It took seven long hours but the LA City Council managed to find consensus on that controversial union worker retirement plan. The decision? To decide later.

David Zahniser and Maeve Reston patiently explain:

After a seven-hour closed-door debate over how to resolve a $405-million budget gap, the Los Angeles City Council put off a decision Tuesday on a controversial worker retirement plan, hoping to work overnight with employee unions to find new cost-cutting measures.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa promised to veto any decision that preserved the costly plan to allow 2,400 city employees to retire up to five years early with full benefits.

Even that threat failed to break the logjam.

But hey -- there was no name-calling (that we know of) and these days, that is progress.

Read the details in the full story here.