Make California Post a Preferred Source Voters in LA appear to have passed a ballot initiative that will allow city council members to meet one day per week, instead of three.
Angelenos approved Measure EE — an “ethics” measure that will, among other changes, allow the council to meet less often.
Of course, city council members will still earn massive salaries — roughly a quarter of a million dollars per year.
Now they can earn the same pay for one-third of the hours.
One person who might be pleased is mayor-elect Nithya Raman, famous for missing city council meetings and votes.
But the casual observer might wonder why the voters did it.
Only one answer makes sense: The less the city council meets, the less damage it can do.
That’s the low opinion many Angelenos have of their local representatives.
No one wants the bad council members to make decisions. And no one wants the few good ones to waste time debating the bad ones.
Another way of understanding the result is that Angelenos want council members to spend more time listening to them, and less time talking to each other.
But there’s no guarantee that residents will get more attention.
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Again — the few diligent members of the council will use the time wisely. They will do more of what they are doing already: talking with residents, and solving problems as they come up.
The rest will simply waste the additional time in their schedules — or pursue outside gigs, as Raman admits she did during her terms on the council.
Sadly, allowing city council members to meet less often will make the entire institution less accountable to the public.
Though public comment periods at council meetings can be tedious, they are also one of the only ways residents have to give feedback directly to the council members.
Now, with only one day a week to deliberate, it is almost certain that the council will cut down on public comment.
It’s too bad that the one-day-per-week provision was tucked into the ballot initiative alongside more important reforms, like increasing the power of the LAPD inspector general and the LAFD independent assessor.
One thing is certain: the vote on Measure EE should not be taken, in any way, as a vote of confidence in the council.
If anything, it is the opposite — a vote of no confidence in a council that is failing.
