Third in a series. 

Re: “Mayor Is a Do-It-Yourself Kind of Guy” 

The mayor of Culver City, Jim Clarke, has been a genuine populist from the start of his political career four decades ago.

His public life has not been spent on a lofty pedestal, declaiming to the people below. A man of the people, he mingles daily with constituents, soliciting opinions, trading perspectives.

Mr. Clarke’s next major project marks a slight and temporary departure from that pattern.

In a sense, Monday’s first all-day City Council Strategic Planning Retreat at the Kirk Douglas Theatre – starting at 9 a.m. – is a look-but-don’t-touch experiment.

For nine hours, Vice Mayor Jeff Cooper, fellow Council members Thomas Small, Meghan Sahli-Wells, Goran Eriksson and Mr. Clarke will go on an Easter Egg-type hunt for half-a-dozen issues to aggressively develop over the coming two years.

Many working people will be unable to participate, but for community members who do attend, the accent is to be more on observing with occasional speaking out.

Sort of like going to work with your father.

Once the retreat is over, around 6 o’clock, normalcy will be restored, and the mayor will dive back into a pool of regular people.

Here is the followup City Council agenda, in Mr. Clarke’s words:

“We want to have community outreach and open up this process to all kinds of community stakeholders.

“We want them to share all of their ideas and thoughts.”

(To be continued)