Aug
18
I just got back from attending tonight’s City Council meeting. I think it just may be both the best and the worst free entertainment available this side of the Venice boardwalk.
Unfortunately, I’m not sure anything positive was accomplished. In fact, given the opportunity to do something to actually reduce traffic congestion, the council passed.
This time, however, most of the sniping and backbiting came from the audience, especially during what appeared to be a “spontaneous” outcry organized by the Citizens for the Preservation of Los Alamitos. Before the meeting was done, I decided I’d rather alienate a major source of potential support than remain silent about anonymous personal attacks that should be beneath us all.
As for the Council Members themselves, with Geri Mejia filling in for Mayor Parker I thought they conducted themselves much more professionally and diplomatically than they did two weeks ago. . . up until the last fifteen minutes, anyway. (More on that prior meeting in Wednesday’s News Enterprise “Guest View” editorial).
Unfortunately, near the end, things started to get pretty ugly.
For now, let me just say that both our Council Members and the audience members really don’t seem to be much better or worse than you and me. They’ve all got their strengths and weaknesses. Which makes for an interesting meeting.
If you happened to be there, I’d love to hear your impressions. Just fill in the “comment” box below, or click on “Leave a Comment” under the headline above. Your thoughts will go out to the world at the speed of light! Which are two things our city government could use a little more of: Speed and light.
Comments
2 Responses to “Another wild City Council meeting”
Leave a Reply
I like your idea’s so far Dave. I have a couple of concerns though. It seems there are far more lights down Los Alamitos Blvd. than are really required. Would it be possible to convert some of these lights into 4 way stops or even remove them completely? This might speed up travel along the Blvd.
Thanks, Derek.
Good ideas. I agree about too many lights. Seems like a while back the city went overboard on signals. I’m pretty sure grant money was involved, so it may not be that easy to eliminate them, although there are a few I’d like to eliminate.
I would like to see the green left turn arrows go to a “yield” green rather than red, & have some of the lights switch over to flashing orange (on Los Al) & red (on cross streets) late at night, like Seal Beach does on Lampson.