Gadflies Swarm Into Burbank Limelight

They’re starting to call it “Tuesday Night Live.” They’re also calling it a turn-off.

The live telecasts of Burbank City Council that made their debut Oct. 13 over a public access channel have been dominated--and, many viewers and city officials fear, taken over--by a large cast of regulars who appear before the council each week to complain.

And complain. And complain.

That cast includes an activist who hasn’t lived in Burbank for several years, a janitor who yells continually during the meetings, a presidential candidate of the American Nazi Party, and a man who claims he is being harassed by helicopters and mysterious people with “sophisticated radar.”

Council members are worried that the lengthy public comment sessions have caused meetings to run several hours late, and viewers are turning off their TVs. The council members are now grappling with a proposal to impose restrictions on the public rambling of citizens during the meetings.

The problem is that many of the issues brought up by that group of regulars often have little to do with agenda items or matters that the council can control.

The diatribes are causing anxiety among council members who say the so-called “oral communications” portion, which is set aside for citizen input, is taking priority over the “main event”--the handling of the council agenda.

Because of lengthy oral communications periods and public hearings, votes on city issues and ordinances have often been delayed by several hours. At times, the council has not gotten to the main agenda until about 11:30 p.m., 4 1/2 hours after the start of the meeting.

Alternative to ‘Moonlighting’

Also, the weekly marathons are prompting viewers who have tuned in the council as an alternative to “Growing Pains” and “Moonlighting” to tune out in disgust, council members say. People who attend the meetings for a particular agenda item are becoming increasingly frustrated by the delays.

“Everywhere I’ve been, people have been telling me they’re turning it off,” Councilwoman Mary E. Kelsey said.

Councilman Robert R. Bowne said, “The tail is wagging the dog. There are a handful of individuals who are monopolizing a couple of hours of the public’s time and our time. It’s gotten worse since the televising.”

Mayor Michael R. Hastings said, “We’re not getting to the agenda when we’re fresh enough. I don’t feel as crisp as I could. The agenda is not getting the attention it deserves.”

On meeting nights, there are separate agendas for the council, which functions as the city’s governing body and as the city’s redevelopment agency. Each agenda has an oral communications period with a five-minute limit. Often, several public hearings on proposed ordinances and resolutions may be scheduled on both agendas, and there are no time limits on public comment.

In an effort to make the council deal with the agenda before the start of “Late Night with David Letterman,” Kelsey has proposed a shorter time limit on oral communications.

The present five-minute limit--all but ignored by the regulars--would be reduced to three minutes for matters on that night’s agenda. A second oral communications period would be held following the regular council meeting, where speakers could talk on any subject for five minutes.

Kelsey said, “I’ll stay till 3 in the morning if we put oral communications after the agenda, but we should deal with the important things first.”

The council is not expected to vote on the proposal for a week, but it has already raised the ire of the gadflies--residents who relentlessly research documents, policies and rulings--and a few council members.

“There is no way on God’s green earth that I will support a motion like that,” Vice Mayor Al F. Dossin said after Kelsey made her proposal at last Tuesday’s council meeting. He said most of the speakers at oral communications do address agenda items, and to change the present system would be “ludicrous and unfair to the public.”

Councilwoman Mary Lou Howard said she does not have a problem with the current arrangement. She said most of the agenda items were handled routinely and without a lot of discussion.

“Besides, oral communications is my favorite part of the meeting,” she said.

A previous Burbank City Council tried a similar experiment in 1983. But it only lasted two months. Public pressure forced a return to the current format.

A prominent council watchdog, Burbank Unified School District janitor Jules Kimmett, bellowed his opposition to any restriction on public comment at a recent meeting.

“This is a subtle, insidious attempt to curb the First Amendment,” said Kimmett, 69, the chairman of the two-member Concerned Citizens Committee of Burbank.

“If people at home are disturbed and can’t stay up, they’ve committed the second biggest sin by not coming to the council meetings,” he said. “They should be here participating. The biggest drug addiction in this country today is the boob tube.”

Other cities have varying ways of dealing with oral communications. The Los Angeles City Council, which meets every day, sets aside time for public comments near the beginning of its meetings three times a week. Torrance has oral communications at the end of its weekly meetings with no time limit. Thousand Oaks has five-minute public-comment sessions at the beginning and end of its weekly meetings.

The tradition of confrontations between gadflies and officials at Burbank City Council meetings is as longstanding as it is mysterious.

“I’ve pondered it long and hard, and I can’t figure why things are the way they are,” Bowne said.

Previous Burbank councils used to argue with the gadflies, and the resulting hostility would stretch the oral communications into sessions that sometimes lasted more than two hours.

Although the tradition still exists, the hostility has lessened considerably. The city’s two main gadflies, Kimmett and Melvin Perlitsh, still address the council seemingly at every opportunity, but the council rarely addresses them.

Kimmett has not altered his flamboyant style for the television cameras. He still wears casual work clothes, carries large placards calling for the resignation of officials, and spices his attacks on the council with baseball imagery.

“The stadium is empty,” he said during a recent poorly attended council meeting. “Now I’m going to throw the spitter.”

The recent reappearance of Perlitsh, 62, a retired postal worker who has not lived in Burbank for several years, seems to have been prompted by the broadcasts, Kelsey said.

Perlitsh commutes from Woodland Hills each week for the meetings. He gives his address as a Burbank post office box.

Rips Redevelopment, Airport

Perlitsh, whose sparse gray hair was dyed red a few weeks ago, uses a shaky, booming voice to criticize the council. His main targets are redevelopment and Burbank Airport.

At the Oct. 27 council meeting, he spoke for 22 minutes on subjects ranging from the opening of the pedestrian Golden Mall to traffic to his objection to a proposed memorial for war veterans in Burbank.

At another meeting, when the council was considering changing parking regulations, Perlitsh spoke for seven minutes on traffic gridlock.

Perlitsh recently asked Larry Johnson, Burbank’s public information director, to furnish him with a videotape compiled of his appearances before the council. Johnson refused.

Another recent newcomer that council members are especially concerned about is Robert Martell. Martell, a short, balding man, has often been interrupted by council members because of his frequent statements against minorities.

At the debut of the council’s broadcast, Martell announced he was running for president as a candidate of the American Nazi Party. He gave a post office box where viewers and others could reach him.

At other times, Martell has suggested putting a gambling casino or a skating rink on a 40-acre site in downtown Burbank where the Walt Disney Co. has proposed building a multimillion-dollar shopping and entertainment complex.

Meanwhile, Herbert Newcom, 72, insists each week that he is being followed by cars, helicopters and people “who are blistering my neck with sophisticated radar.” He continually asks the council to put him before a grand jury so he can prove his allegations.

Ruth Hatchett, who leases her kiosk hamburger stand on the Golden Mall from the city, repeatedly accuses the city of holding back on its promise to pay relocation expenses. The city is considering opening the pedestrian mall to traffic.

The city contends that even though it has not extended Hatchett’s lease, it never promised to pay the expenses. Nevertheless, she has filed a lawsuit against the city, and continues to berate the council during meetings.

Another regular, Dianne Adams, says she represents disabled senior citizens who were removed from the site of a high-rise office building without receiving relocation benefits. Although she says the building is within the city’s redevelopment area, officials say it lies outside the area, and that they have no control over the supposed benefits.

“I just think we at least have to try doing something about all haranguing,” Bowne said. “We have to put the business of the city first.”