The Los Angeles City Council adjourns for its holiday recess after today's meeting and won't be back serving -- if that's the right word -- the public until the second week of January.
In the holiday spirit, here are a few stocking stuffers from your city government.
Question: How long was Councilman Herb Wesson in office before saying something provocative?
Answer: About six minutes.
At his City Hall swearing in Nov. 29, Wesson told his new colleagues that statues aren't built to honor critics of government -- they're built to honor people who get things done.
Such as politicians.
Wesson, elected to replace Martin Ludlow, appeared to be making a point about the need for greater optimism at City Hall and his willingness to stand up to critics. But in fact, the world's airports, train stations, museums and parks are littered with statues of some of the world's most splenetic critics of governments and politicians.
These include Will Rogers, Mark Twain, Voltaire, Henry David Thoreau and Mohandas K. Gandhi.
"Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one," wrote Thomas Paine, a founding father, statues of whom can be found in the United States and Europe.
Of course, it's too early in Wesson's council tenure to determine if he's monument-worthy.
The good news: The city wouldn't have to buy a lot of marble or bronze. Wesson is the shortest of the 12 male council members, standing 5 feet 5 and weighing 146 pounds, he said.
Q: What will be Marvin Braude's legacy?
A: The 32-year member of the council died this month. He undoubtedly will remain best-known for helping protect large swaths of the Santa Monica Mountains and leading the city's ban on indoor smoking.
Braude was also a leader of the slow-growth movement in Los Angeles that tried to prevent the city from becoming more dense and vertical.
It's a perpetual battle and one still going. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has lately made it clear that his vision for Los Angeles is a city that can accommodate more people.
"This old concept that all of us are going to live in a three-bedroom home, you know, with 2,500 square feet, with a big frontyard and a big backyard -- well that's an old concept," the mayor said at his State of the Valley speech earlier this month.
In Los Angeles, those are the kinds of words that are usually a prelude to someone throwing a punch -- or, to the more peaceful, writing an angry letter to the editor.
