BLOG: Too Late for Democracy?

As it turns out, may be responsible for making West Hollywood City Council meetings more efficient and accessible.

Attending a City Council meeting is not for the faint of heart.  The expensive new Council Chambers are crowded and acoustically atrocious.  The meetings, which are scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m., are delayed by endless presentations made by self promoting Council members.  By the time the Council gets to the first item of business, it is generally after 8 p.m.

The meetings drag on long after midnight and frustrated residents often leave before the item they want to testify about is called.  After 11 p.m., often the only people testifying are paid consultants and attorneys.  Grassroots democracy in West Hollywood leaves a lot to be desired.

But things may change. 

County Assessor John Noguez has been the center of a million dollar “pay to play” scandal.  It appears that Noguez and his key aides were pressuring bureaucrats in his office to grant huge property tax cuts to developers and wealthy property owners who had generously contributed to Noguez’s campaign.  At least one aide has been arrested and Noguez is under a Grand Jury investigation.

Prang’s New Job

A few months back, Noguez created a new “special assistant” position especially for his friend, our then unemployed Mayor, Jeff Prang. 

Nominally Prang’s job was to act as a “liaison” with the Assessor’s Office and the Board of Supervisors, but in actuality, Prang’s job was to do P.R. for the embattled Assessor and rally support in the gay community for Noguez, who is the only openly gay countywide elected official in Los Angeles County.  If Noguez were to be indicted, Prang would certainly be in a position to raise funds from West Hollywood developers for his legal defense fund.

Unfortunately for Prang, several weeks ago as head of the County Assessor’s office and the Board of Supervisors appointed an acting Assessor to clean up the mess.

Suddenly Prang’s cushy insider job is not so cushy or secure.  Unlike some of his previous government jobs, Prang now has to be at work on time and put in a full day just like the rest of us.  As a Noguez loyalist holding a position of questionable utility, Prang needs to make sure his new position does not appear to be redundant.

Leaving Council Meeting Early

A few meetings back .  That was true; .

But things got even more interesting at the last City Council meeting during the

As the presentation by staff and public comment dragged the meeting past midnight, it became apparent that the City Council members were deadlocked two in favor of extending the contract and two opposed.

At that point the Mayor should have cast the deciding vote.  Except that he didn’t.

Out of nowhere the Mayor suddenly starts complaining that he has been up since five in the morning and has to get up for work in another five hours and that he is just too tired to make a decision.  His colleagues were more than a little annoyed as they too have jobs and work long days.  To many, it looked like a ploy to avoid a tough vote.

The fact is that Prang gets up at 5 a.m. to go to the gym before reporting to work downtown at 8 a.m.  But whether Prang is fudging about when he actually goes to work is really not the point: City Council meetings do drag on way too late for rational debate and thoughtful consideration of important issues.

Until the Mayor had a change in his employment status, the lateness of the meetings seemed to be of no consequence, at least to him.  But even though Prang’s complaint may come from a point of self interest or even narcissism, it is still valid.

Ending Early Means More Efficient Meetings

In the late 1990s Councilman Sal Guarriello similarly complained that he could not function at late night meetings due to his age.  The result was that the Council made a concerted effort to end nearly every meeting by 11 p.m.  By eliminating the ordeal of late night meetings, the City Council actually functioned better.

But over the years the Council has front loaded the meetings with inordinate numbers of presentations that have delayed the start of the real business of the City Council causing meetings to regularly drag on beyond 1 a.m.  Residents have long complained that meetings are grueling marathons, starting too late and running too late.

West Hollywood was founded by grassroots activists who envisioned a unique “urban village” where we would have a town hall democracy where residents would be encouraged to participate in Council deliberations.

Instead we have a government that goes out of its way to discourage public participation, often simply by making it inconvenient.  After all, this is a City that spent millions on new . 

Too Many Presentations

It is frustrating if you show up to a meeting that is supposed to start at 6:30 p.m. but really doesn’t start until 8.  At the last City Council meeting nearly every seat was taken up by people who only came out for a Council presentation.  Residents who came to participate in the business portion of the meeting found there was no place to sit.  Many simply gave up and went home.

Many times people simply cannot stay until after 10 or 11 p.m. in hopes the Council will get to their agenda item.  Like the Mayor, many people have jobs they need to get to or have put in a full day and need to get home.  It is bad enough to wait for hours to be heard when the City Council often ignores public input and sometimes even openly disparages it.

If Mayor Prang would just take his personal issue and turn it into a public one, we might actually see some positive changes in how the City conducts meetings.

If Prang would advocate that running meetings after 11 p.m. is not only stressful for the City Council members, but also effectively denies the public the right to be heard, he would be a hero. 

When important issues are heard and only a handful of the diehard public remain, you can’t really call that participatory democracy.

At the conclusion of every public hearing, City Council members ritualistically thank members of the public for coming out to testify.  But if they really want to encourage public input in the business of the City, then the Council meetings need to actually focus on City issues rather than photo ops and politically motivated presentations. 

Council member comments should be limited to two minutes per member, just like the limits on the public.  Meetings should have manageable agendas and should end at a reasonable hour.  Perhaps the Mayor will have the courage to take up the issue, not just due to his own circumstances but for the good of the public.

The irony is that the last Council meeting ended before the Council could address an agenda items put forth by Mayor Prang and Council member John D’Amico requesting that the City look at   I was planning to testify in favor of it but I had to leave shortly after midnight.  After all, I’ve got to get to work in the morning.

Steve Martin