Court orders council to pay attention

LOS ANGELES – During public hearings, members of the Los Angeles City Council talk on cell phones, chat among themselves, read mail or wander around the room.

A state appeals court says they should be doing something else: paying attention.

Ruling on a suit brought by the owners of a strip club, the 2nd District Court of Appeal said the 15-member council acts as a quasi-judicial body when it holds hearings and has a legal duty to listen to testimony – or risk violating citizens’ due process.

In a hearing involving a strip club owner who was seeking to extend his hours, both sides “had the right to be equally heard, not equally ignored,” the court wrote in a decision Thursday, ordering a new hearing.

The city has not said whether it will appeal.

Roger Jon Diamond, a lawyer for the Blue Zebra strip club, videotaped the June 13, 2003, public hearing because he believed he would get little attention from the council.

At the hearing – which also was Hawaiian Shirt Day for the council – one council member paced, deep in a cell phone conversation; three huddled in conversation; another strolled about the room.

Afterward, the council voted unanimously against extending the Blue Zebra’s hours.

Dennis Zine, a councilman who appeared to be paying attention in the videotape, said he thought the city should appeal.

“It’s impractical for us to sit there like students in a classroom paying attention to the professor,” he said.