· Council members’ needing to represent their districts.
If you watched the July 12 meeting of the new City
Council, you heard Councilmembers talk about their need
to represent the whole City, and not just their Districts.
We won’t go into all the reasons why Torrance was forced
to switch from an at-large system to District voting. As a
voter, I had liked being able to vote for each of the six
seats.
Even though I personally would prefer to have the at-large
system return, the Districts do offer an advantage. We
now each have a Councilmember who is responsible for
representing our concerns.
Before if we had an issue – let’s say the Beach Cities
Health District’s desire to encroach on a neighborhood –
residents did not have a Councilmember to champion their
cause. Now they do. (Or they will once someone fills the
vacancy caused by George Chen’s election as Mayor.)
While Torrance has limited experience with Districts, they
are part of Redondo Beach’s DNA. When I was
campaigning, Pete Verenkoff introduced me to Nils Nehrenheim,
a Redondo Councilmember who just became Mayor Pro Tem.
Nehrenheim was holding regular in-person (and on Zoom)
meetings with his District 1 constituents in a city-owned
community room. I attended one and thought his process
so successful that I would have copied it had I been elected.
His agenda started by explaining what actions the Council
had recently taken, next he shared issues that could be
called coming attractions. He finished by asking residents
to raise whatever concerns they had and/or ask him
questions. He had answers for some; for others, he took
notes and said that he would get back to them.
Now that we have our representatives, we need to ask
them to communicate with us. Not everyone would be
comfortable holding monthly meetings. And that isn’t the
only possible model.
Perhaps this can be a role for our homeowners’
associations. Would the North Torrance Homeowners
Assn., which sponsored a candidates forum that covered
Districts 1 and 3 be willing to step up with regular forums
so that Councilmembers Kaji and Sheikh could share their
positions on issues and listen to residents’ concerns.
How would you like to see your Councilmember represent
your District’s interests?
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