“No one should see how laws or sausages are made.”
Scott Hettrick
The saying that originated in the 19th century was unfortunately borne out at the Arcadia City Council meeting Tuesday night, July 7, 2015. It wasn’t pretty seeing the process but by the end of the meeting the five-member Mayor-led Council and City Manager announced the following notable accomplishments, among other things:
Unanimously approved reconsidering at next meeting of July 21 re-starting the process of updating commercial and industrial zoning codes that had been underway for the past year before being put on moratorium in May relative to a lawsuit filed by residents living in the Highlands area of town over approval of new large homes to be built. The Arcadia Chamber of Commerce, Santa Anita Park race track, Westfield Santa Anita mall, and the Downtown Arcadia Improvement Association are among the entities that had encouraged the process to be restarted.
Reported that the community has made remarkable progress in cutting back water usage 28% through June on the way to a state-mandated target of 36%.
But along the way attendees and viewers on TV and online had to observe/endure the following:
Warnings of police arrest after a member of the audience yelled so loud and long over Mayor Gary Kovacic’s demands to be quiet while banging a gavel that a recess had to be called until order was restored.
Former Mayor Mickey Segal
Recent former Mayor Mickey Segal threatening to use his considerable resources, including a mailing list of 6,000-strong, to mount a recall campaign against three City Council Members, including the current Mayor Pro Tem, if they didn’t make the residents lawsuit go away in 120 days — “Or we’re going to have a wild winter in Arcadia.”
Claims of false statements by and about each other from the Mayor and Council Members, most related to the lawsuit and size of homes.
The first public verbal accusation of a Council Member using his position for financial gain by the author of the lawsuit that was first reported the week prior in the Arcadia Weekly.
Plenty of hyperbole and rhetoric in public comments and from the Council, much of it misleading and outright inaccurate (see “Sifting through the rhetoric” below).
And all of this played out in front of a sign prominently displayed in front of the Mayor that reads “R-E-S-P-E-C-T,” which was put there by Gary Kovacic at his first meeting as Mayor in April to try to discourage most of the above.
Good Arcadians and civic duty still dominate
While much of this combative behavior at City Council meetings has become the norm of late as the lawsuit lingers, the slight escalation Tuesday was particularly unfortunate because during the same meeting many more residents, friends and family than normal were in attendance to see the far more positive end product of City sausage-making:
Recognition of a couple dozen graduates of the second Leadership Academy which invites local residents to spend weeks “behind-the-scenes” learning how the City is run: recent Arcadia High School graduate Emily Zheng said everyone in the Academy gained “…assurance and sense of security that our City is running really, really well.”
Recognition of residents who have spent many years volunteering for various City commissions — including the Planning Commission that oversees issues like zoning and housing sizes. Outgoing Library Board of Trustee Ron Larson said serving the the past eight years was “the greatest honor of his life.” And the introduction of many more residents stepping up to take their turn volunteering on the commissions.
Recognition of the volunteer organizers of another successful Law Day from the Arcadia Chinese Association.
Several students of the Arcadia Youth Council Commission formed in 2012 — “a bridge between 10,000 Arcadia students and children and the City Council.” The group is focused on improving litter, lighting and events where all children from public and private schools can come together. They have scheduled a public event on Sunday, July 19 at the Arcadia Park open to anyone who would like to participate.
Sifting through the rhetoric
What many of those people and viewers also heard were a lot of things that were not true or were misleading, and some things that maybe should be pointed out to give a more balanced perspective in case some were listening in on a City Council meeting for the first time and felt their eyes opening wide at some of the things they saw and heard in their first trip to the sausage factory:
The audience member outburst Tuesday by Highlands resident and frequent public commenter April Verlato was seemingly aimed at one City Council Member, Sho Tay, but was actually a delayed-reaction relating to the exact same comment and request last month by City Council Member Tom Beck. Verlato also tried to respond to Beck’s challenge last month, a little less vociferously, but was stopped because the public comment period had ended. On Tuesday Tay was reiterating Beck’s request that had not yet been addressed by anyone. The requests, which Mayor Kovacic recommended Tuesday no longer be made by any Council Member, are asking those behind the lawsuit to reveal demands they made in a mandatory confidential settlement conference to try to work out a compromise. In such sessions early in the process of a lawsuit when neither side is ready to settle, it is typical for one or both sides to make ridiculous demands, knowing they will not be met. No doubt that is what has happened here. Not only would it be a technical violation for either side to reveal what was discussed in confidential meetings, there is nothing productive that can come from revealing these bogus demands. Any request to do so is simply political strategy.
