I was quoted in an newspaper article on the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council election, which was published in the Los Angeles Independent today. I found my copy safely protected by a plastic bag, waiting for me on my driveway on Wednesday night.
The article announced the names of 17 candidates, which will appear in the March 20 ballot. Actually since then, there are 20 candidates filed which appear on the City Clerk’s website.
In the interest of correcting the press, I must point out the following errata in the article:
– The neighborhood council elections were not previously run by “a private company” as mentioned in the article, but by Independent Election Administrators (IEAs), who were a handful of individuals independently contracted by the City’s Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, each of whom were tasked with running a number of neighborhood council elections.
– It also mentions I served as EHNC vice president since 2007; I was EHNC VP since 2008, and prior to that, the NC’s first president in 2007.
The reporter, Arin Mikailian, who has also done great coverage of the EHNC in the past, called me on Monday night and did a follow-up interview on Tuesday, especially asking about my thoughts on the number of candidate filings. At the time, he informed me the City Clerk’s office had reported nine candidates filed. As someone actively working on election outreach, I was especially concerned. But as more candidates signed on, I was a little more relieved. Still, there are a few seats without ballot candidates (Neighborhood Districts 2, 4 and the Youth Representative seat), so we will encourage people in those categories to run as Write-In Candidates (They have until February 18 to file for that).
Overall I was glad to see an article on the EHNC election on the Independent‘s front page. I’m still kinda pissed at them for forsaking community news for (of all things) celebrity/entertainment stories (I mean, come on, I could read People magazine or Daily Variety if I wanted that), so it’s especially nice to see them cover our elections in the few community stories they have.
And lest I forget: If you’re an East Hollywood Neighborhood Council stakeholder, make sure to vote on Saturday, March 20, 2010, 2 to 8 p.m. at LA City College’s Faculty and Staff Center!
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