BACKGROUND: Recall, if you will, that this L.A. Times editorial kicked off a somewhat misguided firestorm of opposition to Mitch O’Farrell’s recent Council motion 16-1456 seeking to develop a legal tool for banning adults without children from playgrounds in parks in the City of Los Angeles.

Just the other day, the Hollywood Studio District Neighborhood Council became the fifth in a long line of illustrious NCs to place a statement of opposition to CD13 repster¹ Mitch O’Farrell’s Kerry-Morrison-behested and universally reviled motion to outlaw grownups in parks² into the Council File. Not one single neighborhood council has supported this malcriado nonsense, and here’s the honor roll of opposition, spread out over the last five months:

• Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council
• Lincoln Heights Neighborhood Council
• Los Feliz Neighborhood Council
• Palms Neighborhood Council

I just bet that when Councildude Mitch O’Farrell moved to the City of Angels from somewhere east of San Bernardino he never expected that one day he would try to do a simple favor for what passes for a community thought leader these days in Hollywood, that is to say Ms. Kerry Morrison,³ and end up not only not making her happy but being roundly and thoroughly mocked in the national press.

He’s clearly letting this ill-conceived motion die in committee, but it seems that, as long as the file’s still active, neighborhood councils are going to keep blowing it up with opposition statements. There’s a lesson to be learned here for Mr. Mitch and history shows that he’s learned it well. You can learn it too if you’ll only turn the page!

It’s simply this: $2850 in campaign contributions is more important than not being mocked and reviled at every stage. And who can say that he’s wrong? After all, he got re-elected, didn’t he?

Image of Mr. Mitch started out as this shot from the Daily News and, after a trip through the good old transformative-use machine, has ended up in its present form bearing proudly the mark of the IP beast, that is to say: ©2017 MichaelKohlhaas.Org.

1. I just learned recently that, it seems, “to rep” is a verb meaning “to be the councilmember for” as in, e.g., “Mitch O’Farrell is repping CD13.” If Mitch can rep, Mitch is a repster. The rest is, as they say, history, and not in a good way.
2. I know that technically it’s a motion to outlaw grownups in playgrounds, but I’m speaking of the spirit of the motion rather than the letter. As a wise man once said…well, you know what he said, and if you don’t, just click the damned link already!
3. Who, in addition to her community-thought-leaderhood, possesses the distinct and probably dispositive advantage of having contributed $2850 to his various campaigns over the years.