Venice Community Advocate Outperforms CD-11 Field, Double-downs on pledge to remove homeless encampments in 30 days upon assuming office!
By Nick Antonicello
Westside community advocate, land use & planning attorney, and local business owner Mike Newhouse, who announced his campaign – just 70 days ago – to replace Councilmember Mike Bonin in Los Angeles’ 11th City Council District has raised $265,588, far out-pacing his opponents in this cycle!
The difference from other candidate’s fundraising, aside from vastly outperforming them in this reporting period, is that Newhouse did it without personal loans.
“I’m building community consensus from a contributions standpoint. There will be no self-funding. My campaign is a reflection of the issues and grass roots support being garnered as we move forward.”
“I’m on the phones reaching out to my personal Rolodex of supporters throughout the district and I’m very satisfied with the results given the fact others have had a significant head start. We are closing the gap as we reach the critical mass point in this race,” noted the Harrison Avenue homeowner.
“Running for city council is a community collaboration, and that is what our fundraising demonstrates. I am not trying to buy this seat, instead I am building our base one donor at a time and one volunteer at a time,” Newhouse said. “It has become clear, as I continue my discussions with CD-11 stakeholders, that our message of employing a Coalition of Common Sense Proposals to address our challenges is resonating. We can – and will – renew the Westside, together.”
Newhouse is a longtime Venice homeowner and father of two school-age sons who is seeking public office for the first-time after volunteering his efforts for more than two decades in numerous capacities such as President of the Venice Neighborhood Council (www.venicenc.org), and as a former LA Zoning official. A graduate of USC, he and his wife Ruthie are practicing attorneys.
The centerpiece of the Newhouse campaign is to solve the homeless street crisis which has plagued Venice in particular for years as witnessed by the exploding conditions at Centennial Park, where about a hundred tents and structures currently exist along with stationary vehicles and RV’s.
Some say LAPD officials have been hand-cuffed from taking the necessary action to resolve this crisis that has spun out-of-control since last December when tents began to pop up and metastasize.
Calls have been made for LA County Sheriff Alex Villanueva, who successfully removed the encampments at the boardwalk to interceded once again.
Venetians are frustrated and Newhouse is apparently “the man with a plan” to solve the problem for Venice and CD-11.
In response to this homeless crisis, Newhouse has proposed a 30-day timeline to remove all encampments districtwide. Some of his detractors have criticized this attempt to swiftly and humanely end these third-world conditions on the streets of Venice and Los Angeles.
“Hold me accountable,” responded Newhouse.
“This is difficult. This is hard. But this course of action is necessary. We need to fix this now and just talking about it just doesn’t cut it any longer. I have a plan with a distinct timeline. Any serious proposal must have a start and a stop date and I’m providing that plan-of-action to voters as they begin to receive their ballots over the next few days.”
HOMELESSNESS IS THE ISSUE FOR VENETIANS
“This is the #1 issue in this race and what voters really want to talk about. Describing homelessness as complex and difficult are code words for inaction by those who have no plan at all. I will make a single-pledge and that is to work with the new mayor whoever that is to remove these encampments in thirty days upon assuming office.”
“My background is unique and different from this field. I’m a true community-involved Democrat who has volunteered on issues important to Venice and the rest of the Westside. I am not a bureaucrat nor an individual that has no involvement in this district. I’m a consensus builder that has a record of fighting for the values of Venice and the district for decades.”
Newhouse, who was born and raised in eastern Los Angeles County, has been a proud Westside resident and homeowner for 25 years. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Southern California (USC) and earned his Juris Doctor from Northwestern School of Law of Lewis and Clark College.
In 2009, Mike co-founded the Westside Regional Alliance of Councils (WRAC), a coalition of all 13 (now 14) Los Angeles neighborhood and community councils on the Westside of Los Angeles. The members of the alliance work together to influence legislation that benefits the collective 500,000 Westside residents on the local, state, and federal levels.
A former President of the West Los Angeles Area Planning Commission, Mike led the Commission for five years (as annually re-elected by his fellow commissioners) through efficient, transparent, and sound adjudications.
SERVICE ABOVE SELF
“All of my time has been on a volunteer basis. I do it because I care about my neighborhood and my family. There is no invoice or pay stub attached to my community service. I am the community-involved candidate that will end this street encampment crisis once and for all.”
For more information, visit newhouseforla.com.
The writer is a longtime Venetian covering the CD-11 council campaign. You can contact him at nantoni@mindspring.com
