A 2-step program for Long Beach City Council's wasted time: Editor-At-Large

I sat in the bathroom of a dirty apartment in college with Grateful Dead music swirling behind the door, staring at a cruddy pey on the floor.

The date of the coin was 1975. My birth year. Whoa.

Fists pounded on the door pleading to get in, but I refused to budge, fixated on this date. High as a hot balloon, I resolved to stay in that smelly room until I figured out the significance of a pey on the floor that had – gasp! – been made the year I came into the world.

I am not a fan of marijuana; it took a few years, but I finally realized the only effect it had on me was forcing my mind to fixate on some detail of existence, which often devolved into paranoia to the point of paralysis.

It seems the local City Council suffers from the same problem. And this week, a few council members took the first step to recovery: admitting it.

After close to two decades of debating medical marijuana policy – years that have included laws enacted, laws revoked, court decisions, task forces and studies – some on the council had the tone of one who has hit bottom.

“We haven’t done our job,” said Vice Mayor Suja Lowenthal, who has spent eight years on the dais.

She made the Idea at Tuesday’s council meeting, during which Councilwoman Suzie Price wanted the council to consider putting a competing measure on the November ballot, as it appears those behind another initiative will have enough signatures to ask voters whether to allow dispensaries and delivery services in Long Beach.

The council voted down Price’s motion, declining to proffer a ballot measure for delivery-only dispensaries that they themselves rejected in February, effectively putting the fate of medical marijuana in the hands of voters.

What came before Tuesday’s vote, however, was stuing: a series of mea culpas, uncommon for elected leaders to say the least, especially in today’s I’m-always-right political climate.

Councilman Roberto Uranga, noting that the council has debated this topic since his wife was on the council (2002 to 2010), said that, clearly, the people had spoken – they wanted a say in the matter.

“For us to consider a countermeasure to put on the ballot in the name of giving the voter an alteative isn’t valid,” he said.

Councilman Rex Richardson, a relative newcomer with two years on the council, was as blunt as Lowenthal: “I don’t see how we didn’t expect the public to go to the ballot. That’s exactly what happens when you don’t do your job.”

Lowenthal attributed all the doing and undoing over the years to “fearmongering,” and said it would be “highly disrespectful” to voters to push another measure.

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Adding to the intrigue, voters in November may also be deciding whether to allow use of recreational pot. The power may soon be taken out of politicians’ hands statewide, as it was in 1996 when Califoians first approved use of medicinal marijuana.

It’s time now for politicians to relax, stretch a bit, open the door and exit that smelly cramped room, then prepare to take the second step, which means surrendering to a power greater than themselves: the populace.

City editor Melissa Evans can be reached at [email protected].