BEACHHEAD EDITORIAL: A lot’s at stake in the Venice
Elections
On June 28, Venice will vote for candidates to
fill 10 positions on the neighborhood
council.
We urge a vote for the entire slate
of Progressive Grassroots Candidates who are campaigning on a platform of more
affordable housing and community control of development.
Readers of the Beachhead know that these
are topics near, and dear, to our hearts. Over the past year, no less than six
of these candidates have expressed their opinions in the pages of this
newspaper. They, and their fellow slate members, are known quantities in Venice.
They attend meetings, hearings and other public forums where they speak up for
the interests of all of us.
Since the
Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council (GRVNC) was formed a year ago, there has
been a rash of new development proposals for Venice. The current board majority
seems almost paralyzed with fear of incurring the displeasure of these
developers. It took a crowd of 200 people at a meeting to get the massive
Lincoln Center project derailed, at least temporarily. Now, it seems, the
current president, Tisha Bedrosian, who is not up for reelection this year, is
trying to skirt the opposition to the project by hand-picking a small committee
to meet with the developer.
Affordable,
and low-income, housing is a pressing need for most Venetians, 70 percent of
whom are renters, while more than 4,000 of us live under the poverty line.
Again, the majority of the current Board seems unable to address this issue in
any meaningful way.
We expect this to
change with the election of the 10 candidates who together with the two
continuing Board members of the slate will provide a progressive majority on the
Board.
We’re impressed that the
Progressive Grassroots Candidates Slate made their selections in full public
view. At a public forum on May 31, they refined their platform and voted - by
secret ballot - for their candidates (See page
7).
We believe the result is worthy of
our support on June 28. We urge a vote for Elena Popp for secretary, Jim Smith
for treasurer, Tom O’Meara for communications officer and votes for all
seven at-large board members: Elinor Aurthur, Sheila Bernard, Peggy Lee Kennedy,
Lydia Poncé, Suzanne Thompson, Sabrina Venskus and Laddie
Williams.
Posted: Sun - June 1, 2003 at 03:21 PM