By Kevin Herrera
Daily Press Staff Writer

CITY HALL — Following nearly 30 minutes of discussion on when would be the best time for the City Council to delve into a comprehensive report on the city’s homeless services network, residents were left wondering: What is going on in City Hall?

City Council spent a good deal of time during a day-long study session on Saturday mulling ways in which to make their meetings more concise. The result? Elected officials pushed the proceedings well past the witching hour.

The homeless services review was presented, but the council decided not to dig deep because of an already hefty agenda, which was cut considerably that night because of time constraints.

Also, the nearly 200-page report had just been released a few days prior to the meeting, giving neither the council nor the public ample time to review it, according to both Mayor Richard Bloom and Councilman Bobby Shriver.

If that was going to be the case, why even bring it before the council in the first place?

Bloom said city staff was hoping to get some direction from the council as it moves forward with spending priorities for the next fiscal year. In the end, staff got nothing.

There is talk of adding an extra meeting at the end of the month, so there still could be a chance for some guidance, however, it seems that something should have been worked out ahead of time, given staff and the council knew they would have a backlog because of the holiday recess.

Perhaps council members should meet over the holidays. Staff is working, why shouldn’t they?

“At first blush, I knew it was an impossible agenda,” said Councilman Bob Holbrook. “I can understand Richard saying right off the bat that we might as well schedule more meetings because we hadn’t met in about five weeks. We will probably need extra meetings just to get caught up on this.”

MEETINGS ARE A ‘GUESSING GAME’

Now, the rationale for hefty agendas is this. If city staff were to place only a few items before the council, and there was no controversy, then the meeting could proceed rather quickly and everyone would be home by 9:30 p.m.

That may sound great to those with kids at home or facing an early morning commute, but the problem lies with Council adjourning for the evening too early, wasting an opportunity to handle more of the city’s business.

Instead, agendas are jam-packed with the hope that all issues can be addressed. If not, they are simply placed on hold, leaving those interested in the yanked items sitting in the council chambers, wasting away, when they could be at home watching the Lakers or spending time with the family playing Pictionary.

It’s really a guessing game, Bloom said. Everyone acknowledges the meetings are long, and the council and city manager are working together to address that, but no one really knows for sure just what issues are going to get people’s blood to boil.

“The answer is simple,” Bloom said. “We have too many things to do. We have a lot of work because we are a very active city with a budget that is close to half-a-billon dollars ... The council’s business ebbs and flows and there are times when we are anticipating a good deal of public comment on an issue and it doesn’t materialize ...

“Then there are times when there is tons of public comment and that happened last night.”

NO SWEARING, UNLESS IT’S THE CHIEF

Tuesday’s meeting — Bloom’s first as mayor in two years — was chock full of events, starting off with the swearing-in of the new police chief, Timothy Jackman.

It was standing-room only as everyone from former Mayor Nat “Mr. Santa Monica” Trives, St. Monica Parish Monsignor Lloyd Torgerson and schools Superintendent Diane Talarico showed up to wish the top cop well.

“I am very excited about you coming here and the enthusiasm you are bringing to the job,” Councilman Ken Genser told the chief. “This is a journey we will be going on and I hope this journey takes us to wonderful places.”

Jackman replied, “I plan on being here for awhile.”

Following the administration of the oath, a few photographs and a speech or two, the council emptied out quickly as guests went to the Public Safety Facility to spend some time with Jackman.

THE BEST OF THE REST

Sticking with his pledge to keep things moving, Bloom, who performed well at the helm, moved quickly into the consent calendar, which rarely brings heated discussion. But then again, Tuesday night was a different kind of meeting.

Several speakers criticized awarding a custodial contract to an outside firm for the Santa Monica Pier (see related story). That lasted for almost an hour, as the council went back and forth over what they should do next. They eventually decided to not grant the contract, and instead move forward with an overall discussion on contracting out versus going in-house.

That was around 7 p.m. Then came closed session.

