PRESS RELEASE — CALL FOR CANDIDATES

NOTICE OF ELECTION — Candidate applications for Area and At-large Representative Positions Now Being Accepted

FORMER JACK IN THE BOX SITE PROJECT DOCUMENTS — Scroll down to “Jack in the Box Site — Mixed Use Project”

Message from the Chair, George Wolfberg

In the early 1970’s a beloved TV news anchor and Palisades resident, Robert Abernethy, had a genius idea. He thought our community needed a New England-style town hall. Out of that was born the Pacific Palisades Community Council. The PPCC became the model for the City-run neighborhood council system which took off after authorization in the new L.A. City Charter adopted by the voters on June 8, 1999. The PPCC has evolved over the past 45 years with incremental organizational changes. Currently we are governed by a 23-person Board of Governors generally composed of officers elected by the board, nine representatives elected by local communities to two year terms and representatives of nine community organizations representing distinct categories.

All board meetings are public and held in the Palisades Library Community Room. The board meets on the second and fourth Thursday of each month except for July, August. November and December when only one meeting is held. We remain true to the town hall ethic. Agendas are sent out a minimum of 72 hours prior to each meeting. Public comment is always welcome. PPCC policies must be approved by a two-thirds vote of the board at a regular meeting.

Our meetings generally receive brief reports from our LAPD Senior Lead Officer as well as federal, county and city representatives.

Community-wide Election of Representatives. As I take over as Chair for the 2018-19 term, our first order of business is to run an election for the nine elected representatives. The PPCC Election Committee is responsible for implementing and supervising the elections of the Elected Representatives. I have appointed the following persons to the Election Committee:

  • David Card, Service Club Representative, American Legion, (Committee Chair);
  • Bill Bruns, community member;
  • Richard Blumemberg, Civic Organizations, Civic League;
  • Richard Cohen, PPCC Treasurer;
  • Andy Frew, Culture and Aesthetics, Theatre Palisades;
  • George Wolfberg, PPCC Chair (ex officio – nonvoting); and,
  • Chris Spitz, PPCC Secretary (advisor – nonvoting)

There are several open seats:

Area 1 – Includes: Castellammare (If you cannot spell “Castellammare,” you cannot serve as Chair!), Paseo Miramar, Pacific View Estates, Los Liones Park, SRF, and Malibu Village;

Area 2 – The Highlands;

Area 3 – Marquez Knolls and the areas on both sides of Sunset from Palisades Drive to Bienveneda;

Area 7 – Santa Monica, Rustic and Rivas Canyons

Use these descriptions as a general guide. The boundaries are described more thoroughly in the Maps on page 19 of the current PPCC Bylaws posted on our website, www.pacpalicc.org. If you live in one these four areas, or one of the other four areas (Areas 4, 5, 6 and 8) where incumbents are running for re-election, now is the time to throw your hat in the ring! Or, you can run for the At-large Representative position for which any resident, property owner or operator of a business is eligible. More details can be found in the Notice of Election at the top of this page. Nominations/self-nominations will be accepted until the end of our July board meeting on July 26. The election will begin after our August 9 board meeting.

Other Committees. The PPCC has other committees including an Executive Committee and a Land Use Committee. All existing committees, per our bylaws, are dissolved at midnight on June 30 and must be reappointed, or not, as determined by the Chair. The Executive Committee consists of all the officers, the Chair Emeritus and one area and one organizational rep. This committee is automatically recreated when the new officers take office on July 1 and meet to select an area and an organizational representative to round out the Executive Committee.  This has now occurred, and the two additional members are David Card (organizational representative, Service Club/American Legion) and David Kaplan (area representative, Area 6).

The Land Use Committee will consist of the following:

  • Howard Robinson, 1st Alternate Area 3 (Committee Chair);
  • Sarah Conner, PPRA Representative (Committee Vice Chair);
  • Reza Akef, Area 8 Representative;
  • Richard Blumenberg, Civic Organizations, Civic League;
  • Gil Dembo, Environmental Representative, Temescal Canyon Association;
  • Rick Mills, Area 4 Representative; and,
  • Chris Spitz, PPCC Secretary

As with all appointed PPCC Committees, the PPCC Chair is a member, ex officio. Please note that any PPCC positions on land use matters are entirely up to the PPCC Board of Governors; any Land Use Committee actions are advisory to the Board.

More committee appointments will be announced in the future.

Advisors. The PPCC Chair also appoints PPCC Advisors. I have appointed the following advisors:

  • Legal Advisor (this appointment requires confirmation by the PPCC Board) – Robert Weber
  • Education Advisor (new position who will initially seek out students to serve as Student Advisors) – Allison Holdorff Polhill
  • Homelessness Advisor (reappointment) – Sharon Kilbride
  • Transportation Advisor (reappointment) – Patti Post

To contact me or the board send a message to info@pacpalicc.org, or use the contact information available on our website. I look forward to seeing you at a board meeting or around town.

Have a wonderful summer.

George Wolfberg,
Chair