After waiting more than 15 minutes for tardy council members to show up Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti canceled Tuesday's council meeting. Meetings are supposed to start at 10 a.m. every Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday and at least 10 of the council's 15 members must be present to form a quorum before they can conduct official business.
"Colleagues, I've given two or three speeches in the last two weeks on this. We really need to create the time to be here in City Hall before 10 o'clock," Garcetti said.
Garcetti apologized to the public then scolded members for frequently arriving late.
"I understand there are committee meetings but we need to schedule those in ways that can accommodate what is prescribed by our own rules and in our ordinance," he said. "If we can't enforce our own rules, we shouldn't ask the public to waste their day waiting for us."
A spokesman for Garcetti said council routinely started a half hour or 45 minutes late in the past, but in recent months members have made great strides toward starting most meetings on time. However, Garcetti wants them to start on time, every time.
Council members Tony Cardenas, Bill Rosendahl and Janice Hahn were late.
The council members Garcetti, Bernard Parks, Ed Reyes, Dennis Zine, Tom LaBonge, Richard Alarcon, Herb Wesson, Greig Smith, and Paul Krekorian were all on time.
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Councilwoman Jan Perry was excused from the meeting because she was a panelist in a symposium.
And councilmen Jose Huizar and Paul Koretz were excused from the beginning of the meeting, because of other commitments that they previously notified Garcetti about.
Garcetti says he hopes council members got the message when he canceled Tuesday's meeting and that everyone will arrive on time for Wednesday’s regular session.
