Mar Vista Community
Council
August
12, 2003 Board Meeting
Draft
Minutes
August
12, 2003 7:00 pm
Mar
Vista Park Auditorium
Call to Order
The meeting was
called to order at 7:10 by Tom Ponton, Chair. Bill Scheding led everyone in reciting
the Pledge of Allegiance.
The first order
of business was to call roll to determine that a quorum was in attendance. The
following members of the board were present or arrived shortly thereafter: Ken
Alpern, Barbara Corry, Evelyn Dravecky, Bryan Gordon, Amy Lawrence, Tony
Navarro, Tom Ponton, Maritza Przekop, Bill Scheding, Amanda Seward, Andy
Shrader, and Christine Taylor.
Treasurer’s Report
Tony distributed
a ditto that explained the status of the council’s finances. The board has
received its “Stored Value Card” and began its first fiscal quarter on July 1,
2003. The council has requested $2500 for the first quarter. Any requests for
funding for the second quarter must be made before September 30, 2003.
Public Comments and Announcements (Part I)
Sabrina Venskus
from the Ballona Wetlands Trust spoke regarding the issue of supporting the
State’s purchase of Ballona areas A, B, and C. She emphasized how important it
is that the areas be purchased at the lowest possible price so that the State can
have enough money to buy other important areas in the future.
Viet Tran from
the mayor’s office announced that the comment period for the new LAX Plan had
been increased from 45 days to 120 days and also stated that the mayor’s office
would be very happy to provide the board with any information it had that the
board needed.
Committee Reports
•
Urban Planning Committee: Maritza
distributed a report of the Committee’s recommendations on three major issues
discussed in its most recent meeting: the Grandview Tree Proposal, the Viacom
Proposal, and the Budget Day Report. She announced that the Committee’s survey
of land use in Mar Vista was approximately 95% complete and that recent
investigation had uncovered a new trend on Venice Boulevard: that leases are
getting competitive.
•
Outreach Committee: Evelyn reported the
results of the first Outreach Committee meeting on July 24. The Committee
defined its purpose as follows: to develop communication strategies, to
heighten the MVCC sense of identity, and to develop Public Relations. Evelyn
also emphasized the importance of reaching the underserved areas in the
community and announced that the Committee was working to develop a logo for
the council. The next meeting will be August 13 at 7:00 p.m. at Hurry Curry
Restaurant on Venice Boulevard.
•
Transportation Committee: Bill
announced that the Committee will meet every fourth Tuesday of the month in the
Mar Vista Park Craft Room from 7-9 p.m. The Committee currently needs a Vice
Chair and is looking for members of the public who might be able to serve as
liaisons to other Neighborhood Council Transportation Committees. The Committee
is currently developing a list of the top 10 sites for need repairs in the
community and will bring the list back to the council when it is complete. The
motto for the Committee will now be “from the airplanes to the ants.” The next
meeting will be on August 26, 2003 at 7:00 p.m. in the craft room.
Old Business
•
Viacom Proposal: Tom Ponton reviewed
the issue for the benefit of the public. Maritza announced that after further
investigation into the issue, the UPC unanimously agreed to recommend to the
board that it reject the proposal. This was based on a number of issues, namely
that Venice Boulevard is already sign-saturated, that the contract with Viacom
lasts for 20 years, and that the community would have no control over the
content of the advertisements. Bill Scheding moved that the board accept the
recommendation of the UPC to reject the Viacom Proposal; this was seconded by
Ken Alpern. After a recommendation from Curt Steindler, a member of the public
who was concerned about who owned the contracts for already-existing street
benches and trash cans, the following friendly amendment was added to the
motion: that the board authorize the UPC to contact city agencies to get any
contract info they require. The motion was passed unanimously by the board. The
following members of the board and the public spoke in favor of the motion to
reject the Viacom Proposal: Curt Steindler, James McKissick, and Barbara Corry.
•
Grandview Tree Proposal: Tom
Ponton reviewed the issue for the sake of the public: 20 new trees that had
been planted in front of the North Venice Little League on Grandview Boulevard
were removed. Apparently, the neighbors on Grandview had received no notice
regarding the new trees and a number of required steps had been bypassed in
their planting. The new plan is to re-plant other trees in their places. Amanda
Seward explained that the issue was the view and that the new proposed trees
for the sight will not block the view. The following members of the public
raised concerns regarding the issue, in particular, their fear of falling
fronds and their displeasure at having been given no notice of the original
tree-planting: Libby Klugman, Kent Alves, and
Approval of Minutes
Minutes
from the previous two meetings (the July 8 Stakeholder Meeting and the June 10
Board Meeting) were approved as presented.
New Business
•
Formation of Additional Committees:
(All motions appointing
chairpersons require a 2/3 vote)
Budget
and Finance Committee: Bill moved that Tony Navarro be the chair of the new
Committee. This was seconded by Ken and passed.
