Porter Ranch Council Seeks Candidates for Sept. 8 Election

The Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council has voted to hold board elections from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, at Shepherd of the Hills Church, 19700 Rinaldi St.

They agreed at Tuesday's monthly meeting to provide a "vote by mail" option and to accept voters who self-affirm their connection to the community.

Candidates can file to run beginning July 10 at empowerLA.org. Election supervisors have challenged every Neighborhood Council to field three candidates for every open seat.

Six Porter Ranch seats are up for election, including one youth seat. Those running for the youth representative must be between 16 and 18 at the time of the election. There are also four "At Large" seats and one "Open at Large" for someone with a vested interest in the community. According to city rules, candidates must live, own or rent property or work within the Neighborhood Council boundaries.

In other business:

• Youth representative and Council Secretary Ali Dabirian announced he was leaving the board to attend dental school at New York University. He was presented with a certificate of appreciation by President Mel Mitchell.
• It was announced that the key to the new would be presented to the principal on Friday and that there would be a ribbon cutting ceremony on Oct. 5. There were 50 open permit seats available for out-of-area students, and approximately 470 applications were received. And 25 kindergarten families attended a recent gathering at pizza in Chatsworth.
• Local resident and fire Captain Chris Cooper, a former Council board member, announced that he has been appointed disaster preparedness officer for the entire city.
• Residents were warned that auto theft and burglary are on the increase, as are smash and grab thefts from parked vehicles.

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