Council united on most issues: Like most Arcadia Councils, this one is no more fractionalized than most. In fact, the 2014-16 Council has been very united and unanimous with 5-0 votes or nearly unanimous in support and agreement on most issues in the past 15-months, including: — the support of funding and resource support for Downtown Arcadia improvement efforts such as the new weekly Street Fair that debuted five days before Tuesday’s Council meeting, as well as other upcoming events — the city’s biggest-ever mixed-use project, a four-story commercial/residential building Downtown on First Avenue — the evolving proposed development of two new multi-story hotels to replace the Santa Anita Inn — this year’s budget and the funding of $250,000 for the first two dedicated police officers for the Westfield Santa Anita mall in many years — how to go about implementing unprecedented water restrictions — continued funding of the Arcadia Chamber of Commerce — approvals of modifications to Westfield Santa Anita mall — most other housing issues that have come before the Council, including the denial of some developer requests to build large homes — a historic buildings survey (everywhere but the Highlands area of the Foothills for now); the first in decades and long sought by many local groups, including the Arcadia Historical Society
3-2 votes mostly limited to one issue: Like most Councils, there is sometimes one or two polarizing issues that result in votes of 3-2 or 4-1. For this Council, it is the residents lawsuit that has caused multiple 3-2 votes, almost all on related issues, including important residential zoning code updates (which has yet to be re-activated and appears likely to remain on hold until the lawsuit is resolved). It’s worth noting that the lawsuit stemmed from the Council’s approval of the requests relating to build only two new homes in the Highlands, and that the vote for one of those proposed new homes was not 3-2, it was 4-1 (following Planning Commission approval of both homes).
Residents always show up for hot-button issues: From time-to-time over the years, there have always been issues that have drawn big crowds to City Council meetings to voice their concerns during the course of nearly every two-year City Council make-up — anything to do with peacocks, coyotes, oak trees, for example. So-called “mansion-ization” has also drawn concerned citizens from time-to-time for more than 30 years since the 1980s, each time a home is proposed to be built next to someone new who has been relatively unconcerned about the issue until one is proposed to be built next to them.
Resident lawsuits infrequent but recent example: This resident lawsuit is not unprecedented, even in recent years. The biggest one against the City was less than 10 years ago and consumed enormous time of the City Council and staff in the mid-to-late 2000s. That suit and controversy was spearheaded by residents under the group name of Arcadia First! (aligned with separate legal filings by the Westfield company), which was opposed to Rick Caruso’s proposed development of the Shops at Santa Anita. Granted, although the names of residents were on the lawsuit and those residents were very actively engaged in the battle and very visible and vocal at City Council meetings and other forums, the resident effort was primarily driven and supported by Westfield.
So, for those who are not frequent participants in local politics and city administration, particularly for you civic-minded students and new volunteers on commissions, if your first experience was last Tuesday’s meeting, it’s unfortunate that was your initial taste. And we sure don’t condone this kind of behavior on either side and hope it reverts back to a more civil tone very soon. But maybe it will help to understand that even though it looked and sounded ugly at times, there was little that hasn’t been seen or done before in the occasionally uncomfortable and challenging process. For proof of how common and how long this has been going on here and all over the world, may I remind you that the saying “No one should see how laws or sausages are made” was coined more than 150 years ago in Europe during the 1800s.
— By Scott Hettrick