No council meeting due to lack of quorum
CITY HALL Turns out City Councilmembers have better things to attend to tonight.
The first council meeting in more than a month was canceled Monday when the City Manager’s Office was notified that the four councilmembers up for reelection — Mayor Herb Katz, Mayor Pro Tem Richard Bloom, Ken Genser and Bobby Shriver — had instead opted to attend a Los Angeles County Democratic Party function where they will seek endorsements.
Their absence leaves the seven-seated dais just one person short from convening.
The council has not met since July 24 when it capped off a series of hearings related to the Land Use and Circulation Element’s strategy framework, which is an update to the city’s general plan.
The meeting has been rescheduled to Sept. 16.
Katz said on Monday he was originally under the impression that only three of the incumbents would skip the meeting but later learned that a fourth was joining his colleagues. He did not name the fourth coun-cilmember.
“I don’t think any real harm has been done,” Katz said, pointing out that the meeting was postponed for only a week.
Genser said the agenda was packed with appeals, in which case if there were less than five members present, the appellant would have the right to request a postponement anyway.
The councilmember added that while he always preferred to postpone the meeting, he would’ve attended if there were five members present to hear the appeals.
“If four people came, it would’ve gotten canceled anyway because I presume each (appellant) would’ve asked for a continuance and that was the bulk (of the meeting),” Genser said.
He said that there have been times in the past when the majority of councilmembers couldn’t make a meeting and there was nothing questionable about their reasons.
“If there was (an issue with a certain) deadline that needed to happen by a certain date then it might be a different matter,” Genser said. “I don’t see it in that sense.”
Among the items on which the council was expected to take action was an estimated $3.2 million spending package, which included a $95,000 study to evaluate different fire dispatching and communication service options. The study comes nearly two years after the Santa Monica Fire Department merged its dispatch center with Los Angeles, a move that has drawn some concerns about service quality and slower response time.
The lengthy agenda also included several appeals to Planning Commission decisions and a number of second readings on ordinances, which if approved would be ratified.
One of the proposed ordinances is a possible prohibition on soliciting from public chairs and benches on the Third Street Promenade and transit mall.
The purpose of the law is to free up benches and seating areas that are often monopolized by individuals who panhandle. The restriction would affect everyone from homeless individuals seeking money to even the Girl Scouts, who would be banned from selling cookies while using a bench or chair.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 9, 2008. Read the original PDF.