After years of (apparent) depravity, the city of Madison took a step toward civilization tonight, as the common council moved (nearly) unanimously to appoint a “city bird” to bolster civic pride and symbolize everything we hold dear.

With relatively little discussion, they chose the plastic pink flamingo.

Now as many know, the plastic pink flamingo has a long, vivid history with our fair city. But because there are some who were too stoned to remember it now, and a good deal of us who weren’t born at the time, I’ll relay the history, briefly.

Late in the 1970’s, a group of students at the University of Wisconsin staged a virtual coup of the student government. The Pail and Shovel Party got their name from campaign promises that they would convert their budget into spare change that would fill a giant sandbox that students could then dig in with pails and shovels. As far as I know, they never got around to that one, but they did embark on some of the goofiest, most ambitious pranks the UW has ever known, and their exploits have become the stuff of legends.

One of their less ambitious projects, but among their most iconic, was a very visible display of 1,008 plastic pink flamingos on the lawn of Bascom Hill. Pictures of the occasion can be found in bars, on post cards and hanging on the walls of proud alumni. There’s little in the world more garish than a plastic pink flamingo, but to see a thousand of them flocked on the majestic central campus mall… words fail to do it justice…

The infamous prank happened thirty years ago this month, which is what prompted Alder Marsha Rummel to propose the appropriately obtuse resolution before the city council. Like many with a healthy appreciation of the absurd, I was pleased with the support it got, passing 15-4.

But as with any joke, there were those that didn’t get it.

“It’s very humorous,” said Alder Thuy Pham-Remmele, speaking directly after Rummel introduced the measure. ”It also speaks a lot about the uniqueness of our city. But to me, Madison has been seen under a lot of lights as if we are not facing reality. I wish I could have that interest, but I respectfully ask somehow for this city council to devote more time to more serious business at hand.”

I don’t think anybody had the heart to point out to Pham-Remmele, whose speech in opposition continuedbeyond the parts that I have quoted here, that the council was good and ready to devote some time to more serious business at hand — that in fact, if she hadn’t spoken for longer than Rummel took to read the resolution and explain the history behind it, they’d be getting down to a two hour discussion on the nitty-gritty of TID policies right then.

As a very wise, albeit fictional (and dead) man once said, “You don’t yell at a sleepwalker.”

Others among the “opposition” to naming the plastic pink flamingo Madison’s official city bird steeped their feelings in a manner more deferential to the ”political movement” being honored. After Pham-Remmele’s pontifications, more than a few eyes in the council chamber rolled heavenwards when Alder Judy Compton rose to speak in opposition as well, but most people were chuckling or groaning by the time she finished.

“There are so many beautiful birds that are in this city,” Compton began, picking up a head of steam, “that many ornithologists would like to nominate as our city bird. So either we need to open it up for a discussion citywide to determine which bird it needs to be, or perhaps could create a committee to study the flamingo.”

Compton paused to let the uproar die down, and as it did, City Council President Tim Bruer could be heard muttering under his breath, “This council has gone to the birds.”

A roll call vote was called for, to Mayor Dave Cieslewicz’s bemusement (“Seriously?” he blurted). Alder Jed Sanborn, summarily baffled, abstained from the vote, and Alders Bridget Maniaci and Paul Skidmore joined Pham-Remmele and Compton in opposing the resolution. I resisted my initial impulse to quickly author a blog post entitled “RECALL ALDER MANIACI,” and instead approached her during a recess two hours later, after I’d had time to cool down.

I quickly informed her of my displeasure as a constituent, and she replied that it had nothing to do with her respect for the Pail and Shovel Party, noting her involvement in an effort last winter to resurrect one of their greatest pranks. Instead, she cited, in her own wry way, her concern for overstepping the council’s bounds and condoning the acts of an anti-government group as a government body.

Maniaci’s on notice.

I didn’t get a chance to talk to Paul Skidmore, but I’d assume his opposition is rooted somewhere in that west-side “get off my lawn” mentality. As always, Skidmore represents his constituents to the bitter end.

But 15 members of the City Council (and the mayor) saw fit this evening to lend their support to a gesture that I think is more befitting of our fair city than most will give themselves credit for. Madison is a city deeply rooted in its politics. Sometimes, those politics turn nasty, and grudges can be carried about for decades, festering. But most of us know there’s a healthier solution.

Those who try to cut Madisonians down will accuse us of being “out of touch with reality,” and we’re okay with that. Because every once in a while, a little bit of surreality, along with the ability to laugh at one’s own foibles, will do wonders when it comes to keeping one’s sanity.

And I’ll be damned if you won’t see me wiping a tear from my eye the next time I see the majestic plastic pink flamingo, official bird of my city.