Author, photographer, surfer Brian Averill mounts a second run for President of the Venice Neighborhood Council, seeks a more positive, less divisive VNC
By Nick Antonicello
Two years ago local community advocate Brian Averill mounted a grass roots campaign for the presidency of the Venice Neighborhood Council that resulted in a surprisingly close, second-place finish to veteran Venetian James Murez in a competitive four-way race that saw Murez win with 49.6% of the vote to Averill’s 42%. With a turnout of 1,925 stakeholders, Murez squeaked past Averill, by a vote of 955-810 or a mere 145 votes.
The two other presidential candidates, Ben Decker and Jay Schapira trailed the field.
For Brian Averill, what is success without failure?
And as the old saying goes, if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again!
Averill, a policy wonk of sorts who seeks solutions first, has a reputation with those who know him best as honest, caring and getting things done. Tempered and measured, Averill is a proponent of positive change for the community he believes can occur at the grass roots level of government action, especially when it comes to the issue of homelessness, encampments and crime.
But in this second run for the top job, there will be no “spoilers” in the race as it will be a one-on-one contest with incumbent Vice-President Daffodil Tyminski, who is said to be formulating a ticket of candidates while Averill to date will be running with longtime VNC Community Officer Jim Robb, the popular local who has never lost a race for neighborhood council and currently serves as Chairman of the Oceanfront Committee of the VNC as his running-mate for the position of VP. Tyminski is running with current Communications Officer Vicki Halliday, who works for the website, The Westside Current, formerly known as The Venice Current. Halliday also serves on the VNC’s Homeless Committee.
The current incumbent President James Murez has opted not to seek reelection to a second term and instead will be seeking the position of Community Officer, as Murez has held multiple positions in his past service to the VNC. Murez, the longtime manager of the Friday Venice Farmer’s Market was an unsuccessful candidate for the LA City Council in last year’s June Primary that saw him finish sixth in a field of eight candidates. He immediately endorsed the eventual winner in the November runoff, Traci Park over local Venice attorney Erin Darling.
Park, also a resident of Venice edged out Darling by a 52% to 48% margin with nearly 100,000 votes cast, the largest of any council district in last year’s municipal contests.
Murez has not indicated to date if he is endorsing a successor in this year’s March contest.
A 22-year resident of Venice, Averill is a graduate of New York University (NYU) and the author of “Concrete to Saltwater,” his first book on photography which was published four years ago and is available locally at Small World Books, and nationwide on Shopify as well as internationally on Amazon. A founding member of the Venice Surfing Association Averill currently sits on the Outreach and Oceanfront Walk committees of the Venice Neighborhood Council.
In his previous run, Averill spoke of offering “reasoned intelligence” to the operation of this grass roots elected board consisting of 21 members, all serving in a volunteer capacity.
Since his last campaign, Averill played a contributing community role in calling for the cleaning up of the conditions at Oceanfront Walk, as he resides close to the beach here in Venice.
Averill was an early and avid supporter of Councilwoman Traci Park (CD-11), and looks forward to working with her in moving the neighborhood council forward as we come out of pandemic conditions due to COVID-19 should he be successful.
In speaking with Averill, he is more focused on his own campaign this time around and is comfortable in who the voters select to serve with him in the various slots that will be decided come the election.
To learn more about Averill, visit his website at http://1venice.com/
Nick Antonicello is a longtime Venetian who covers local culture, community advocacy, government & politics and how they impact the neighborhood of Venice Beach. Antonicello is once again covering the 2023 VNC elections and is doing so for the second time. Have a take or tip about Venice? E-mail him at nantoni@mindspring.com
