As a lifelong resident of Culver City, Andrew Weissman has seen the changes in his city through many different prisms: child, teenager, civic leader, father, grandfather and now city councilman. As he winds down his first term on the city council, Weissman will be asking voters for another four years against the backdrop of a burgeoning budget deficit, a campaign with no discernible controversial, headline- making topic and other energetic candidates who are seeking one of the four available seats on the council.
In the News’ fourth installment of its series of city council candidate interviews, Weissman offered his views on this year’s campaign, reflected on his first term and what he hopes bring to the council in a possible second term.
One of two incumbents who are seeking reelection, Weissman is perhaps the best- known candidate in the race due to his three decades plus of civic involvement. He won the most votes in 2008, outpacing second place Christopher Armenta by nearly 400 votes.
During his second campaign swing, the councilman says he is hearing two primary schools of thought regarding the state of the city. During these conversations, albeit brief, Weissman has learned some interesting things about this year’s election season and they are compelling him to take nothing for granted.
“Depending on one’s perspective, there is a sense of either apathy or satisfaction,” Weissman said during a recent interview in his law office at Muralta Plaza near City Hall.
“There are people who don’t know that there is an election coming and many of them have no sense as to how councilmembers there are. They know my name, but they’re not sure why.
“I’ve been around forever,” Weissman continued, partly in jest. “So that’s kind of troubling from the standpoint of what is it going to take to get people to take an interest.”
Weissman took pains to point out that most people have told him that they are happy with the way that Culver City is functioning. “I think it is a somewhat sleepy campaign because there are no burning issues, no large building projects being contemplated or any other controversial topic,” he noted. “People are seemingly satisfied, but I guess we’ll know on election day.”
While he says many residents say they are satisfied with the going in Culver City, Weissman has been one of the most outspoken members of the council who has talked about the need to engage the public on the city’s financial status and what that means for the residents’ quality of life long-term.
“We’re no longer realistically in a position to be all things to all people all the time,” he said candidly. “At some point in time, we’re going to have to have that honest dialogue with the community, and the community is going to tell us what it is that they want us to do, and it’s going to involve the all important revenue word.”
An attorney who has lived virtually all of his life in Culver City, the incumbent councilman has managed to successfully navigate the city’s political factions, unlike some current and former elected officials.
“I think to some extent, it’s function of what I’ve been doing for as long as I’ve been doing it,” the councilman responded when asked how he had managed to avoid the animosity that other officeholders have faced from differing factions. “I’ve always been someone who believes that dialogue and consensus building is important and I think it pays off in the long run because you’re perceived that you don’t have an axe to grind and that you’re an honest broker.”
“That doesn’t mean that you don’t have principles,” Weissman continued. “If it takes a compromise to achieve a better result in general, I’m willing to go there.”
Michael Wellman, a childhood friend of Weissman’s, says the councilman has displayed these political gifts since they were in grade school. “I remember when he ran for president of our class ay Linda Vista Elementary School, (in Blair Hills, where the two men grew up),” Wellman, the president of International Molders, Inc. recalled. “I was his campaign manager and he was always very personable with great leadership skills.”
The candidate’s association with business and civic organizations is well known to local political insiders, but there is another affiliation that stands out as well on the councilman’s resume that he feels is as important as many of the aforementioned associations.
Weissman was the chair of the charter review committee that examined Culver City’s governing document in 2005. Over an approximately 14 month process, Weissman and nine other residents dissected, revamped and restructured the charter in often rigorous and protracted debates. In the end, what they fashioned was the city’s new governance blueprint that eventually became Measure V, which Culver City’s electorate approved in 2006.
“That was as diverse a group of individuals as one could ever ask for around a negotiating table,” Weissman recalled. “You had people who could not sit in the same room with each other but for the mission that we were addressing and in the end we had a product that everybody unanimously agreed to.
“I do think that it was meaningful and historic,” he added. “Changing our form of government and all of the ramifications that came from that change were historic and I believe we’re better for it.”
Steven Gourley, a former Culver City councilman, was a member of the review committee. No matter how annoying we got, Andy never got upset,” Gourley remembered. “That’s why I wanted him to be the chair of the commission, because he was able to focus on the one thing that held us together, which was our concern about what the best thing for the city. And I admire him for that.”
Weissman said the city government could improve in certain areas and if elected to a second term he would like to tackle them relatively soon. “I’m not satisfied that we are doing a good a job with parking and neighborhood encroaching issues as we could be,” he said. “There is a fine line that needs to be drawn between parking enforcement that creates a negative perception and parking enforcement which accomplishes what you want it to do without necessarily trying for every single dollar that you can get.”
In recent weeks, a group of parents largely affiliated with El Marino Language School called “Culver City Parents Have Rights” has attempted to lure the contenders for council into a debate about whether “parent-funded” adjunct positions in the Culver City Unified School District. The group is asking them to sign a petition supporting its position against the Associated Classified Employees, a local union.
Although a leader of the group claims that Mayor Micheál O’Leary former councilman Scott Malsin and Weissman “have clearly stated their support for parent-funded services within our schools,” the city council has no jurisdiction or authority over school district matters.
Weissman indicated as much in a March 8 letter.
“My personal belief is that it is not appropriate for city elected officials to be telling school district elected officials what it ought to do, any more than I would want school district elected officials telling the City Council what it ought to do,” the incumbent wrote. “This creates a problem for me as far as signing on to the petition is concerned because though I may try to do so as an individual, I think that any distinction will be lost and I will only be seen as a city council member.
“That being said, I fully support parent supported services. I believe that parents at all of our schools should have the right to fund-raise for positions that are not provided by the school district, but which are important for our children’s education.”
Weissman has shown the capacity to be flexible. At a Feb. 10 candidate form hosted by the Culver City Democratic Club, the council contenders were asked about continued support for the city’s animal services officer. Weissman indicated that he now is a supporter of the program, although he voted against it when it came before the council for approval in 2009.
The incumbent councilman said the portion of his job that he finds that most fun is “dealing with people and their problems. In law, you’re a problem solver and I like the process of engaging with people for a solution that is mutually beneficial.
“Being on the council allows me to listen to people, to different ideas that are brought to the table that challenge me. And if I’m reelected, I hope to continue to do that.
“If you seen what I’ve done the last four years,” Weissman concluded,” you can pretty well predict what I will do on a going forward basis.
Election day is April 10.