The council returned about 45 minutes later and, once again, scores of people filed into the council chambers to view a presentation of a report on the homeless services network. Homeless Czar Ed Edelman gave his report on the status of the regional activities and legislation aimed at reducing the homeless population.

Edelman also introduced Santa Monica resident Rebecca Isaacs, the new director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the regional body that governs homeless funding and policy. Isaacs kept her comments short, focusing on the 2007 Homeless Count, which will begin on Jan. 24. Isaacs said she is still seeking volunteers to help with the effort.

After hearing from more than a dozen speakers, the council instructed staff to bring the report back for further discussion, and then moved on to the next item, an appeal by property owners living along San Vicente Boulevard who wish to divide their plot into three.

Neighbors complained the division would create more traffic and dangerous conditions because of the narrow streets in the area. They also said the division would change the character of the neighborhood.

The owners of the property said their neighbors were being greedy and selfish.

As they went back and forth, a couple of young women from the plastics industry were bored out of their minds and tried to entertain themselves by taking goofy pictures of themselves on their cell phones. One of them was pretty fond of the pouting pose.

The council eventually decided to give the property owners two lots instead of three.

TO EXEMPT, OR NOT TO EXEMPT

Then came the biggest item of the night — the first reading of an ordinance that would make permanent an interim law that exempts 100 percent-affordable housing developments of less than 50 units from certain types of review, reducing the time required for approval and reducing costs to the developer, which is often Santa Monica Community Corp., the largest developer of low-cost housing in the city.

Supporters, including representatives from Community Corp. and Step up on Second, said the law is in step with the city’s goals of creating more affordable housing, and tried to emphasize that zoning restriction would still apply so that giant buildings could not be built next to one-story homes.

Margaret Mills, who supports the law, said her autistic son would not be able to live on his own if it wasn’t for affordable housing.

“When he was in Special Ed classes in Santa Monica, I always wondered would he be able to work and live independently,” Mills said. “And now at the age of 45, he works as a courtesy clerk for a local grocery company and lives independently in a safe, decent, well-managed studio apartment in downtown Santa Monica … I often hear that low income people don’t deserve to live in Santa Monica. This law gives workers a decent place to live.”

Those opposed said they support low-cost housing but were afraid of diminished public review and how this may affect the scale of neighborhoods.

“I have been a full supporter of affordable housing in Santa Monica and have been for the last 20 years or more,” said former City Councilman and former Planning Commissioner Kelly Olson. “But the removal of discretionary approval, taking away the public’s right to talk about projects, is really a mistake and actually hurts affordable housing. In the long run, (the law) turns people against it. If they have a say (in affordable housing projects) they will buy into it more.”

The council majority supported the law, with Council members Shriver and Holbrook casting votes against it.

“I just think that a project of 50 units is big,” Holbrook said. “It’s a big building … I would be willing to exempt up to 25 units, but 50 units is such a big property and such a tall and large building that not to have any review at all is troublesome for me.”

What struck Holbrook as odd was the number of people who came out to speak on the law even though it seemed from the beginning that it had enough votes to pass. With so much ground to cover, it would have been better, Holbrook said, if one person could have spoken on behalf of their particular group, something which Bloom suggested several times throughout the course of the meeting,

“I don’t know why 36 people spoke … when it was a slam dunk,” Holbrook said. “It was going to pass, so I was wondering why there were members of (Santa Monicans for Renters Rights) there. Politically, it’s an interesting thought.”

With that matter settled, the council quickly approved a ban on non-recyclable plastics used to serve food. The ban applies to “to-go” containers made from non-recyclable plastic, such as expanded polystyrene — better known as Styrofoam — and clear polystyrene, both of which carry the No. 6 recycling symbol and are commonly used in food and beverage containers. The ban does not affect recyclable plastics, paper, coated paper, foil or bio-based products.

Businesses have until next year to make the switch from the non-recyclable containers.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:57 a.m. in memory of Herman Louisa, one of the operators of H & H Body Shop, and Miguel Martin, who was killed tragically two weeks ago in a drive-by shooting on Pico Boulevard near Virginia Avenue Park.

kevinh@smdp.com