Just before 2 a.m. Tuesday night, the Manhattan Beach city council meeting got heated.
“I am angry,” said council member David Lesser. “We should not be here at two o’ clock in the morning.”
The council decided to agendize an item for its next meeting regarding meeting management. Lesser said that late-running council meetings alienate the public.
He noted that many community members who attended the meeting to speak about the Blue Zone Project’s plan to create a bike path on Aviation Boulevard left the meeting before the agenda item was addressed at around 11 p.m.
“We’ve gone so far off the rails it’s really frustrating,” Lesser said. “It’s just not fair. It’s not right to them (the community).”
The Sept. 4 council meeting ran until 12:30 a.m. Mayor Wayne Powell said that he believes part of the reason for two late-running meetings this month is that the council canceled a meeting last month.
“When you cancel a meeting you have this,” Powell said. “You never get caught up in the first meeting.”
He went on to say that oftentimes a council cannot “get caught up” during its second meeting either, but that this time the council achieved that.
“You are out of order,” council member Nick Tell said to Powell, interrupting him.
“You are violating the Brown Act, Mr. Mayor, right now,” Tell said. “Stop it. Because the topic on the table is whether we agendize this or not. You do not have time to make a speech.”
“I’m just sick of hearing speeches right now let’s just get it done move on,” he said. ER
