A pointless process, but a good show

The NBA playoffs on Monday night had nothing on Costa Mesa City Hall.

Bad decisions by the officials? Covered. Squandered scoring

attempts? Plenty (both on the dais and out in the public). The drama

of winning and losing?

Well, maybe just losing in City Hall.

Absolutely no one seemed happy with how things went as the city’s

four council members -- Libby Cowan, Allan Mansoor, Gary Monahan and

Chris Steel -- tried, unsuccessfully of course, to appoint a fifth

member.

Just about everyone I heard talking during the meeting was going

on with some version of “We all knew they wouldn’t be able to

compromise, so why are they wasting our time?”

It may have reached its most ludicrous when Eric Bever and Mike

Scheafer -- the last two of the 26 residents who had applied to fill

former Mayor Karen Robinson’s seat -- stood facing each other at the

two public speaker podiums. It was almost a debate. But it more

resembled a debacle.

(As an aside, it was quietly pointed out to me that Bever and

Scheafer had, at one point, resigned from a city committee. Bever

quit the Community Redevelopment Action Committee, and Scheafer

several years ago resigned from the Parks and Recreation Commission.)

Heading into the meeting, the City Hall watchers I had talked to

seemed convinced a compromise would be reached Monday. But Steel, as

acting mayor (but in charge for only a few more hours, as Monahan

would be named mayor during the meeting) appeared intent on holding

off a decision for a week. He succeeded, but not without some moments

for the highlight reels:

* The back-and-forth between Cowan and Steel about the clock, and

Steel’s failure to start it when Bever was giving his four-minute

“why you should support me” speech. Words are inadequate to describe

the testiness of the moment. It was, of course, priceless.

* Monahan sitting a seat away from his colleagues, which sent a

nice metaphorical message about where he was coming from, whether he

knew it.

* The awkward silence after Steel had called for a motion on

choosing Scheafer or Bever. Fool’s rush in, after all.

* The audience’s reaction after Bever received a deadlocked 2 to 2

vote, and then Scheafer the same.

* Steel then trying to put the decision off for a week and not

getting a second.

* The total chaos that occurred after Monahan raised the specter

of appointing someone to serve only until a special election. Any

semblance of order was lost.

Now, to keep anyone from thinking the Top 10 moments of the

meeting were all related to the “appointless” process, here are a few

from the rest of the meeting:

* Resident and council regular Doug Sutton complaining about all

the talk of “partisanship” and the council. Only Mansoor, he

stressed, had been acting anything like a Republican lately. Monahan

and Steel must have enjoyed that.

* A suggestion that the council reduce the size of its agenda --

because it leaves them unable to give adequate time for issues --

receives rave applause.

* Resident John Feeney discussing his long battle against gangs in

the city, with particular focus on the city’s drive for an anti-gang

ordinance. My eyebrows rose when he suggested that the Pilot, at one

point, said it would welcome murderers to Costa Mesa.

That can’t be true, can it?

Well, I’ll let readers judge for themselves. From an editorial in

this paper, July 15, 2001: “If a landlord wants to rent to a

convicted murderer, that’s the landlord’s prerogative. Just because

the law -- and much of society -- looks down on criminals, doesn’t

mean everyone should be forced to. After all, if everyone abided such

a law, where would the criminals live? The streets?”

Finally, a last note about the council chambers. Someone really

ought to fix the front door so it isn’t so loud.

* S.J. CAHN is the managing editor. He can be reached at (949)

574-4233 or by e-mail at s.j.cahn@latimes.com.