By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief
Those vying for a seat in the upcoming Pacific Palisades Community Council election for area and at-large representatives had a chance to introduce themselves and share what local issues they feel are most important at a Candidates Forum, which took place Thursday evening, August 11.
Incumbents are running in Area 2 (Steve Cron), 3 (Haldis Toppel), 4 (Karen Ridgley) and 8 (Reza Akef). New candidates running include Murray Levy in Area 1, Reza Ronaghi in Area 4, Kimberly Bloom for Area 5, Cindy Simon in Area 6, Julie Silliman in Area 7 and Chris Spitz for at-large representative.
At the start of the forum, PPCC Chair Maryam Zar reported that Allison Holdorff Polhill dropped out of the race to represent Area 5, leaving one contested seat in Area 4.
“I’ve accepted an offer to work again with LAUSD Board Vice President Nick Melvoin as his senior advisor and district director,” Zar read in a statement on behalf of Holdorff Polhill. “This position is time consuming, and I want to ensure that you receive the best representation.”
Each candidate was then given one minute to introduce themselves, followed by a chance to respond to two prompts posed by the Election Committee: “tell us about yourself and what best prepares you to represent your area and your constituents” and “what are your priorities and what do you hope to achieve for your area?”
When introducing themselves, candidates shared a bevy of experience on various boards and councils, with residents living in the area for anywhere from two years to multiple decades.
“I had the additional preparation and experience of presenting before the council as a community resident several separate concerns for Area 4 residents in order to get the council’s support to resolve our issues,” Ridgley, one of the candidates in the contested area, shared in response to the first prompt. “Each time we got traction and engaged the council.”
Ronaghi said that in addition to having a background in healthcare, he also serves on the board of Breathe LA.
“I’m also a board member of Breathe LA, which one of our functions is to promote lung health in Los Angeles,” Ronaghi said. “So that’s something I’ve been working on for many years, to set up lung health programs. I hope to continue to do that in the Palisades area as well.”
Ronaghi also explained that he has worked with homelessness programs and shelters. He said he hopes to be able to use that experience to help fix some of the problems the Palisades may have.
When it came to the second prompt—about priorities and things hoped to be achieved if elected—candidates shared everything from getting more regulations in place for abandoned construction sites to fire prevention, crime, reducing homelessness and more.
“I want to publicize PPCC as a community resource to increase attendance and awareness of its online information, resources and contacts,” Ridgley shared.
Ronaghi explained that making sure residents have access to telehealth is a “big priority” of his, especially in terms of lung health.
“Safety in our neighborhoods is also a big concern of mine as well,” Ronaghi added. “So I hope to continue to improve safety, reduce homelessness, just to make sure that we have a great environment to live.”
Voting will open on August 19 at 8 a.m. and close on September 2 at 9 p.m. Ballots will be available online for all community members—including residents, business operators and property owners in Pacific Palisades.
For the ballot as well as full candidates’ statements, visit pacpalicc.org.
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