Minutes of Executive Committee
Grass Roots Venice Neighborhood Council
Monday, Feb 2, 2004, Vera Davis Center 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Present: Sheila Bernard, Jim Smith, Alice Stek, Greg Fitchitt, Paul Ryan
The meeting was called to order at 7:00.
Public comment occurred, with the concerns of the public added to the agenda where appropriate.
Approval of the minutes was tabled.
Administrative matters were discussed as follows:
It is the responsibility of people submitting motions to provide supporting documentation that can be posted to the website. It is the responsibility of the secretary to attach each motion to the agenda, to put a one-sentence description of the motion on the agenda, and to see that copies of the agenda and motions are available to meeting attendees.
Racial or other slurs should not be tolerated at meetings. It is the chair’s responsibility to interrupt a speaker who is making a slur, and if the speaker persists, to call time on the speaker.
Straw votes should not be taken to determine the sense of the board before a vote is taken. This tends to inhibit public comment and stifle open discussion.
It is important that Tom’s biweekly email to the membership include all scheduled Grvnc meetings and committee meetings. The email should include deadlines for posting meetings, minutes, and submissions for the next email.
Sheila should write up her notes of the meeting between the exec committee and Cindy Miscikowski.
Greg will work on a book of policies and procedures.
When an item is controversial and has a lot of speakers, the board should limit the time available to each side. We should use speaker cards and allow each side to arrange its speakers to use its allocated time.
Stakeholders who are interested in getting the agendas, minutes, and announcements of a particular committee should submit their names to Tom, so he can prepare an email list for each committee.
There will be two meetings because of the number of agenda items.
1) Motion to endorse the Envision Venice report and its appendices and to authorize an expenditure of $500 to assist in the cost of printing the report.
2) Consider the recommendation of LUPC on Lincoln Center, to be determined at the Feb 3 LUPC meeting.
3) Motion to oppose the Lincoln Center development.
4) Consider the recommendation of LUPC on the City’s methane ordinance.
5) Consider the recommendation of the Outreach Committee on the content of the Feb 26 Town Hall.
6) Consider the recommendation of LUPC on 3206 Washington Blvd, including the submission of a Community Impact Statement if an appeal is filed against the project.
7) Motion to endorse the Ethics Commission’s proposed rules on Neighborhood Council and City Council gift transactions.
8) Motion to endorse Cindy Miscikowski’s proposal to allow expenditures from the Venice Surplus Real Property Fund on non-capital items.
9) Motion to endorse LUPC’s recommendation to approve the St. Joseph Center redevelopment. (This vote was taken at the Jan. 26th board meeting, but the item posted to the agenda did not match the vote that was taken. Therefore, the item must be reconsidered.)
10) Motion to register complaint about the shooting of the movie at Rose and Ocean Front Walk.
11) Motion to oppose the DWP rate increase.
12) Motion to endorse recommendation of the Conservation Committee on the West Bluffs.
13) Motion to authorize the drafting of a request to BONC to consider the implications of the Brown Act for electronic discussion forums and the possibility of relieving ad-hoc committees, task forces, and other advisory groups to neighborhood councils of overly-restrictive adherence to the Brown Act which limit public participation.
14) Motion to urge the County to consider the application of Venice 2000 for a Probation Department contract for gang intervention.
15) Motion to take nominations for a name for the park near the Venice library, and to vote on the name at the Feb 26 Town Hall.
16) Motion to endorse MVCC mass transit statement.
17) Complaint of Rick Selan regarding notice of meetings.