It was during the epic public hearing on the Desiderio Project and the match-not-made-in-heaven reality between the California Art Club/Arroyo Seco Foundation and Habitat for Humanity, which were both awarded a role in the site but can't agree on what extent extant Army buildings should be preserved.

It was nearly four hours into the meeting when the council was ready for the public to speak. Fast-forward many arduous minutes of public comment later -- we're talking Tim Brick discussing "Faustian choices" here -- and we get to timestamp 4h:30m, wherein Frank Serrano addresses the council.

Here's my transcript:

Frank: You're elected officials. We’ve elected you to help us. You guys haven’t been to visit the buildings. Go visit the buildings!

(interrupting) Bill: Do you know, sir, what you’re talking about in that regard? (stern expression)

Serrano: Pardon?

Bill: What makes you think ... that we have not visited that site?

Serrano: Somebody else had said that ...

(cutting Serrano off again and waving his arm emphatically; lips pursed) Bill: Somebody else said that, but that isn’t the fact. So please, please go ahead.

Serrano walks away from the podium, speechless.

Next up was what appears to be an Army sergeant from the base, but his name isn't given.

"I love the buliding," he said. "For myself the building holds historical value for me because of Cpt. Desiderio. His first unit was my first unit I came into 20 years ago. So the unit he served in -- and died for -- and won the Congressional Medal of Honor is historical for me."

My take on the imbruglio over preservation?

I can't go there, so instead I turn to an entirely neutral source, San Francisco-based architect Randolph Ruiz, who - entirely coincidentally - happens to be my brother.

"in a word: authenticity," he said. " There's a lot of good reasons for the adaptive reuse of historic structures. You cannot build a new building that would have the same authenticity of a building that has been there for 50 years, especially if it's made of high-value materials like concrete."

He describes something historic as either "representative of something that was very common, or something unique or special because something important happened there."

Older buildings frequently exhibit construction technologies and design styles that are not in use today. They are an authentic connection to the past that can not be easily reproduced or simulated with new construction. Old buildings frequently use materials that are of higher quality and expense than used in new construction. There is an unmistakable authenticity to older buildings. They use real materials like concrete and wood. These buildings may also romantically demonstrate the passage of time with the discoloration of weathering and decay. There are many examples of artists and artists groups finding their homes in the cast offs of the industrial age. Surplus military facilities across California have been adapted for cultural facilities. The Headlands Center for the Arts (http://www.headlands.org) north of San Francisco adapted a couple of turn of the century barracks into studio and display space. Pasadena's armory has also been reused for the arts. http://www.armoryarts.org

Understand, this coming from a guy who couldn't take me in a game of Gnip Gnop or Hungry Hippos.

Post-scipt:

Speaking four hours and eight minutes (4:08) into the meeting was an impassioned gentleman that appeared straight out of Central Casting. A little Gallagher and a little Borat.

Anyone know whom this is? He goes inaudibly identifed while Bill continues to react to his post-podium plea.

Update: The luxuriantly mustachioed gentleman is reportedly Los Angeles-based artist Alexey Steele.