The Culver City Council meeting on August 12, 2024 was not unprecedented, but unusual. Community concerns over the war between Israel and Hamas brought in dozens of people to speak to “Items Not on the Agenda,” asking the council to balance out their official support for Israel with a statement calling for a ceasefire.
While it’s not unheard of for the City Council to see the Mike Balkman Council Chambers packed to capacity, past meetings have often been on intensely local issues; rent control, or allowable building height. Part of the commentary from last night questioned what made an issue local. Culver City residents who have lost family members and loved ones to the war were present in large numbers, and their grief was tangible.
A unique element of the meeting was the massive security presence; private guards, a walk- through metal detector, magnetic wand screenings, and a statement read by the city clerk that was several paragraphs of prohibitions and proscriptions on speech, behavior, and specified the option of the council to clear the room if and when that choice was made. Parking under City Hall was also prohibited.
The comments of Polly Stenberg, a long time server at the at the S & W Diner, who phoned in, were typical of many other speakers. She identified as Culver City resident who is Jewish, and in favor of ceasefire. “My heart is so full for Culver City, and at the same time, it aches for my Palestinian brothers and sisters, who are trying to survive [this] brutal genocide.”
Several speakers specifically took on the question of whether or not this is a local issue, but the fact that the Council did put out a statement in support of Israel last October after the attack by Hamas led to the conclusion that since the council addressed that, it should balance it’s stance by addressing the calls for ceasefire.
Jasmine Delgado, who introduced herself as a CCUSD alumni and graduate of the Culver-Palms YMCA Youth in Government program, spoke with a baby on her hip, to “ask the council to agendize a statement in support of a permanent cease fire.”
While a few speakers focused on the brutality of the Oct. 7, 2023 attack by Hamas, the majority of those who spoke insisted that the right thing to do would be to put a statement for ceasefire on a future agenda.
With more than a hundred people gathered to emphasize that the council’s position on the war mattered greatly, there was never a problem with behavior or decorum from anyone in the chambers.
Judith Martin-Straw