But harmony shortly leaped off the cliff. Feuding made a comeback even though the Council convened for barely eighty minutes.
Safely Out of Fight Arena
By that time, Mr. Pedersen, his wife Carol, their two daughters, ages twelve and nine, and his sister, all had left the building and spared themselves a ringside seat on Fight Night.
On what actually was Getaway Night, when the retiring Mayor Albert Vera was leading his final meeting, peace finished a distant second, as it has virtually every day for the four years that these five have served on the Council.
Mr. Vera reserved his knife-sharpest words, liberally salted with acerbity, for Councilman Steve Rose, whom he has known since Mr. Rose was a child.
Their beef is about a substantive subject — whether Mr. Vera is entitled to carry over working on a project after he officially leaves political office at the outset of next week’s meeting.
For roughly two months, Mr. Vera has been telling the Council he is privately working on a deal to provide off-street parking space for the twenty-five or so Recreational Vehicles to be affected by a new parking ordinance.
Initially, Mr. Vera — known for his unrelenting independence — said it really did not matter whether he concluded negotiations before or after his final day in office, April 24.
On several other occasions, he said he anticipated closing the deal beforehand.
It did not happen.
While the off-street parking ordinance that was passed in the first week of December continued to linger, Mr. Vera once again asked for an extension.
One More Extension, Please?
He told the City Council he needed sixty to ninety more days to complete a deal.
Whoa, said Mr. Rose. You have only one more week as a Council member. You can’t negotiate on behalf of the Council or City Hall after you leave office.
“Negotiations,” he said, “need to be handed over to another member of the Council.”
Equally whoa, said Councilperson Carol Gross, Mr. Vera’s main ally. The mayor has not been negotiating on behalf of the Council, she said, but rather as a private individual.
Outragous, sniffed Mr. Rose. Entirely inappropriate.
Now it was the mayor’s turn to fire his cannons. “I will never ask your permission as a civilian,” Mr. Vera said to Mr. Rose. “As a civilian, I will do as I please.”
The more the mayor thought about it, the more upset he grew at Mr. Rose, whom he did not address by name. Just by glare.
“I forgot,” he snapped, “I forgot that when some people get up here, they think of themselves as gods.”
Drawing himself as close as he could to his adversary’s face, Mr. Vera added: “When you lower your crown, you will be able to speak as a human being.”
This was too much for Councilman Alan Corlin, who leaped into the fray uninvited.
The once-controversial RV ordinance has been hanging around so long, it may have moved to a new stove, he feared.
Obviously impatient — in a more understated manner — with the mayor, Mr. Corlin thought that “it seems a little ridiculous to wait six months to implement an ordinance.” He was worried that the city might be facing a deadline on implementation. He was assured that the ordinance will be as valid in ninety more days as it is this morning.
Mr. Corlin indicated he was disappointed that Mr. Vera had promised something resembling progress in the protracted negotiations but instead offered an empty basket while seeking a quarter-year extension.
Armed with a guarantee from the City Attorney’s office that the ordinance still be breathing in mid-July, Mr. Corlin attached a flash of sarcasm to his begrudging agreement to go along with the mayor’s request.
“Ninety days,” he said. “That’s it. Not a Culver City That’s It but a real That’s It.”
Over Mr. Rose’s objection, Mr. Vera’s requested extension was granted by one of the evening’s numerous four to one votes.
On an earlier agenda item, Mr. Rose and Mr. Vera dueled again.
Mr. Rose was ready to side with the obvious majority to enter into a sublease with entrepreneur Avery Clayton to (briefly)place an African American museum in the Old County Courthouse on Overland Avenue.
But Mr. Rose swiftly pulled back near the end of the discussion. He acted when Mr. Vera, in a by-the-way aside, mentioned that he held some private information about the pending lease he could not disclose from the dais.
Mr. Rose became infuriated. He thundered several volleys of criticism in Mr. Vera’s direction for withholding information all of them should know.
“If there are things I don’t know about,” stormed Mr. Rose, “then I can’t vote for this item. I was going to vote for it.”
Mr. Vera pounced on Mr. Rose’s critique with equal swiftness: “That is your problem,” the mayor said,”not mine. Don’t push any buttons.”
“I am not going to vote for it,” Mr. Rose said.
“This is my last night, and I don’t give a damn whether you do or don’t,” Mr. Vera responded.
In another contentious item — the third where Mr. Rose was the lone dissenter — the City Council agreed to waive $12,500 of the $15,000 fee that the two sponsors of the May 13 Car Show had requested.