Election
Committee: Andy moved that Bill be the chair of the Election Committee. This
was seconded by Ken and passed.
Ad
Hoc Community Festival Committee: October 4 is the Mar Vista Park Community
Festival and the MVCC will have an outreach booth there. Bill moved that
Barbara be the chair for the Ad Hoc Committee; this was seconded by Andy and
passed.
•
Budget Day Report and Recommendations:
Maritza announced that she and Tony had
attended the Budget Day Conference on July 26 where they learned that the mayor
has asked the 75 Neighborhood Councils to give input regarding the allocation
of the City Budget for 2004-2005. Each Neighborhood Council has a chance to
submit its top 5 budget priorities by September 30, 2003 as long as they have
surveyed at least 200 Stakeholders on the subject. Viet Tran spoke about Budget
Day and the mayor’s goals in doing this. After a recommendation from Maritza,
Bill moved that Barbara Corry and Christine Taylor be the two delegates to
attend future regional budget meetings, who will communicate our five top
budget priorities with DONE. This was seconded by Andy and passed. The
following members of the public raised concerns about the fairness and
effectiveness of the plan:
After
a recommendation from Maritza, Bill moved that the board direct the Outreach
Committee to conduct a survey to obtain at least 200 responses to this issue,
and if permissible, to use the website to augment the survey. This was seconded
by Barbara Corry. Amanda Seward asked for a “no-vote” on the matter and
suggested that the delegates make a recommendation to the board after
investigating the possibility. Bryan
Gordon called the question and the motion passed 7-2. Maritza’s third recommendation
regarding the Executive Committee holding a public meeting to hear budget
priority issues was tabled.
•
Logo Contest:
Andy posted the logos that had already
been submitted and moved that the deadline for the logo contest be extended
another month. Bill seconded this and it passed.
•
Motion to Extend the LAX Comment
Period:
Ken withdrew this motion, but urged
everyone to attend the August 26 Transportation Committee Meeting.
•
Patriot Act
Andy Shrader spoke about the Patriot
Act. He emphasized that there is no place more relevant to take a stand on the
issue than at the local, grassroots level. He argued that the Patriot Act
allows the government to ignore due process, to illegally seize property, and
to access private information like library and phone records and was therefore
unconstitutional. He moved that the board pass the resolution whose text is
attached. This was seconded by Bill Scheding. A friendly amendment was
added to change the wording in Section 5 to read as follows: Our
Congressional delegation is called upon to monitor the effects of the Patriot
Act and to act as advocates for the protection of constitutional rights. The
vote passed without objections but with abstentions. The following members of
the public and the board spoke in favor of passing the resolution: Sherri
Myers, Eleanor Bilser, and James McKissick. Curt Steindler argued that the MVCC
had no place to make this sort of resolution.
•
State Purchase of Ballona areas A, B,
and C:
Bryan Gordon moved that the board write
a letter stating that the MVCC supports the state’s intention to purchase 583
acres of Ballona Wetlands being sold by Playa Capital (known as Areas A, B, and
C), and at a fair price. This was seconded by Andy. After Amanda expressed
interest in writing the letter, Ken made a Friendly Amendment that Amanda
assist Andy and Bryan in writing the letter; this was seconded by Bill. The
motion passed.
•
Date, Format, and Agenda for the Next
Stakeholder Meeting:
Amy moved that the issue of the
Stakeholder Meeting be referred to the Outreach Committee for discussion and
recommendation. This was seconded by Andy. Bill made the Friendly Amendment
that the UPC and the Transportation Committee both be the focus of the
Stakeholder Meeting; he later withdrew this amendment. The motion was passed in
its original form 7-1.
° Future Agenda Items:
The next Mar Vista Community Council
Board Meeting will take place on September 9, 2003 at the Mar Vista Park
Auditorium. The following will be on the agenda for that meeting: the logo
contest, the Grandview Tree Proposal, any website proposals.
Public Comment and
Announcements (Part II)
George
Garrigues expressed his displeasure at having heard the Pledge of Allegiance
recited at the July 8 Stakeholder Meeting.
Brian
Miller brought to the board’s attention the issue of cell phone towers being
mounted in the community. He is concerned about property values since the
public perception of cell phone towers is that they are dangerous to the
health.
Judy
from the Mar Vista Neighbors for Peace and Justice suggested that the board
display a chart at the beginning of each meeting with all of the issues that
are going to be discussed so that people can mark which issues they are
interested in, and the issues can therefore be re-arranged and heard in the
order of their interest for the public.
Bill
Scheding announced that the FAA was considering increasing the size limit for
allowable aircraft in small airports. He encouraged the public to take his
hand-out and look into the subject.
The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Amy Lawrence on
August 17, 2003
Andy’s Patriot Act will be attached
here.