First results from the Mid City West Community Council showed the Mid City West Progressive Slate is leading in 32 of 35 seats. (map courtesy of Mid City West)
The Los Angeles City Clerk’s Office released results for the first batch of elections of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils, including the Mid City West Community Council, on Tuesday, March 23.
Those totals showed that 32 of the 35 seats on the Mid City West Community Council, which represents areas including Park La Brea, the Melrose and Fairfax districts, Beverly Grove and Miracle Mile, are likely to be held by candidates that aligned themselves with the Mid City West Progressive Slate.
“Obviously, it’s a vindication that the community agrees with our progressive values and progressive platform,” said Michael Schneider, a progressive slate candidate who won a business seat after previously serving as a representative in Zone 2.
He pointed to the closeness of some of the results – two of which were decided by a single vote, one in his slate’s favor – as evidence of the importance of the election.
“When I was campaigning, I would tell people your vote would really matter and sometimes things are won by a vote or two – and that happened,” he said.
The neighborhood councils, which are overseen by the Los Angeles Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, were created to serve as advisory bodies to allow volunteers to advocate for their communities to elected officials on issues like development, homelessness and emergency preparedness.
More than 70 candidates ran for the Mid City West Community Council. The 35 seats are broken into six categories: three homeowner representatives, five renter representatives, six nonprofit representatives, six business representatives, seven geographic zone representatives and eight at-large representatives.
The election, which featured all mail-in ballots, was held earlier this month. The results are considered unofficial and will be formalized by April 1. Winning candidates will take over their seats by the next general board meeting, scheduled to be held via Zoom on April 13.
Almost all of this year’s Mid City West candidates lumped themselves into a pair of slates, one focused on promoting progressive issues and the other focused on amplifying the voices of the community.
The Progressive Slate candidates are advocating for key policy positions, including promoting social and racial equity; accessibility in the region, whether it’s alternative modes of transportation or safe streets with vehicles; and addressing homelessness.
The Mid City West Community First Slate was formed as a response to what stakeholders felt was the progressive members acting outside their elected duties.
Election Results: (Bold-Elected, *-Progressive Slate; ^-Community First Slate, #-unaffiliated)
Zone 1 Representative
*Daniel Kopec: 51 votes
^Rochelle F. Blisten: 6 votes
Zone 2 Representative
*Nasim Kablan: 50 votes
^Dan Frieber: 30 votes
Zone 3 Representative
*Amy Goldenberg: 39 votes
#Judith Benezra: 37 votes
Zone 4 Representative
^Dale Kandall: 51 votes
*Thomas Bailey: 47 votes
Zone 5 Representative
#Andrea Guttag: 104 votes
^Indira Cameron-Banks: 72 votes
*Cindy Bitterman: 45 votes
Zone 6 Representative
*Ryan Weisert: 78 votes
^Barbara Gallen: 77 votes
Zone 7 Representative
^Roxanne Arvizu: 82 votes
*Thao Tran: 81 votes
#Rocky Wicker: 6 votes
Homeowners
*Valerie Jaffee Washburn: 577 votes
*Shem J. Bitterman: 573 votes
*Don Whitehead: 554 votes
^Lee Kondo: 403 votes
^Michael Malone: 370 votes
Renters
*Lynda La Rose: 568 votes
*Adam Gerber: 558 votes
*Lauren Borchard: 556 votes
*Tyler Lambert-Perkins: 530 votes
*Xander Wikstrom: 528 votes
^Kelly Kaufman: 380 votes
^Dinah Perez: 377 votes
^Rachel Shultz: 355 votes
^Charles A. Lindenblatt: 353 votes
^Margaret Rose Flores: 352 votes
#Juan Thomas Kimble: 47 votes
#Kendall Durkee: 31 votes
Business
*Lauren Nichols: 571 votes
*Isack Fadlon: 569 votes
*Jenny Morataya: 568 votes
*Maria Malbas: 548 votes
*Michael Schneider: 547 votes
*Will Hackner: 538 votes
^Devin Galaudet: 361 votes
^Rita Hand: 360 votes
^Suzan Horne: 355 votes
^Brian Harris: 346 votes
^J. Michael Shoemaker: 335 votes
^Elizabeth Wilson: 298 votes
Nonprofit Organizations
*Arnali Ray: 573 votes
*Lindsey Chase: 561 votes
*Lyndsey Bonomolo: 549 votes
*Ghermayn Baker: 538 votes
*Daniel Schoorl: 529 votes
*Andrew Werner 528 votes
^Tee Mitchell: 386 votes
^Steven Luftman: 378 votes
^Patrick Seamans: 364 votes
^William Hochhaus: 354 votes
^Zachariah Siciliano: 351 votes
^James Binaski: 331 votes
#Derrick Henry: 31 votes
Members At-Large
*Taylor Holland: 572 votes
*Melissa Algaze: 559 votes
*David Mann: 552 votes
*Nanette Barrutia: 543 votes
*Benjamin Kram: 543 votes
*Christian La Mont: 538 votes
*J. Keith Van Straaten: 516 votes
*Sky Whitehead: 507 votes
^Victoria Yoon: 417 votes
^Ellen Ehrlich: 403 votes
^Sharon Mastropietro Malone: 382 votes
^Carisa Barah: 367 votes
^Michael Conway: 356 votes
^Thomas Challener: 352 votes
1 Comment
Given the massive amount of money that the Progressive slate spent on mailers and flyers I would say their win was more a function of BUYING an election with special interest money than it was “vindication” for policies that more long time residents & elderly voters have no support for. Mailing over 10,000 postcards wasn’t cheap and the Community First slate simply did not have this large amount of money available to them. The simple fact the Schneider was not well known in Zone 2 and couldn’t deal with the criticism of failing to reach out to a broader mix of residents in zone 2 kept him from running again for the zone 2 seat he previously held. He instead ran for an easier seat to win in order to maintain a place on the MCWCC board. Oh well.