Venice Neighborhood Council Meets in Person for First Time in Two Years, and Faces Challenges Ahead of the New Board’s Arrival
By Nick Antonicello
For the first time in this term of office, the Venice Neighborhood Council (www.venicenc.org) met live and in person Tuesday evening at the Westminster elementary school located at Abbot Kinney Boulevard.
The board has governed virtually on ZOOM since assuming office some twenty-two months ago and this was the first meeting in public since the lifting of pandemic and COVID-19 restrictions.
This board will expire come July 1st as a new neighborhood council will be seated that was elected on March 26th with Brian Averill as the new president replacing the outgoing James Murez.
Averill defeated former vice-president Daffodil Tyminski.
The meeting was strange for some board members since this was the first time they met in public with an audience of about 40 or so residents. Many of those in attendance were regular attendees of these community council meetings until they were postponed and regulated to strictly online affairs via ZOOM. Several of those in attendance were incoming board members who were elected last month.
While these meetings can become contentious, all mainly were in agreement to see the ban lifted as things seem to get back to normal.
The board has suffered several resignations since the March 26th election and may need help attaining a quorum for the May meeting which was a topic of conversation Tuesday evening.
The new board is slated to be seated in July.
Nick Antonicello is a longtime Venetian who covers the local neighborhood council’s actions. Have a take or a tip about Venice? Contact Antonicello at nantoni@mindspring.com.
