Every election brings with it new personalities, new promises and new ideas – some sensible, and some, not so, sensible. Having gotten to know the 2012 City Council candidates, I think it’s clear that one person stands out.

Andy Weissman has decades of experience not just living in Culver City, but serving Culver City. He is a tremendous asset to our city and someone who brings to City Hall an ability to take in feedback and ideas from everyone and synthesize them into solutions to even our most difficult challenges.

He is thoughtful, reasonable, and if you have an issue, he is approachable. Even if you disagree with him, he is not disagreeable.

Andy Weissman puts the city’s needs ahead of his own. We all saw that with his efforts to reduce retiree medical benefits for City Council members. He has fought to keep our public safety departments, police and fire, first rate. And he has kept our city on firm financial footing. But there is much work to be done, and I know Andy Weissman is up to the challenges we will face as a city.

While we may debate about the other three votes we should cast in this election, there’s no doubt in my mind that everyone should vote for Andy Weissman. I certainly will.

Michael Whitaker

Culver City