EDITORIAL WHO'S FOOLING WHOM? SILLINESS AT CITY HALL - NOT SILLY STRING - REMAINS L.A.'S BIG PROBLEM.NOTHING epitomizes the problems in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. city government better than the saga of Silly String Silly String is a child's toy: a flexible, brightly-colored plastic string, which is shot as a stream of liquid from an aerosol can. The string sets quickly in mid-air, allowing one to shoot a seemingly-endless strand of it. . Moved by the apparent urban dangers of the multicolored strings of compressed foam that come out of a spray can, the Los Angeles City Council  The Los Angeles City Council is the governing body of the City of Los Angeles, California, United States. faced intense pressure to impose a citywide ban on using the silly stuff in public places. Morally indignant council members said it was no joke. The chemical goop endangers the environment and can even lead to retaliatory violence. Who knew? Nobody did, because it wasn't a problem outside of Hollywood, where a few business owners complained to Councilman Eric Garcetti Eric Garcetti (born 1971) is the son of former Los Angeles county district attorney Gil Garcetti, and was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2001. He was reelected in 2005. about the annual Hollywood Boulevard Halloween celebration that involves copious use of the squirtable goo. It's messy and a pain to clean up. But council members should have anticipated that such draconian reaction based on just a few complaints would open them up to ridicule and contempt. What's next? Supersoakers? Whoopee cushions? Will we see hundreds of small children being hauled away in handcuffs hand·cuff n. A restraining device consisting of a pair of strong, connected hoops that can be tightened and locked about the wrists and used on one or both arms of a prisoner in custody; a manacle. Often used in the plural. tr.v. ? By Friday, the council was chagrined enough by the reaction to its overreach overreach the error in a fast gait when the toe of a hindhoof of a horse strikes and injures the back of the pastern of the leg on the same side. overreach boot that the proposal had been whittled away to just a ban on Silly String in Hollywood on Halloween - as if there will be many cops around to enforce it. Even the minor-league moralists who were once so fired up over this peril kept their mouths shut, and the council passed the ban without a word being spoken. This silly episode illustrates a very real problem at City Hall. The council members spend much of their time and energy working on ideological issues that are irrelevant to life in the city or attacking nonexistent non·ex·is·tence n. 1. The condition of not existing. 2. Something that does not exist. non problems so their subjects don't notice that the city's falling apart, the streets aren't safe and traffic is getting worse. The Silly String distraction isn't some isolated incident. It goes on all the time. The nation's highest-paid municipal officials don't earn their keep. Silly String was never the problem. Silly politicians are. |
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