Neighborhood Council fills vacancies, supports Ralphs workers, opposes
Patriotic Act
Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council held its
most productive meeting ever on Oct. 22 at the Oakwood Recreation
Center.
At its Board meeting last night, the GRVNC
appointed Sheila Bernard as president to replace Tisha Bedrosian who resigned
last month. Bernard said in her acceptance talk that she planned to have a short
tenure since she supported a proposed bylaws change that would eliminate the
office of president in favor of a rotating chairperson of the
Board.
The Board also voted in Paul
Ryan to fill the vacant position of Government Relations Officer, and Jatun
Valentine to fill another vacant position as the Oakwood
Representative.
New committee
appointments included Lydia Poncé and Sabrina Venskus for the Land Use and
Planning Committee, and Jim Smith as chair of the Bylaws
Committee.
In other action, the Board
voted to:
• Support the Venice
Ralphs workers who had been locked-out by their employer in retaliation for
their union striking Vons Markets. For more information, see
<www.saveourhealthcare.org> and <www.friendsoflabor.com>. A
collection for the workers was taken up before the Board
adjourned.
• Support the
resolution introduced in the Los Angeles City Council in support of civil
liberties and against the Patriot Act. Stakeholder John Davis told the Board
that since the Patriot Act went into effect that he had not used the Venice
public library because the Act allows the FBI to check on what books are being
read by library patrons.
The lights
were turned out at 10:30 PM, before the Board could consider the mega-project at
Lincoln and California, called Lincoln Center. The Land Use and Planning
Committee (LUPC) had approved key elements of the project, Oct. 6, including a
zoning change, in spite of opposition from almost all of the 100-odd community
members watching the show. The Board did issue a statement that LUPC decisions
had no weight until approved by the
Board.
Lincoln Center and other agenda
items will be carried over to the next Board meeting, tenatively scheduled for 7
PM, Thursday, Nov. 6 at the Oakwood Recreation Center, 767 California
Ave.
This meeting is in addition to a
schedule of Executive Committee and Board meetings that has been proposed. The
schedule calls for Executive Committee meetings to be held on the third Monday
of the month and Board meetings to be held on the fourth Monday of the month,
both sets of meetings will be held at the Vera Davis McClendon Center.
General Membership meetings will be
held on Dec. 10, March 10 and June 12 or 13. The June meeting will be the
election meeting where 11 Board members will be elected. The General Membership
meetings will be held at various locations in Venice.
– Jim Smith
Posted: Sat
- November 1, 2003 at 05:04 PM