The Cityhood ad-hoc committee of the Venice Neighborhood Council met last Thursday.  From left to right are Neil Bethke, Maury Murano, Chair Nick Antonicello, Jim Murez, and Yolanda Gonzalez.

By Angela McGregor

The Venice Neighborhood Council (VNC) Ad-Hoc Cityhood Committee focused on identifying revenue streams in Venice that could be used to prove its financial viability for its first three years of cityhood (A requirement of state law regardless of which of the three possible paths to cityhood are used.).

Revenue sources mentioned at the meeting included sales taxes, parking fees and tickets, filming and special events permit fees and building/demolition fees, all of which will be researched by committee members at various City agencies.

Committee members also discussed efforts to find the original paper work that annexed the City of Venice to the City of Los Angeles in November of 1925 (see: https://freevenicebeachhead.org/2009/01/01/venice-history-%E2%80%93-was-the-annexation-of-venice-to-los-angeles-in-1925-a-good-idea/) to determine whether the original terms of that agreement were violated. Such a violation may have created grounds for a suit to void the annexation.

The Committee’s efforts to determine a path to “Vexit” have received a lot of press attention, links to which can be found here: http://www.venicenc.org/venice-cityhood-news/.

The Committee’s next meeting will be in January of 2017, and they are contemplating several possible guest speakers. Previous presentation by LAFCO (Local Agency Formation Commission) can be found here: http://www.venicenc.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Venice-Neighborhood-Council-Presentation-FINAL-No-TPs-09-08-16.pdf