At the last two City Council meetings, the only memorable display of unity came when members were using as a cudgel the 19 percent turnout at the last four Council elections.

Sometimes they overlooked 19 percent as fungible.

A two-way street, 19 percent could be applied both to prove and to denigrate an emotional point.

Sixty-five percent of the 19 percent voted to legalize marijuana.

• Does this mean that two-thirds of the community welcomes a year-around, lawful cannabis season?
• Or does it mean that 81 percent of residents do not give a darn either way, that it can be handed out in front of City Hall or distributed door-to-door.

How is a careful, immensely sensitive city leader to choose the correct path?

As the pivotal vote on a strongly divided Council, Vice Mayor Thomas Small sought assurance that homeowners and tenants would be heard:

• Before retail cannabis businesses were approved for Culver City and
• To be certain that community sentiments clearly would be voiced before locations of the three promised retail stores were finalized.

Mr. Small was asked if there was a way to guarantee a megaphone for residents.

“Yes,” he said, “I think we can go a lot further than we ever have before. The new idea I proposed of a petition, having all neighbors give an up or down vote that was too extreme for (Mayor Jeff Cooper and Meghan Sahli-Wells, the Council’s Marijuana Subcommittee).”

If there had been a Council consensus, said the vice mayor, he would have included it in a motion.

“It may or may not have been legal,” Mr. Small said. “Staff was hesitant to say.”

(To be continued)