As a member of the Hollywood Hills West Neighborhood Council, I’ll be voting on a variety of items coming before the council. It’s important not to pre-judge any issues, but I do want to share the values which will guide how I serve you as Vice President if elected.
Respect
In such a diverse neighborhood, it’s expected there will be a wide variety of opinions on any given subject. I promise to respect all of your ideas and opinions, even and especially when they differ from my own. I also believe it’s important that everyone respect applicants and city employees who attend our meetings to present new projects or initiatives. We can disagree without being disagreeable. We can only find compromise if we listen to all viewpoints without dismissing or deriding them.
I never want you to feel your time was wasted by attending a meeting because the agenda item you cared about only got five minutes for discussion. Therefore, I’ll always do my best to respect your time by organizing meeting agendas so that each item is given ample time for comments and questions.
Fairness
It’s important that all voices have a chance to be heard, and I promise to treat everyone fairly by giving all who attend meetings an equal opportunity to speak. In meetings with large numbers of stakeholders, that may mean using speaker cards or limiting each speaker’s time to allow as many stakeholder comments as possible. However, it will always be my goal to treat stakeholders civilly and call on stakeholders without bias. Everyone who wants to speak should have a chance to do so, and no one should fear that their comments or position on a given agenda item could affect their likelihood of speaking at a future meeting.
Transparency
Stakeholders can’t have confidence in their elected representatives without transparency and trust. I believe that conversations about any agenda item should be held in public to the greatest extent possible. Private meetings and communications between those of us on the neighborhood council and project representatives, even when conducted in the best of intentions, can lead to the perception of secret deals or bias. While it may be necessary to speak with a project representative outside of a public meeting, I promise to keep those types of interactions to an absolute minimum and always disclose them to stakeholders. I’ll also do my best to share any documents or project plans well in advance of meetings so that everyone has the same information and time to review it as committee members.
Please come vote for me on Sunday, March 31 from 10 am to 4 pm at the Durant Library (7140 Sunset Blvd, 90046)