The Westmar Sun
News and opinion
about the doings of the Mar Vista Community Council
in Los Angeles, California,
as seen by a very interested observer
File of e-mail messages since Nov. 25, 2005
WESTMAR SUN RISES

I'm resurrecting The Westmar Sun. It will bring you information about the Mar Vista Community Council, as seen by a very interested observer.

The council is the city-certified group responsible for sounding out and reflecting grass-roots sentiment in these parts — from Overland on the east to Walgrove on the west. It's often called the MVCC, for obvious reasons.

It gets $50,000 a year of the city's money to spend more or less as it likes. In 2006 it will get an additional $100,000 to fix up streets. It has its own Web site at www.marvistacc.org.

A whole lot of Westside Villagers don't want to be in the council, but that is a story for another day.

I posted the first issue of The Westmar Sun on the Internet in November 2003 and the last in April 2005. This new version will be sent to you by e-mail when something new happens.

There are 430 people on my mailing list, and I would hate to lose any of you, but if you want off, just return this e-mail with REMOVE in the header.

Send me stuff for inclusion; if you don't want your name used, mark it NOT FOR ATTRIBUTION, or NFA. (This means I can use it without your name. If you don't want the information used, even anonymously, don't send it to me.)

TWO MODEST PROPOSALS FOR DEMOCRACY IN OUR CORNER OF A BIG WORLD

We need a little more democracy in the area served or serviced by the Mar Vista Community Council.

NUMBER ONE PROPOSAL FOR DEMOCRACY: Seven of the Board of Directors' 13 members are elected "at large" (in odd-numbered years, like this year). Six are elected by districts, or Zones (in even-numbered years, like next year.)

This means that any particular group of well-organized people can sweep to power in, say, 2005, and hold on to for two years — or longer.

Has this happened? I'm not saying it HAS, but it certainly COULD.

I drafted an amendment to the bylaws that would cut down the "at large" seats to just ONE PERSON. All the rest of the Board members would be elected by Zones. Twelve of 13 members would then be elected by districts. (I handed the draft over to the MVCC Executive Committee at its meeting on Nov. 17.)

This proposal would mean, for example, that North Westdale and Westside Village would each get TWO Directors instead of just one. Ditto for that area south of Venice which had only four voters during the last Zone election. And all the other Zones on the Board.

If you want to know how these Zones look on a map, go to www.marvistacc.com/borders.html

I really think this amendment would result in more people running for office — more enthusiasm among the voters — all sorts of Good Things. (In the 2004 Zone elections, only 120 of the 50,000+ people who live in the MVCC boundaries bothered to cast ballots. In the 2005 "at large" election there were only seven candidates for seven seats.)

This is what the proposed amendment says:

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RESOLUTION ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF SEATS BETWEEN 'AT LARGE' AND 'ZONE' DIRECTORS

Bylaws Article IV, Section B, is amended to read as follows:

B. Number of Directors. The Board shall have thirteen (13) Directors, including the five officers described below in Article V. Of the thirteen (13) Directors, one (1) shall be elected "At-large" and twelve (12) shall be "Zone" Directors, with two of the latter being elected by and representing the stakeholders in each of the six (6) geographic areas listed below. This section will be effective with the election of spring 2007. The terms of the Directors elected in spring 2005 will not be affected by this section.

Bylaws Article IV, Section G, is amended to read as follows:

G. Election schedule of the Board of Directors. Effective with the election of spring 2006, one stakeholder will be elected yearly from each of the geographic areas described below to serve a two-year term. Effective with the election of spring 2007, one stakeholder will also be elected in every odd-numbered year as an "at large" director to serve a two-year term.
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NUMBER TWO PROPOSAL FOR DEMOCRACY: At present, when a Board member resigns, the MVCC President gets to appoint a successor, who can serve as long as two years without facing an election.

Has this happened? Kind of.

The elected representative from Westside Village (Bobby Holiday) resigned from the MVCC Board in June 2004 after serving only two months, and Chair Tom Ponton appointed bank manager Robert Mednick to to the remaining months of her two-year term in August 2004.

Don't you think that an election should have been held to fill her seat as quickly as possible instead of waiting for almost two years? So do I.

So the second proposal that I handed over to the Executive Committee would set up a system whereby a vacancy would be filled by the Chair (as at present), but only until the NEXT regularly scheduled election

Here's what it looks like:

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RESOLUTION ON THE FILLING OF VACANCIES ON THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

The last sentence of Bylaws Article IV, Section J, is amended to read as follows:

In the case of a vacancy, the Chair may appoint a stakeholder to fill that vacancy subject to approval by a two thirds (2/3) vote of the Board. The person appointed shall fill the position until the next election, when a person will be elected to fill out the remainder of the unexpired term, if any.
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So there you have them: Two proposals that would advance democracy in the Mar Vista Community Council, and maybe even increase voter interest.

Will they be adopted? (It takes a two-thirds vote of the MVCC Board.)

Maybe. At any rate, these are two serious proposals for revisions in the Mar Vista Community Council bylaws. If you like them, let your Board members know. You can reach them through www.marvistacc.org. (Send me a copy as well.)

Sincerely,

George Garrigues, prop., Nov. 25, 2005
The Westmar Sun
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