Dear Editor,
Over the last few weeks, I had the honor of joining Rebecca Rona-Tuttle, Carlene Brown, Jim Provence, and Prisca Gloor on the Endorsements Committee of the Culver City Community Coalition (CCCC).
The CCCC brings individuals and progessive organizations together to share information and resources for their projects. I have worked with the CCCC in particular on the effort to save the Mayme Clayton Library and Museum and campaigning for local rent stabilization and tenant protections.
The Endorsements Committee sent a questionnaire to each City Council and School Board candidate. We carefully read and discussed their responses and chose to recommend endorsing Yasmine-Imani McMorrin, Darrel Menthe, and Freddy Puza for City Council and Paula Amezola and Kelly Kent for School Board. These selections were confirmed in a vote open to all members of the CCCC email list. Our recommendations to oppose Measure B and support Measure RE were also confirmed by a vote of the general membership.
Each member of the Endorsements Committee is writing to this paper about one or more of the candidates. You may have already read Rebecca Rona-Tuttle on Darrel Menthe, Prisca Gloor on Yasmine-Imani McMorrin, and Carlene Brown on Paula Amezola and Kelly Kent. I have the honor of writing about our remaining City Council choice: Freddy Puza.
Freddy has served our City on the Committee on Homelessness and the General Plan Advisory Committee. As an activist he was a key member of Protect Culver City Renters, whose persistence led to the passage of historic tenant protections, and his campaign has not hesitated to take bold positions on public safety, equity, and the environment.
He has built a broad coalition of environmental, labor, and social justice organizations including the Sierra Club, Food and Water Watch, LA County Federation of Labor, SEIU-UHW, Stonewall Democratic Club, and Equality California, as well as the Culver City Democratic Club, Congresswoman Karen Bass, Senator Holly Mitchell, and numerous local elected officials, past and present.
This combination of wide outreach and strong principles can also be seen in his career at Loyola Marymount University, where he helps manage community relations and coordinates a campus anti-racist group.
On behalf of the CCCC Endorsements Committee, I thank all the candidates for filling out our questionnaire and stepping up to serve, and I personally thank CCCC for asking me to join in this process.
Our community has some big choices to make in the next few weeks. I am proud to present the CCCC endorsements and hope they will help you decide.
Jeff Schwartz
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