Mar Vista Gardens — On March 2nd, over 200 low-income voters from Mar Vista, Venice and Westchester held a Forum in the Mar Vista Gardens Housing Projects for the 3 City Council candidates for Council District 11, which includes Mar Vista, Venice, Westchester, Marina Del Rey, as well as other areas of West L.A.

The Forum was run entirely by low-income voters and was a response to the lack of attention given to the needs and issues of the poor in the upcoming City elections. All 3 City Council candidates (Flora Gill Krisiloff, Angela Reddock and Bill Rosendahl) were in attendance.

“Low-income communities and low-income people have historically been left out of the political process,” said Maria Guerrero, a resident of Mar Vista Gardens and a member of Parents Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER), a non-profit organization that focuses on taking direct action to make positive changes within low-income communities of west Los Angeles. “We invited the candidates here tonight to show them that there is a strong, united force of low-income voters in West L.A. We have issues we care about and we want to know which candidate will fight with us to make sure we improve our communities on our own terms.”

The Forum provided low-income community voters an opportunity to ask the candidates about issues that they cared about, which included increasing the stock of affordable housing, improving schools, crime and safety, and police and community relations.

“The Westside of Los Angeles is not just a place for the rich,” said Jataun Valentine a life-long Venice Resident and member of POWER. “There are a lot of poor and working class Latinos and African-Americans who live in here and there is a great need for more affordable housing, better schools and safer communities. We need to know which candidates will work to ensure that West LA stays both economically and ethnically diverse.”

The low-income voters are members of the community organization Parents Organized
for Westside Renewal (POWER) – a grassroots group comprised of low and middle income community members that fights for positive change within low-income areas of West L.A. Since it’s inception in 1999, POWER has built a membership of over 1,000 low-income community residents, 4 local social service non-profits and 2 tenant associations from HUD-subsidized developments.

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