Councilman gets ‘long’ end of the straw
Councilman Mike Feinstein stormed out of Tuesday’s City Council meeting before it ended because he wasn’t picked to work on a task force, his colleagues say.
Feinstein, the former mayor, is reportedly upset the City Council voted to draw straws in deciding who will serve on the “East-West Task Force,” which has been formed to investigate parking issues along the city’s boulevards.
He reportedly accused the council of abdicating their elected role to make rational decisions to a chance of fate, according to witnesses. Councilmen Herb Katz, Bob Holbrook and Ken Genser picked short straws. However, Feinstein was the only council member interested in serving that got a long straw.
“He said, ‘This is too important to draw straws. I want to be on this task force and this is just too important to draw straws,’” Holbrook said. “I didn’t see this task force living or dying without Michael on it, but I guess he did.”
Feinstein was unavailable for comment Tuesday. An answering machine message said he would be away from his office until Monday.
When the council started to discuss the appointments, Mayor Richard Bloom asked his colleagues to raise their hands if they were interested in serving. Katz, Feinstein and Holbrook all raised their hands.
As Bloom was about to move on, Genser chimed in and said he too would like to be considered for the task force. Genser said he’s interested in planning issues and believed he could add a lot of technical expertise to the task force.
“I’m also interested in making sure the task force makes progress expeditiously,” he said. “And stays focused on what its mission will be.”
Genser has been critical of Feinstein’s leadership in another task force focusing on the downtown core, which Genser has previously said is moving too slow and is off track.
Holbrook said Feinstein made a motion that he, Genser and Katz serve on the task force.
“When Michael expressed his fervent desire to be on this thing, I thought I’ll back down, but when he put forward his choices in that motion, I wasn’t going to back down,” Holbrook said. “It was kind of an insult. Herb and Ken have been on every task force that came down the line in the past couple of years so if anybody deserved a turn it was me.”
After the straws were drawn, Feinstein continued to object. Bloom finally ruled Feinstein was out of order, Genser said. Bloom moved on to the next item on the council’s agenda.
“We went on to the next thing and Michael sat there for a few minutes,” Genser said. “Then he stood up and informed us he didn’t want to sit with us any longer and he was leaving. Then he walked off in a huff.”
“And the mayor said, ‘All right, goodnight then,’” Holbrook said. “And off he went.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 30, 2003. Read the original PDF.