Community Commentary:

In movies as in real life, getting the right actor for the right part is crucial. On April 15 we experienced before our eyes Mayor John Drayman’s transformation in an act worthy of Hollywood’s best (“Mayor Drayman faces first salvo,” April 17).

With much aplomb, the new mayor went about giving the public the new rules. Rule one: a quick and efficient City Council proceeding. That is one refreshing policy. Those watching the council proceedings on television will no longer have to endure endless commendations and declarations that are too often devoid of substance but garnished with fanfare galore. Now those commendations will be grouped and delivered once per month for their benediction.

One justification Drayman gave was to spare the time of many who wait long hours to speak before the agenda item of their preference. It sounds genuine and practical. But often, those waiting to speak are staff members assigned to defend any last-minute challenges to a city policy. Watch for those “urgent” pay adjustments and you’ll see department heads, the head of human resources, city union representatives and a few employees in uniform ready to do battle for their immediate or retroactive pay increase. Heaven forbid that we should make them wait.

Rule two: less gabbling from councilmen. Any reply to a speaker will be put to the end of the council session. Maybe that is a good policy change. Most replies to speaker comments on an agenda item, from my observation, answer only the weakest argument that the speaker brings and, not infrequently, even that answered is spun into some absurd conclusion. Since we’ve learned not to expect any critical thinking or proper debate, it might as well be relegated to a time when those comments would be even less relevant. Maybe he can move the silent treatment given to tough questions to the end of the program as well.

Rule three: All oral communication speakers get to the back of the bus where they belong. No more Richard Espiritu taking up prime time showing us broken sidewalks or alleged city failures to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. No more prime time for Glendale’s lady of candor — Margaret Hammond. The city staff can blow all their smoke screen at a late hour when nobody is watching. No more Barry Allen investigating another alleged special favor at City Hall. Just set your alarm clock to some unspecified time in the late evening.

Surely Drayman could have come up with a practical and effective way to increase the effectiveness of the City Council session and provide for some quality time for the public. He could set a firm time, like 7 p.m. for a solid half-hour of two- or three-minute public comments. All other speakers could be accommodated at a firm hour later. We should expect that a man with experience in the performing arts could have been more creative in stage direction.

Maybe the directors guild can give Drayman a recommendation on how to create the right storyboard for a more dynamic creation and a new working title for this performance. Perhaps instead of “Democracy from the ground up,” it should be “Democracy grounded up.”

 HERBERT MOLANO is a Tujunga resident.