Little still has a lot to say
Looming retirement from public office hasn't made Pasadena City Councilman Paul Little any more succinct.
During Monday's council meeting -- a relatively brief two-and-a-half hours -- the District 2 representative, who is not seeking another term this spring, maintained his reputation as being a man with something to say about, well, most everything.
Below are the findings of a thorough study of 30 minutes or so of the meeting. Being of the empirical persuasion, I'll disclose my methods: the video archive, a stopwatch and three cups of coffee.
First up was approval of the "consent calendar," known in more erudite circles as the really dull stuff.
Mayor Bill Bogaard -- a man rarely accused of brevity -- took 33 seconds to introduce and conclude the four-minute, 23-second discussion. For three minutes and 18 seconds of that, Paul voiced his concerns about a development at the former site of Shakers on Arroyo Parkway.
For those swayed by numbers: That's 72 percent of pure Paul.
Next on the agenda, 21-minutes spent on using up to $1 million in Gold Line surplus funds to install "train arrival information systems" in the city's light rail stations.
Steve Madison of District 6 came out swinging and, letting loose a staccato burst of inquiries, seemed poised to dominate the discourse. Ultimately, Steve's cumulative 90 seconds couldn't compete with four minutes from the tongue-fu master.
By the numbers, the cumulative 25 minutes, 23 seconds of the meeting broke down as follows:
0:40 - Victor Gordo
0:90 - Steve Madison
1:57 - Bill Bogaard
7:19 - Paul Little
The idea for this came during a Wednesday evening conversation with Paul, who owned up to having "gabby" tendancies.
More seriously, Paul said his pending retirement from the council hasn't diminished his energy or interest in the issues.
"I don't do lame duck. It's just not me," he said. "I'm certainly going to try to make sure the things I'm concerned about and want to see a resolution to are dealt with before May."
Comments
Posted by: The unrepentant verbalizer | February 9, 2007 6:28 PM