Mar Vista Community Forum

Leisurely Start of Operations Announced for MVCC

May 04, 2003

Jerry Gotlieb, chair of the MVCC Election Committee, invited all newly elected members of the Board of Directors to a meeting held at the Mar Vista Recreation Center in the evening of April 8. At the meeting he stated that the preliminary Election Results announced in March had now been confirmed and certified. He went on to explain in detail the procedure for the Board electing its Officers (Chair, Vice Chair, etc) from among its members and announced that this was to take place at a meeting at the Mar Vista Recreation Center in the evening of May 13, a month and a half after the elections of the Directors.

There is no reason why the election of Officers could not have taken place at that meeting on April 8th (with 72 hrs notice to comply with the Brown Act), except for the decision to make the election of Officers a memorable occasion and the need for time (-a whole month or more?) to make adequate preparations for the festivities, which are to include decorating the walls, speeches by VIPs, food and drink, attendance by the Press, etc. (It is not clear at this time who made this decision, which inevitably results in delaying the effective start of Council operations. Was it the Elections Committee or was it a decision taken by its Chair?) What was the point of calling the newly elected Directors to the meeting on April 8th? The explanation of how they are to elect the MVCC Officers could have been given on May 13th , just prior to the election ?– and will no doubt be repeated then.

In answer to a question, Jerry opined that the terms of office of the Directors will begin tolling as of May 13, rather than the date of their election, March 27.

The meeting was saved from being a complete waste of time by a presentation by Maritza Przekop and Tom Navarro on the proposal to give a private company a 20 year contract for installing a number of bus shelters in Mar Vista. The company will use the bus shelters to display commercial advertisement posters, sharing the profits from this activity with the City of LA.

The presentation on the bus shelters was followed by a presentation by Ken Alpern on the Light Rail proposals for the Westside, including the Green Line extension to LAX and beyond (to eventually reach Santa Monica), the shuttle at LAX, and the Expo Line.

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