A major shift in board composition from at-large membership to ten individual and localized units fails to receive the required two-thirds majority for approval
By Nick Antonicello
The Rules & Selections Committee of the Venice Neighborhood Council (www.venicenc.org) Tuesday evening recommended sweeping changes on the make-up and the way future board members are elected only to be denied after failing to receive the required two-third’s vote from those members in attendance.
Yo! Venice was notified of the special ZOOM meeting Sunday evening by e-mail and a follow-up media advisory was received and posted Monday.
Only 17 of the board’s 21 members were in attendance to review the presentation of recommended changes that was presented by Community Officer Christopher Lee, Treasurer Helen Fallon, and Community Officers CJ Cole and Lisa Redmond.
The Committee relied heavily on a survey that had 81 participants selecting elected officers in smaller areas by a 80.2%-18.8% margin. At the same time, participating respondents agreed that the current make-up of a twenty-one member at-large body was just right (50%), while also supporting that 70.9% believed expanding the ballot franchise from one selection as currently constituted to a limited number of more than one to thirteen (40.5%), and 30.4% believing stakeholders should select all fourteen at-large members or 100% of the council.
Currently, the composition of the VNC only allows stakeholders to select 38% of the board’s membership as Venetians can only select one of the board’s thirteen elected, at-large members.
The proposal by Rules & Selections was to decrease the number of at-large members from thirteen to three, and creating a whole subset of individualized districts, ten in all that would have equal voting rights as the remainder of the board’s eleven, at-large members. The rationale by the Committee’s recommendation was that localized districts would breed greater participation and activity, although no evidence or data was offered except for the support of the survey question itself.
For a thoughtful and interesting board deliberation took place on the size of the individual districts that for the most part were apportioned in relatively the same size from a population standpoint although actual numbers were not available. The differences in population differed within three percentage points, as the map did not appear to be gerrymandered with lopsided boundaries. It seemed that most board members supported some hybrid format of at-large and individualized districts, but the devil remained in the details.
For the biggest single change being proposed was this shift to district representation for a neighborhood the size of Venice, and just how different or diverse is this urban beach enclave that requires ten units of new representation?
Those in support of the new plan seem to reside in the historic Venice Canals, one of the community’s more unique neighborhoods and tourist destination outside the beach and Oceanfront Walk.
At the end of the day, while the needle moved upward in that stakeholders would be electing and selecting 57% of the entire VNC, where was the plan or proposal to offer 100% voter approval and participation to stakeholders?
In the end, Rules & Selections weighed on the side of strong district representation while diluting at-large membership.
For if the new proposal was approved, 47.6% of the VNC would be represented by single-unit members who would only represent a distinct slice of governance. In many ways this hyper localized, selection process, would be the new grass portal of local governance.
One question that was not addressed was what happens if at the filing deadline no candidate steps forward to run in one of these local community districts?
For the current composition of thirteen at-large contests have historically generated competitive races, in excess of fifty candidates for these community officer slots and in some instances nearly eighty hopefuls in past cycles.
While the motion failed, the VNC could entertain the resolution again in revised language that can meet the 14-vote threshold for approval.
While some were disappointed in the results, compromise and consensus could be applied to offer a more appealing resolution with language that increases the stakeholder selection process to 100%, which was the opinion of most candidates that sought their seats last March.
They say all politics is local, so governance may need to replicate a more localized view.
At the same time a political balance should be the goal as homeowners and tenants have their appropriate seat at this table of grass roots government.
For As of March 2024, the average rent in Venice, CA is $2,690 per month. This is 80% higher than the national average rent price of $1,497 per month, making Venice one of the most expensive neighborhoods in the U.S according to Apartments.com and as of February 2024, the median listing home price in Venice, CA was $3M, flat year-over-year while the median listing home price per square foot was $1,300 with 177 homes currently available for purchase with a low of $546,000 and a high of $12,600,000 according to Realtor.com.
Nick Antonicello is a thirty-one year resident who currently serves on the Oceanfront and Outreach Committees of the Venice Neighborhood Council and previously served as ad hoc chair for the advisory panel that examined the issue of cityhood for Venice, or more commonly referred to as VEXIT. Have a take or a tip all things Venice? Contact Antonicello via e-mail at nantoni@mindspring.com
