outrage. It means doing what is in the best interests of Culver City. Scott did not have to preach it, he practiced it.
I read this someplace:
“Cancer might rob you of the blissful belief that tomorrow stretches into forever.
“In exchange, you are granted the vision to see each day as precious, a gift to be use wisely and richly.
“No one can take that away.”
When Scott got sick, he remained enthusiastic and optimistic.
But he also was realistic. He knew his condition yet he was determined not to surrender to it. He continued to live life large.
Scott was a remarkable person. I am proud to have known Scott. I am proud that he was my friend.
Mr. Weissman may be contacted at andrewweissman@anwlaw.com