NC WATCH-Between writing about election challenges and other downbeat subjects … what a delightful change to tell you about a Neighborhood Council that seems to be doing everything right and having a wonderful time along the way. Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) has managed to engage its stakeholders … big time, help influence public policy … and best of all work together as a team.
In this time of NC squabbling, verbal abuse accusations and whining, MVCC President Bill Koontz says even though they have Board members on the left, right and in the middle---all treat each other with respect and accomplish some pretty outstanding projects utilizing the various interests and talents of their members.
Among some considerable achievements is their emphasis on environmental concerns and sustainability. They are best known for their annual Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase which has grown in size and reputation since its founding in 2009. They started with 40 gardens on the tour and it grew to 100. This was unwieldy so this year they decided to pare back the number to 45 and concentrate on a different part of Mar Vista each every year. This enabled it to be a “walking” and biking tour and would showcase new gardens each year.
The Mar Vista Community Council’s Green Committee takes the lead in organizing the tour and its original co-chairs, Sherri Akers and Jeanne Kuntz, were its principal organizers. Melissa Stoller joined the Committee last year.
They get more than 2,000 visitors from all over the City for this annual earth day celebration. Each garden has to have one or more of the following sustainability features: California native/drought tolerant plantings, edibles or water catchment systems. Visitors were able to meet both the “do-it-yourself” gardeners as well as professional landscapers. Special guest presenters at many gardens enhanced their knowledge of sustainability in daily living. At the participating schools, visitors learned how the school gardens contribute to a more sustainable future.
I was able to visit the Mar Vista Farmers Market on Sunday. It was impressive. Apparently when it started around 2007 the MVCC was very supportive and in return the Farmer’s management has given them, two tents each week. One is a “Green” tent and there was a steady stream of visitors asking questions of co-founder Jeanne Kuntz, which ranged from getting free trees, to rain barrel water containment. She seemed to know almost everyone there. It was a pleasure to sit there and hear her interact with the visitors.
The Green committee handles the Green tent display. Once a month they have a “master” gardener at the tent who gives seeds and seedlings away and answer questions etc. The other weeks they have a guest presenter such as solar installers, mulchers, grey water management companies, to DWP and the list goes on and on.
According to Bill Koontz, “As far as the staffing of the booths goes, it was set up long before my time and all of the credit goes to the Chairs before me and to the wonderful work of our current secretary Bill Duckett who really beat the bushes and found some great groups to be guest presenters on a monthly basis.”
Sherri Akers commented, “We use the Farmers Market for outreach to the community – both education, occurring crises in our Community as well as hearing about community concerns. We hold informational meetings and post a survey on the MVCC web site to assess the community views. One of our MVCC Board members, Maritza Przekop, introduced Chelsea and Rob McFarland of Honeylove to the Green Committee to discuss the crisis of Colony Collapse Disorder and what we could do to help. We took a motion to the MVCC Board asking to do a feasibility study, which they approved and can be downloaded from our web site.”
This is an impressive document. The MVCC then passed a motion urging the City Council to legalize urban beekeeping and enlisted the support of then Council Member Bill Rosendahl.
Using the MVCC feasibility study and motion, the Honeylove organization, presented to other neighborhood council’s - ultimately resulting in the support of 16 different NC’s - http://honeylove.org/resources/. This was the largest NC Neighborhood Impact Study (NIS) presented to the City Council in recent history, which has inspired the City Council to consider legalizing urban beekeeping.
MVCC supported this effort by hosting a community showing of Vanishing of the Bees at the Mar Vista Public Library. Honeylove has returned numerous times as a guest at the Green Tent. They have been a guest presenter on the Green Garden Showcase every year.
MVCC has the adjoining tent to the Green Committee. They believe strongly in working with other groups and formed the Mar Vista Business Association that staffs the table monthly as well as a “Historic Fire Station 62 non-profit”. As an aside, seven years ago MVCC was able to take over on an old abandoned fire station and managed to keep it from being sold off to developers and now with City Council Member Mike Bonin's help and 100k grant from the city, they are turning it into a Community Center.
Council Member Bonin periodically sits in to take some off schedule constituent time. LAPD in the past has done "coffee with a cop" and periodically they will have various city departments sit in to talk about what’s going on. Other than that, the volunteers have all kinds of materials with pamphlets from various neighborhood associations and LAPD crime prevention tips.
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The questions they get range from “Where's the bathroom?” to “Why hasn't the city paved my alley?” “What about these pot holes?” “What's the city going to do about these crows that sit on the wires all day pooping on my car?” “Where in the market do they have the best peaches?” “What are you guys doing about all the jets from the Santa Monica Airport?” The most often question we have all heard… “What is it you do?”
Every community is different. Mar Vista is diversified but at the same time very receptive to environmental issues. Each food, produce, green products stand at the Farmers Market is vetted by Management. The MVCC is heavily involved in both print and social media. They spend about two thirds of their budget on Outreach activities including sending three or four newsletters a year to their 55,000 stakeholders. They work closely with other groups in their community. Everyone I talked with was happy and proud to be doing … what he or she was doing.
If I may point out the obvious- it’s how each of the people involved were quick to give credit to other people. Everyone I spoke with mentioned other people who had been instrumental in MVCC’s successes. They are not without controversy. The Santa Monica Airport’s future is on that list!
It is amazing what can be accomplished when people leave their own egos at home and come together for the common good. Maybe MVCC Board members have “nice pills” in their water BUT it gives me hope. Can you imagine what this City would look like if the other 94 Neighborhood Councils were even half as accomplished?
Comments always appreciated
(Denyse Selesnick is a contributor to CityWatch covering activities, polices and foibles in NC land. She is also Co-Chair Program Committee for the LA Neighborhood Congress to be held September 20 at City Hall and is a former officer and Board member for the Tarzana Neighborhood Council. She can be reached at [email protected].)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 55
Pub: Jul 8, 2014
