300 AT NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL MEETING
By Alice Stek, district 7
representative
Grass Roots Venice
Neighborhood Council held its first general membership “town hall”
meeting on October 28. 300 stakeholders attended the beginning of the meeting,
also attended by Cindy Miscikowski, the new L.A. City Council representative for
our district.
Many speakers articulately presented arguments
for affordable housing, against Playa Vista, against granting variances for
oversized developments, and questioning Miscikowski’s conflict of interest
regarding real estate development projects. While she clearly heard the issues
of concern to Venetians, her responses were less than reassuring. She needs to
continue to hear from Venice.
By the
time the bylaws amendments were discussed, half the participants had fled the
headache-inducing acoustics of the Boys and Girls Club gym. A controversial
bylaws amendment proposed expanding the Land Use and Planning Committee by
adding six members to be elected by the membership. The 9 existing members of
the committee were appointed by the Board. The Board had previously lost
credibility when it failed to approve the same amendment by the required
two-thirds vote. A petition from the membership placed the issue on the agenda
for this general meeting.
Despite
compelling arguments from supporters of the amendment, its opponents appeared to
have more tolerance for the gym’s acoustics and stayed for the vote.
Thanks in part to the scheduling of the speakers (opponents following supporters
without rebuttal), the opponents were able to confuse some undecided voters. The
amendment did not receive the two-thirds majority required for approval.
The Land Use and Planning Committee
will continue to consist of 9 appointed members, most of whom are also Board
members. Its meetings are open to the public; date and location will be posted
on the GRV website: <www.grassrootsvenice.org>. See the Beachhead calendar
section for GRV Board meeting dates. Meetings will generally be held at Venice
High School, where acoustics may allow the audience to actually understand the
discussions.
Anyone age 16 or over who
lives or works in Venice may register as a GRV member. Contact us at Progressive
Candidates: telephone 310-280-3411 or via the link at
<www.freevenice.org>.
Posted: Fri - November 1, 2002 at 06:35 PM