As election fever sweeps UCLA, Westwood is gearing up for its own election to appoint board members to the newly certified neighborhood council.
Applications to run for a spot on the 19-seat council board are due today, and campaigning is expected to begin around the middle of May. Voting will take place June 26.
The council will represent people who live or work in Westwood, including UCLA students and faculty, said history Professor Margaret Jacob, who is running for board membership.
The 19 board seats will include one student and one faculty representative, as well as four homeowners, four renters, four business owners, a grade school educator, a non-profit representative, a religious affiliate and two open positions, according to the council’s bylaws.
Applicants for these positions will not be announced until the end of the week, Jacob said.
According to a UCLA statement submitted to city officials in January, student and faculty members are free to serve on the council board but may not represent the university.
Because an election is being held after spring quarter ends, many UCLA students who do not live in the area will likely not have the opportunity to vote, Jacob said.
“We are very concerned (about this), and … we brought this matter up on numerous occasions,” she said.
The L.A. Office of the City Clerk, which oversees neighborhood council elections, does not have the budget to make absentee ballots available to the whole UCLA population, Jacob said. As a result, absentee forms will only be allowed for people with disabilities or for those whose religious obligations preclude their going out to vote.
A spokesperson for the city clerk’s office was unavailable to comment on short notice.
Once formed, the council board will have the power to create committees to address the neighborhood’s problems, Jacob said.
Although board and committee members will work as volunteers, the city doles out $45,000 that the council may spend each year at its discretion.
Much of these funds, though, could soon be slashed in light of budget cuts, according to LA Weekly.
After the Westwood board is appointed, the first thing that needs to be done is to figure out why the village has experienced such sharp decline in recent years, Jacob said.
Shops have gone out of business and the homeless population is on the rise.
“Until now, there has been no organization to address these issues,” Jacob said.
Others staunchly disagree.
“Westwood already has a council,” said Westwood business owner and UCLA alumnus Steve Sann.
The Westwood Community Council, which Sann chairs, was formed in October 2009 to specifically address problems in the Village.
Unlike the neighborhood council, the community council is nonprofit and is not controlled by the city, Sann said.
On April 17, the community council spearheaded the Westwood Organized MEGA Project, which brought about 450 volunteers ““ many of them UCLA students ““ to the village to help clean things up.
“We don’t need to study the problems,” Sann said. “We know what the problems are.”
As both groups continue their battle to be the solving voice of Westwood Village, the neighborhood council election approaches and election fever spreads.