December 20, 2000

A ticket for the inaugural... of the mayor?

Lydia and I were looking forward the other Monday evening to seeing Jim Vreeland become Pacifica's new Mayor, but we didn't expect that the city would charge us $16 for the privilege.

We arrived at 6:30, ahead of almost everybody except for council watcher Lucy Aliano and the diligent crew from the former Channel 8, now on Channel 26. Since we were well aware of the city's wish that pier fishermen not park in the council chamber parking lot on council nights, we looked for the parking permits in the first floor bin. There were none, but after all, I reasoned, it's a stormy night, the rain is coming down in buckets, and they wouldn't waste a cop's time on a night when no fishermen in their right minds would be out trying to talk a perch or a crab into taking the bait.

Lydia and I went up stairs, had some pleasant conversations with Pacifica's past, present and, perhaps, future mayors and council members. Ellen Castelli declined my suggestion she run again. I had a short but pleasant discussion with former Mayor Peter Loeb. There was a bit of banter with Nick Gust, who also doesn't plan to run for office again. Noel Blincoe commented on my presence in his voting precinct, so I told him I had been the Inspector in his polling place. Actually I was a double Inspector, responsible for two of the three precincts voting out of the True Jesus Church next to the Central Fire House. Parenthetically I would like to thank the firefighters for their hospitality that day, especially before the welcome arrival of the restroom keys for the church.

When the meeting began, there was a part for every council member, and they all graciously filled their roles. After short, pro forma nominations, Barbara Carr became Mayor Pro-Tem, Jim Vreeland took over as mayor, and refreshments were the final formality of the evening, with congratulations to the Carmany family for same. The Hors d'oeuvres, always a college-level test in spelling, were excellent.

Then we returned to our cars, just in time to find that officers Dan Tabak and Randy Watts were diligently taking the fun out of the evening for those of us who had gone upstairs too early to put parking permits in our windshields. Randy and Dan were friendly but firm. They couldn't unring the bell or take back the ticket. The fact that I had actually been upstairs, the fact that there were no permits when I arrived, the fact that, in the immortal words of Bulwer-Lytton and Snoopy the Beagle, "It was a dark and stormy night" all was to no avail.

Ah, well, as I told Randy and Dan, at least I'll get a column out of it. I promised to spell their names right. They, after all, were doing their job, and on a pretty damp night at that. It reminded me of another Pacifica officer, Doninelli, I think he was, who was detailed, many years ago to ticket the over-parked cars in the green zone in front of the Tribune. I went out front to get my well-deserved ticket. His face was red with embarrassment, but I gave him a big smile. Of course, that ticket was only for $2, not $16, so my smile today is not quite as broad.

Paul Azevedo has a new e mail address and a new website listing. They are thereactor@earthlink.net, and http://home.earthlink.net/~thereactor/