Marnin Somerman was elected on Dec. 9 to the Mid City West Neighborhood Council. (photo by Edwin Folven)

The Mid City West Neighborhood Council elected a new board member to fill an open seat for a member at large at its in-person meeting on Dec. 9 at the Pan Pacific Park Recreation Center.

Five community members seeking the open seat spoke to the Mid City West Executive Board at the meeting about their qualifications and why they want to serve on the council. The board voted 15-3 to elect Beverly Grove resident Marnin Somerman to the open seat.

Somerman, who has previously worked with Mid City West on community issues such as streetlight outages, said public safety is his top priority. Somerman said he grew up in the area in the 1970s-‘80s and later returned to his childhood home in Beverly Grove to care for his father. He works as a digital system technician for Metro and is a member of the Community Emergency Response Team, a FEMA program that trains volunteers in disaster preparedness and response.

“I’ve seen decades of change, and I’m committed to addressing the ongoing challenges in safety and livability,” Somerman said. “I live here. I’m engaged.”

Somerman said he hopes to expand CERT emergency response training in the Mid City West area, and will work to identify locations where copper wire theft has caused outages, affecting public safety in neighborhoods. He is also focused on finding alternatives such as solar energy that could eliminate the need for copper wire in streetlights.

“I’m working on preparedness and safety, bringing more training to the community, helping neighbors, improving the lightning and finding solutions,” he added.

The Mid City West Neighborhood Council is an elected advisory board that considers development projects and land use proposals in the community, and addresses public safety and quality of life issues. The council also organizes neighborhood-serving projects such as cleanups, and coordinates volunteers who canvass the local community during the annual countywide homeless count. The neighborhood council’s boundaries are roughly San Vicente and Olympic boulevards on the south, the Beverly Hills and West Hollywood borders on the west, the West Hollywood border on the north and La Brea Avenue on the east.

Mid City West Board Chair Brent Kidwell said additional seats may open in the coming weeks, as the board is anticipating changes to its composition. Those interested can email executive@midcitywest.org, and learn more about the neighborhood council by visiting midcitywest.org.