Voting for Studio City Neighborhood Council—They’ll Take Your Word

The Studio City Neighborhood Council elections will be going on at Walter Reed Middle School from 2:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday. 

The  council works as an advisory group for the Los Angeles City Council, and helps approve and suggest parameters for businesses and zoning changes or anything else that goes on in your neighborhood. They are a sounding board for the community, and in a lot of cases, they can fix things.

And so, it will be important to keep the ballots open for as many people as want to vote for the Neighborhood Council.

Studio City has made it easy to vote, but almost half an hour of conversation at the Neighborhood Council’s regular meeting on Wednesday night was devoted to the definition of a “residential homeowner.” 

Does a spouse who is not on the lease qualify as a “residential homeowner?” What about a domestic partner? What about an adult child who lives in the house and is on the trust to inherit the house?

Those issues were brought up by Bylaws Committee chairman Ron Taylor, who is running in the Residential Renters race.

“We are continuing to try to revise our bylaws and make the race as inclusive as possible,” Taylor said.

But Eric Feder, who is running for a Residential Homeowner seat, spoke before the council and said he was concerned because people were asking if they were going to have to find their housing deed to go to the polls with, and he cited an email that came from the Neighborhood Council that said documentation may be necessary.

President John Walker immediately had the email blast corrected and issued a new one that pointed out:

Council has chosen "Self-Affirmation" to identify Stakeholders.  You will be asked to affirm the factual basis for your stakeholder claim (Homeowner, Renter, etc). through written self-affirmation.

Outgoing council member Ben Neumann said, "We need to make this more inclusive rather than more exclusive. If a person’s spouse is not on the lease, they still should be able to vote in the Residential Homeowner’s race.”

Voters will be asked if they have a vested interest as a Homeowner and will take the person at their word. If there is some question, the person could vote with a Provisional ballot.

“We could come up with all kinds of scenarios, but they may never come up tomorrow,” Taylor said.

Meanwhile, Geoffrey Yazzetta handed out city commemorations for those who have served on the Neighborhood Council and thanked them for their tireless dedication to the council.

Neumann said, "I underestimated the amount of work it takes." He thanked "the best vice president in the world," John Walker, and added, "Thank you for the way you supported me."

Jeffrey Carter, who also decided not to run again, brought his son, Ben and wife to his last meeting on the council. He said, "Thank you for the support and the criticism from the community."

For everything about the Neighborhood Council and the elections, click here.