Neighborhood Council Elections: Venice Votes...and votes...and
votes
Around 600 Venetians turned out to vote on June
28 for candidates for 10 positions on the Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood
Council (GRVNC) Board. No one knows who won.
Absentee balloting, continuing until July
22, was added at the urging of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
(DONE), which oversees the more than 70 community councils in Los Angeles. The
election result won’t be known until July 25, according to the League of
Women Voters, who count the
ballots.
Two slates dominated the
campaigning. The Progressive Grassroots Candidates, which is endorsed by the
Beachhead, fielded 10 candidates, while the Team Venice slate presented eight
hopefuls. (see page 4 for the entire
list)
The election process quickly
became controversial. The GRVNC Elections Committee held no public meetings as
required by the state’s Brown Act. Even so, it presented elections
proposals to DONE, which included absentee voting. DONE officials claimed they
were under the impression that the rules, and absentee voting, had been
discussed in public and approved by the GRVNC
Board.
However, Chris Wood, 2nd Vice
President of GRVNC, filed a complaint with DONE, stating that the process was
kept secret even from her. Most candidates, including the Progressives, found
out about the absentee voting when they read about it in a city flyer that was
distributed in some parts of Venice on June 6-7. The close of absentee voting
was noon, June 15. Somehow, more than 300 people requested absentee ballots
during that short period. Wood, and the Progressive Candidates, cried foul,
accusing Team Venice of having been tipped off about the absentee
voting.
At a special meeting of the
Elections Committee on June 25, an Elections Committee was finally appointed by
Chairperson Greg Fitchitt. An angry and boisterous crowd demanded that the
election be either postponed or absentee balloting be reinstated. Because of
popular demand and at the urging of DONE representatives Jamiko Bell-Potts and
Jon Martinez, the committee reinstated absentee voting, with the provision that
requests for absentee ballots had to be made by midnight on July 5 and ballots
had to be postmarked by July
22.
Beachhead
Endorsement
In June, the Beachhead
endorsed the 10-candidate slate of the Progressive Grassroots
Candidates.
They are: Elena Popp for
secretary, Jim Smith for treasurer, Tom O’Meara for communications
officer, and all seven at-large board candidates: Elinor Aurthur, Sheila
Bernard, Peggy Lee Kennedy, Lydia Poncé, Suzanne Thompson, Sabrina Venskus
and Laddie Williams.
Last month’s
Beachhead endorsement editorial noted that the candidates were selected at a
public community meeting, rather than being self nominated. Their extensive
platform, which includes emphasis on affordable housing and community control of
development, sets them apart from the rest of the pack (of candidates).
Recently, the pages of the Beachhead have been full of BIG development proposals
and BIG opposition from the community. It would be nice to see the neighborhood
council take a stand in support of the community. We believe that would happen
if the Progressive slate is elected.
In
addition, more and more tenants are being driven from Venice because of rent
increases and no affordable housing alternatives. The on-going attempt to evict
Albert Dunne, the 88-year-old veteran is one just one such example. This is just
one more big reason for supporting the Progressives.
Posted: Tue - July 1, 2003 at 07:30 PM