TV REVIEW : Seismic Repair and Solid Waste Provide City Council a Cautious Plot for Debut

This new series will give a curious twist to your daily TV highlights:

“The Council Takes Up Residential Seismic Repair.”

Or, “The Council Checks Out the Solid Waste Program Status Report.”

Those were Wednesday’s listings as the Los Angeles City Council, barely 209 years after our town was founded, began gavel-to-gavel coverage on the new L.A. Cityview 35 cable channel.

It plays on eight cable systems on Channel 35. Coverage will run live and in color Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays at about 10 a.m. (Give them a few minutes; promptness is not the council’s long suit.) The sessions replay those nights at 6.

Or if you miss important goings-on, you can show up at the city clerk’s office and watch a rerun. Or you can buy videocassette copies for $25.

It was a cautious debut. Councilman Robert Farrell showed up 10 minutes early and wondered if the cameras were on to show him as an early arrival.

The hot new bulbs poured out full wattage. Six robotic cameras watched from the ceiling, operated by an absentee crew in a fourth-floor hovel somewhere above the chamber.

Everybody looked good. Cleaned and pressed. A lot of camera-ready gray and blue ensembles. Mighty nice smiles. Strong postures. Good comportment.

But knowing the nature of such arenas, the compelling charm of such “shows” throughout the country is that they are, effectively, a circus waiting to happen.

Not this day. It was sweetness and light, peaches and cream, ham and eggs.

The city logo shone over a wide-angle shot of the great hall. At the bottom of the screen crawled civic bulletins like where to call for recycling information or the rent control hot line number or “Be somebody, be a cop.”

A meager 10 minutes late, Council President John Ferraro called the meeting to order. His head was reflecting a lot of glow, due to insufficient hair and lack of light-retardant makeup.

He picked his ear and rubbed his eye and instructed colleague Joan Milke Flores to invoke the Pledge of Allegiance.

Employing the strange, oblique language of public officials on public business, the session droned on. Hal Bernson was wearing a lovely gray-striped suit with a handsome paisley tie and spoke with authority. Farrell, likewise in pins, was handsome, even dashing. Gloria Molina, in a purple dress with a terrific print scarf over her shoulder, was assertive--but used her hands too much. (Bad TV form.)

Nate Holden likewise glistened in the lights but otherwise looked splendid in a soft-gray suit and a blue-streaked tie. Marvin Braude looked good enough but was much too much serious on solid waste.

There’s a lot of good “character” in the cast, although Zev Yaroslavsky, a hearty combatant, was ill and absent Wednesday. Council watchers feel that he will be good for sparks as the series evolves.

Ernani Bernardi comes out of left field. Like why call some of these streets smart corridors: “We haven’t been very smart in handling our traffic,” he said. “Is that (the word smart ) an insult or what is it?”

Smart was jargon and came from the placement of a lot of high-tech traffic electronics along certain superstreets.

Ferraro noted with a sly smile: “We gotta get smart councilmen for smart streets.”

Ruth Galanter took the mike and referred to those traffic lights that turn red just as you get there: “The smart street,” she said, “is when the light is smart enough to figure out that most of the traffic is with you and turns green.”

A few people in the studio (i.e., council chambers) audience applauded the joke.

Said Ferraro, twinkling, “You’re getting a sitting ovation, Ruth.”