The Los Angeles City Clerk confirmed on Thursday, December 2, that the “raw number of signatures” on the recall petition against Councilman Mike Bonin was sufficient to proceed to a state of verification, which would take place over the next 30 days.
The city clerk did not specify the number of raw signatures, but the organizer of the recall effort, Nico Ruderman, told the City News Service on November 10, when the petition was filed, that the group collected 39,188 signatures. The group needed 27,317 signatures to qualify for the ballot.
If the group has sufficient valid signatures of Council District 11 residents, the city clerk will send a certification report of adequacy to the city council, with between 88 days and 125 days to call for holding a special recall election. Council action.
Bonin was re-elected in 2017 with 71% of the vote and is seeking re-election in 2022. Their district includes Venice, Pacific Palisades, Mar Vista, Marina del Rey, Sotel and more Westside neighborhoods.
“Remembering this, and my re-election (they’ll just be several weeks apart), isn’t really about me. It’s about how we as a city should react to homelessness. And the consequences Will shape a decision on this issue for some time to come,” Bonin tweeted on November 10 after the recall petition was submitted.
“This recall is really a choice in how we respond to homelessness: it is a choice between housing and services, which works, or criminalization, which fails. It may be about helping people off the street or There is a choice between wasting money to push them from neighborhood to neighborhood.”
Bonin’s recall petition was approved on 13 July, making her the second of three council members to be recalled this year, after councilwoman Nitya Raman and former councilor Kevin De Leon.
Organizers of all three recall efforts cited opposition from council members over the city’s handling of the homeless crisis.
Leading up to the recall effort, Bonin received an increased response from constituents since submitting a proposal to locate homeless people housing homeless people in temporary cabins and secure camp sites at beach parking lots, including one at Will Rogers State Beach. had to face.
Bonin sent an email to constituents in May following what he said were rumors that his proposal, which only asked for a report on feasibility, would actually build the camps.
“Some people are claiming that I have proposed that the city allow the homeless to live in our parks and beaches. That rumor is not true. On the contrary, what I propose is designed to decongest the camps, so that our public spaces can return to full public use,” he said.
On August 10, the chief administrative officer recommended the city not pursue tiny homes or safe camping sites at Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades, at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey or on a privately owned lot at 5000 Beethoven Avenue. Of. Del Ray.
Bonin responded that he would not prompt the city to pursue any sites deemed “unviable” and would instead focus on four locations where the CAO’s report recommended further evaluation, including Marina del Rey. Boat Launch Ramp, an empty lot owned by Culver City. , Parcel in LAX and an RV park in Dockweiler.
A remembrance proponent and Venice resident, Katrina Schmidt, told the Los Angeles Times that the number of signatures on the petition indicates what residents of Bonin’s district see as homelessness, crime and a lack of response from Bonin’s office.
“We want him to leave, we want him out. It’s the official process to fire someone,” Schmidt told The Times.
Bonin has been praised by progressives for piloting a successful route to housing operation on the Venice Boardwalk over the summer, which brought 213 people living on the beach and boardwalk with the promise of a path to permanent housing.
By the end of October, 49 of them had moved to permanent accommodation and 122 are in interim accommodation, awaiting permanent placement. The remaining 42 include those who were reunited with family or were awaiting permanent housing, but abandoned interim housing placement.
