That was some meeting Friday- There's a rent control ordinance, RSO, the Rent Stabilization Ordinance that applies to rentals up to 1978 contruction that allows limited rent increases each year.
This year Richard Alarcon wants a one year moratorium because of the economy- and there's the beggining of a problem. So 200 people put in cards to talk at Friday's meeting, 100 for and 100 against a motion that's been changed to have a study on the impact and to exempt owners of 5 or less units from the restrictions on raises that the RSO would allow.
But Wesson has his grand kid maybe 2 years old there, and I wondered what's the deal as I popped the meeting up on the computer then. He says he wants this to be approved to go to the study and have all the debate put off for that return of the study. He says "I just came to vote and I want to go see my new granddaughter." He said she was born in the last couple of hours.
OK, Herb, but to accommodate you, you have 200 people being shut down on their moment to vent for probably the 1 minute now, as the 2-minute period gets cut to 1 when there's so many to speak.
Maybe some of them should have been allowed to speak on THAT question, of putting off the coment period for another day for them, another day to skip work or whatever they might do, another day to find parking and to pay the not-so-cheap-rates that Council Members have absolutely no appreciation for since they park their selected CITY paid cars in the City Hall parking lot for free.
Well, to make it short this time, the Council voted as Wesson wanted, to put the real matter off and deflect public comment today. Talk about the self-serving nature of the beast. CMs really don't care about the effort that the members of the public make to get to City Hall for a meager 2 minutes maximum time to speak on an agenda item. And you know, it's only a one-way speaking experience- no one answers you or has to answer you- sometimes they really aren't even paying attention to you or are not present in the Council Chambers. "Council members are able to view the proceedings in their offices, so they ARE aware of what you are saying," is the usual line Council President Eric Garcetti uses to quell complaints made by public commenters about absent seats or CMs talking, apparently oblivious to the words being spoken by the person at the podium.
So much arrogance and then they wonder why anyone should even challenge their decisions. Well, for one big reason that might just bypass the idea of what they THINK- it's often that they don't even READ THE TEXT OR BACKGROUND of any motion- and some carries much baggage if you click the agendas to see the history.
In spite of that explicit personal non-reading of the motions, they are not inhibited one iota to keep from making their opinions heard on any of it. They rely on committee reports, the assurances of other CMs who TELL them what it means, often the authors of motions, and so you have no real knowledge of what's being voted on, so why even listen to the public? You see, it's too much to expect of them and maybe at the best, they have an aide TELL THEM what THE AIDE'S interpretation is, so you have them acting on a 2nd hand level.
It's just another day at the Council Chambers and maybe it's not on the up and up, but you might expect some courtesy and consideration for the public who is, after all, not getting a paycheck for coming to city hall that day.
If the Council was going to move something off the agenda or some other action was planned whereby the people would not be getting the opportunity to speak, maybe it could be announced IN ADVANCE IN SOME COMMONLY UNDERSTOOD MANNER so the trip downtown could be avoided and not be a waste when you find you aren't going to be heard.
This is just my complaint on seeing a little of what happens very simply and commonly by the actions of Council Members. And I still don't know if the automatic "Yes" vote on the Council members' devices has been stopped so the device will only work manually to show a "Yes" or "No" vote. All that phantom voting was happening without you really knowing if the CMs were even in the building. Wesson's been seen to grab a smoke outside and that's surely an abuse if you break a quorum by his absence. Others have had meetings in their offices during that time. But they have a zillion excuses and on top of everything else, they don't care about you. Oh, what? "You say you are a union member?" Or, "Is it THAT group of campaign contributors you are part of? Well, that's different." Don't you just love it all?
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