Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council update


By Alice Stek, District 7 Councilmember

After months of process-oriented activities, the new Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council may soon be taking action on issues impacting our community.


As reported in last month’s Beachhead, on June 13 the new neighborhood council elected its first board of 21 members; 8 are from the Progressive Candidates slate. The board has been meeting for almost 2 months. Some of these meetings have been purely social or for “team-building.” We received training in legal and ethical aspects of local government organizations and are working on the required conflict of interest policy. The board proposes to expand the useful “strategic visioning” session to define our community’s assets, problems and priorities, and to involve the entire membership. Half the board attended the Congress of Neighborhood Councils on August 3. Although this City-sponsored event was clearly designed to support the City’s anti-secession campaign, many of the 700 attendees from neighborhoods throughout LA expressed support for Valley and Hollywood secession. Will we be discussing Venice cityhood in 2004?

Regular executive committee, full board and general membership meetings will be scheduled within the next month. Some committees (such as conservation and outreach) are already meeting regularly. As with any new organization, there is still the need to address process. Soon real issues will be discussed; these include GRVNC’s advice to the City budget office on where to allocate the funds for neighborhood improvement projects. The City is likely to make this formal request this month, with a very short response time, so we need to pay attention. Although the neighborhood councils’ roles are officially only advisory, their influence is likely to increase, at least according to our “dynamic” mayor Hahn.

Any Venice “stakeholder” (live, work, own property in Venice) 16 or older may register. You need not be a citizen or eligible to vote for state elections or have a green card to register, but you must be able to document stakeholder status. Register and have input into local government!

Grass Roots Venice official website, for registration info and meeting announcements: www.grassrootsvenice.org

Visit the Progressive Candidates website: http://home.attbi.com/~venicecandidates or call 310-280-3411.

Stay tuned for future neighborhood council reports.

Posted: Thu - August 1, 2002 at 05:29 PM          


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