County council update

Yesterday was the first meeting of the new County Council of the Green Party of Los Angeles County. It was a long, hot, and at times frustrating day. The first half of the day was planned as a retreat. The second half was the actual meeting.

The retreat portion went well, although many people decided to skip that portion, so it was not as useful as it might have been. When the meeting started, a proposal was made to suspend the bylaws so that the meeting could be (for the most part) cancelled. The reasoning was understandable, since the agenda had been set by the prior council, and many new members were upset that they did not have input. Nevertheless, I opposed the motion because I wanted to get as much done as possible. If we had stuck to the agenda, we would have had the opportunity to add new items to it.

In the end, the vote to suspend the bylaws passed. We then went forward with a limited agenda: elect interim co-coordinators (until the next meeting); set the time for upcoming meetings; discuss the agenda for the next meeting (time permitting). Alas, time did not permit. However, we did vote on the interim co-coordinators (Donna Warren and I were elected--her unopposed, and me by one vote), and set dates for the next two meetings: August 13 from 4-7 at the Quaker House ( 4167 S. Normandie Ave, Los Angeles); and September 17 (location TBD).