Re-elected and sworn in for his 10th term in office Council member John Heilman took his seat on the City Council dais and thanked the public.
But it was his last comments of the night that echoed throughout the Chamber.
Heilman had ‘reserved his comments for later’ during the first council member comment period. It was over two hours into the meeting before the City Council would entertain the items slated for city business.
Six hours later, Council member Heilman spoke during the last comment period of the evening; “I deferred my comments because I’m concerned and I know we had a lot of ceremonial aspects, but we actually didn’t get to any of the city’s business until after 8 o’clock. When we start at 6 and when don’t get to the public’s business until 8, that’s a problem. And we didn’t get to this important Public Safety item until 9:20pm.”
“So I am going to bring forth an item that recommends council member comments be moved to the end of agenda, so that we can get to the business that we should be dealing with sooner. Obviously we can make exceptions to that but I think it is important for members of the public… that if they’re here on an item… that we deal with it in a timely manner, rather then hearing all our mishigas, if you will, which is important, but, I think sometimes we go on, or at least, I have been known to go on too long at the beginning…. and some of that can be deferred to the end, and it will likely be shortened, I just wanted to make that comment and will be coming forth with that item to we can discuss the pros and cons.
The council member comment period usually follows the public comment period, and is after council discussion on agenda items where all council members have the opportunity to pull an item for discussion.
This past meeting, which included the swearing in of the three new council members, Chelsea Byers, John Heilman and the re-election of Lauren Meister to a new term had almost two hours of ceremonial festivities, public comment period and council member comments.
When it came time for council member comments, Council member Byers was quick and to the point with her thanks and comments to just over three minutes. Council member Erickson was a bit more winded at almost 6 minutes. Then it was Council member Heilman’s turn who recognized the timeliness of getting to the important agenda items and he deferred his comments to the end of the meeting. Next up was Mayor Pro Tem Shyne, who spoke for just over 16 minutes, followed by Mayor Meister who opened with the line ‘OK, I’ll make this quick’ and spoke for just over two minutes.
Council member comments often have to do with items of personal nature, meetings attended, reminders of events, congratulations, or trips taken, places visited and personal experiences. It is also during these Council member comments where previous Council members would read the names of all those killed in military action, or in the line of duty.
Heilman’s first act is to move some of the nonsense to the end of the meeting so that the business of the city and in the public interest are have ample time for public input and discussion.
That’s a pretty solid opening act. Welcome back John Heilman.
Just noticed …. Heilman back to same old tricks. HE HELD OFF “HIS ANNOUNCEMENT” BECAUSE THERE WERE SO MANY CEREMONIAL ACTS & HONORS & AWARDS …. SO 4-6 HOURS HEILMAN MAKES “HIS ANNOUNCEMENT” about a troubling (ie CRAZY) PLAN & MONUMENTAL HUGE COST (I believe the elevated PLANTERS on SAN VICENTE,. Got that plan out there after many left public meeting due to fatigue & being so tired. As DC is looking into CAMPAIGN FINDS and if they were recieved& used per restrictions by law to try to prevent elections secretly being bought by big money & person elected gets… Read more »
Good idea, Councilman.
In all the past years when John Heilman was the mayor of West Hollywood, that’s when the Creative City was the most amazing, beautiful, safe, fun place to be. I didn’t recognize this while it was happening, because you never really take notice of these things until you don’t have them anymore. Then, the moment Heilman was no longer mayor, that’s when the city went down the drain. Maybe with Heilman back in the picture, things might start to change for the better again.
Perhaps Joh Heilman’s presence can have some positive effect on John Erickson as he views Heilman as a mentor. On the other hand notice that when Sepi was giving perfunctory accolades to Heilman she finished not by saying glad to be sitting next to YOU but you will be sitting next to ME. It’s always about Sepi…….. Me, Me, Me, Myself and I.
Let the Mentorship continue!
Reasonable proposal. We won’t have to listen to Sepi lecture us about what is going on 11,000 miles away in Iran. She doesn’t get that we do have access to news, a local city council meeting isn’t the place to discuss that, and no one cares what a cretin has to say about anything.
Item U-2 on the agenda appears to have been insidiously crafted by Council Member Shyne to put the focus on herself and her upward mobility. She directed Staff to create a resolution reaffirming the City’s support of Freedom for political prisoners and the imposition of sanctions and consequences against the Islamic Republic of Iran. It was a mighty convenient way way of putting her name in front of President Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, Senator Dianne Feinestein, Senator Alex Padilia, Congressman Adam Schiff, Governor Gavin Newsom, State Senator Ben Allen and State Assemblyman Rick Zuber while identifying herself as some… Read more »
Sepi is a horrible person on so many levels. She positions herself as being of Iranian heritage (personally, I wouldn’t believe a word she says on any subject), but if so, it’s just selfish. There are horrors being committed against lots of different peoples, all over the world, not just in Iran. And it’s called a “City Council” because it is there to deal with City issues. That is: my neighbor’s illegal construction, crime on our streets, fixing potholes etc. It is not the “World Council”. The sad truth is Sepi is just a dummy, but admittedly she is like… Read more »
This is a good idea. Unfortunately some on the council never understood that council meetings are business meetings. All they are there to do is discuss items on the agenda and vote. Pontificating about anything else is No Bueno and a waste of the public’s time.
I hope that the CC follows John Heilman’s recommendation, so that if we choose to be, we are spared Sepi Synes endless pontificating!
This is a step in the right direction, but with three performance art actors on the dais it is likely to go nowhere soon. Sepi needs her 16 minutes of victimhood and martyrdom, they are her oxygen without which she doesn’t exist. I welcome John’s maturity back to the council, but I can’t let the asterisk next to his name be erased from history. That asterisk is that he played a large part in creating the council shitshow we have now. Asterisk noted, keep the good stuff coming, John.
What is the asterisk?
Excellent first step in tidying up the laborious meetings and limiting personal pontification.
Perhaps there could also be a section of Agenda which would list the council members netting attendanc and so forth. It would also provide easy reference for resident to follow up if necessary.
John Heilman is sure to bring decorum back to City Council proceedings. Then the commissioners could take inspiration from his initiative.
that was ….”member’s meeting attendance and so forth.” Additionally I believe it would be good to have this list to review the actual activities of the respective council members. This would avoid having to do a fishing expedition through public records.
Commence sense from John Heilman. Expect nothing less!