Meeting staged to discuss becoming a separate city
VENICE — Some residents here are fed up with the lack of control they have over their community, and as a result, they want to detach from Los Angeles.
A group of about 30 residents held a meeting earlier this month to discuss the possibility of Venice becoming its own city in a newly formed Santa Monica County. Better efforts to control development, promote the arts and maintain a vital community were the topics discussed on April 16 at the United Methodist Church at 2210 Lincoln Blvd. Venice, which was its own city until 1925, has since experienced many moves for independence. The most recent efforts come as a response to an increasing frustration with the city of Los Angeles, said Jim Smith, who hosted the meeting and is a treasurer of the Grassroots Venice Neighborhood Council.
“There is no Venice representation in Los Angeles,” Smith said. “There is such pressure for development, while at the same time, there are so many traffic problems here not being addressed. People are beginning to say it’s not enough to be able to go downtown and speak during 15 minutes for public comment.”
Arnold Springer, a resident and historian, said because Venice is a major source of revenue for Los Angeles, the Los Angeles City Council is hesitant about responding to resident concerns regarding development and traffic.
“Los Angeles is too compromised by their need for the property and sales taxes because they need the money,” Springer said. “Development in Venice has gone beyond a qualitative plateau, morphing into a series of large developments not seriously being addressed as to the problems they produced.”
The residents who attended the Venice cityhood meeting began by addressing how to go about having more say over their affairs.
On a short-term basis, some said they are hoping the 11th district council seat election — which is up for a vote in two weeks — will have a winner who can help advocate for Venice-related issues at City Hall. Many said they would like to see the Venice Neighborhood Council substantially strengthened to become a community forum for change.
On a long-term basis, some said they supported a path to Venice cityhood by working through the existing Los Angeles County channels. Citing the similar stance on environmental issues between Venice and Santa Monica, former Santa Monica mayor and councilman Michael Feinstein said he supported the idea of Santa Monica creating its own county, which Venice could become part of. Eventually, Venice could seek incorporation from the proposed Santa Monica County, which supporters said might be easier than achieving cityhood through the Los Angeles governmental system.
Eleventh council district candidate Bill Rosendahl, 59, a former Venice resident now living in Mar Vista who hosts a current affairs television program — said he will sit down with Venice stakeholders to begin hashing out the kinds of issues addressed at the cityhood meeting.
“One of the first things I’m going to do when elected is sit down with all parties in Venice and talk about making Venice a stronger neighborhood council to help Venice and its issues,” Rosendahl said. “I can see conflicting groups from the distance, and I support cutting across those lines. The conflicts are challenging, but I’m a peacemaker and a open guy, and I think I can bridge the gap.”
Eleventh council district candidate Flora Gil Krisiloff, 53, a former nurse from Brentwood, didn’t return calls seeking comment. Information on her Web site said she supports addressing traffic issues by improving mass-tranist systems on the Westside.
Eleventh council district candidate Angela Reddock, 35, a labor law attorney from Westchester, was unavailable for comment. Information available on her campaign Web site said she would like to put a six-month moratorium on development in her district until a long-term development strategy can be created.
Venice resident and community leader Suzanne Thompson said she is attracted to the idea of Venice cityhood, while believing the Grassroots Venice Neighborhood Council could still be an effective way to tackle local resident issues.
“Cityhood offers the idea of direct involvement, self-government, and, of course, results,” Thompson said. “But the neighborhood system is a new system, and like any new democratic process, it takes time to work.”
The Grassroots Venice Neighborhood Council is a City of Los Angeles-supported organization which Thompson said has had its hands tied after a voting technicality prompted Los Angeles to toss out a board election last year.
Thompson — who would have been elected president of the board if the vote counted — said some residents are pushing for another Grassroots Venice Neighborhood Council election in June, but Los Angeles officials have not shown interest in having another one until August.
“I’m interested in getting the neighborhood council back and running,” Thompson said. “There has been a bureaucratic attempt to silence our progressive voice to reduce car pollution, traffic and gridlock.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 27, 2005. Read the original PDF.