Identifying the Appropriate Areas
Optimally, it was determined, following intense cerebrating, that the City Council should appoint one lucky volunteer from each of said neighborhoods to serve a two-year term on a clunkily named board, the Homelessness Ad Hoc Committee. The four clunkily named areas are, Fox Hills, the East Side, the Westside and here is the clunker Lower Crest, Sepulveda-Jefferson (which is what you call 5 areas when you only want to count 4). In response to advertising, 6 persons volunteered for the 4 available seats Nancy Goldberg, Kimiko Kelly, Emily McRae, Thomas McCabe, Judy Scott and Elaine Struhl. Three of them made impressive face-to-face presentations to the City Council, explaining, poignantly in some cases, how and why they were motivated to seek to lighten the burden of the homeless.
Not So Fast, Says Council
Taking just a little more time than the Founders needed to compose the Declaration of Independence, the City Council hashed out, for 50 painful minutes, the qualifications for serving on a homeless commission in Culver City. Aside from the agreed-upon fact that Culver Citys homeless population is dwarfed by that of many other cities, members turned to their favorite pastime: feuding. Mayor Gary Silbiger and Council members Carol Gross and Steve Rose agreed with Mr. Corlin and Scott Malsin that the six applicants seemed like nice people. But Mr. Silbiger, Ms. Gross and Mr. Rose maintained that the six nice people sadly only represented 2 of the 4 neighborhoods designed as homeless war zones by the City Council. Therefore, the three agreed, they were stuck for the night. Subsequently, after their debate took numerous zag-zigs, a majority of Council members agreed that not enough residents had been personally notified that volunteers for a homelessness committee were being recruited. That precluded appointing anybody to the committee last night, they decided by a 3 to 2 vote.
Compassion? Maybe the Next Time
In the name of all that is homeless, Mr. Corlin pleaded before the vote, wouldnt it be preferable to select 4 compassionate, motivated volunteers rather than getting technical and naming people because they lived on a certain street? Mr. Corlins argument swiftly washed down a drain and was voted down. The first-year Councilman Mr. Malsin was strictly pragmatic. Compassion, shompassion. He wanted to move forward. I see no reason not to vote tonight, he said. Three of his colleagues resisted Mr. Malsins attempts at suasion on the grounds that each member of the Homelessness Committee was supposed to report back from a particular neighborhood. Neighborhood crossings must be out of favor this season. Apparently, the three Council resistors objected to residents leaving their home neighborhoods, venturing into foreign neighborhoods, and then reporting their findings on the foreign neighborhoods to City Hall. City Manager Jerry Fulwood announced the matter of the Homelessness Committee saving the homeless would have to wait until the City Council meeting of Monday, Oct.23. It was not clear whether City Hall expects by that date to add more homeless persons or more applicants for the Homelessness Committee.
A Historical Point of View
Speaking of homeless, the venerable 26-year-old Culver City Historical Society, on the road for the last two years, soon will have a Vets Warming if not a traditional housewarming. The hyper-enthusiastic City Council voted unanimously to approve a proposal that the Society move into the creatively named Overflow Room at the Vets Auditorium. But dont call the boys from Bekins just yet. Mr. Corlin suggested this time his colleagues concurred that City Hall write out a Memorandum of Understanding first with the Society, precisely identifying each sides responsibilities and restrictions. Since the Society cannot start moving in until this document is signed, it is likely to be months before the moving process can begin. Sentiment on the dais was strong to rescue the very active Historical Society collection from the obscurity and the inaccessibility of the upper story of the Bank of the West building on Washington Boulevard, across from the Kirk Douglas Theatre. The Councils muscular enthusiasm almost changed the direction of the wind in Council Chambers. A huge crowd of Historical Society members/supporters turned out, and 28 of them spoke and wrote out pro-moving opinions.