Community Commentary:

My, oh my. Regarding “Mayor Drayman faces first salvo,” on Thursday: You can already see the conspiracy mongers busy at work, spinning away — from the “lefties” like Dick Seeley (“Public comment change was not a big surprise,” Letter to the Editor, Friday), who just know that the mayor’s shift of oral communications to the end of the council meeting is a long-in-the-works, right-wing government plot, to Herbert Molano’s blunt-faced, and typically misplaced, fury (“Speaking move is what officials wanted,” Mailbag, Friday) at having his Tuesday night personal TV show moved from prime time to late night after ages of demagoguing issues, sniping at decent people who simply disagree with him and spilling out endless barrels of ink in the Glendale News-Press.

Does anyone really pay attention to the insulting prattle of this authoritarian martinet anyway? I have been amazed and amused at the misuse of oral communications by these blowhards whom we politely refer to as “City Council regulars.”

Time for a dose of reality. These few folks who endlessly blather on saying the same thing Tuesday after Tuesday, night after night, consuming precious time that others, who actually have a nonpolitical, real-life need to resolve an issue or two and to discuss those issues with their elected officials, would like to share in the prime-time glow, but can’t get a word in edgewise.

Where is Molano’s anger at the Los Angeles City Council, the council that represents the city in which he lives? That’s right, Molano lives in Los Angeles, not Glendale. In Los Angeles, what is the policy regarding oral communications? Only 15 minutes is allowed for public comment on nonagenda items, and each speaker is allowed three minutes. The math works out to five speakers who must submit their “speaker cards” before the comment period begins.

How about in Long Beach? In that city, Margaret Hammond would find that the gracious city fathers and mothers allow only 10 speakers on nonagenda items per meeting, and speaker cards must be submitted within the 15-minute period immediately before their council meeting.

Hammond would be simply shocked to learn that the 10 speakers during the Long Beach City Council’s meetings are afforded only three minutes each, no matter what kind of goofy hat they wear.