(Editor’s note: This story first appeared in the Venice Current on July 13, and is reprinted with permission.)
Councilman Mike Bonin
A petition for the recall of Councilmember Mike Bonin is approved for circulation, the Los Angeles Office of the City Clerk announced today.
Bonin serves as Councilmember for CD11, which represents Venice and other Westside neighborhoods.
Under Los Angeles’ recall rules, constituents are able to sign petitions to recall council members starting four weeks after the notices were served.
To get the recall effort on the ballot, campaigns have 120 days to obtain verified signatures from 15% of the districts’ registered voters. The petition’s deadline is Nov. 10 for Bonin’s recall and it needs at least 27,387 signatures from qualified registered voters in his district.
Today’s approval comes on the heels of approving a draft of petition to recall Councilwoman Nithya Raman. That petition was approved last Friday.
Leading up to the recall effort, Bonin faced increased backlash from constituents since introducing a motion to have the city explore housing homeless people in temporary cabins and safe camping sites on beach parking lots, including one at Will Rogers State Beach.
More than 31,000 opponents of the motion signed a change.org petition against creating camping sites and tiny home sites in Westside beaches and parks.
“If the motion is approved by the City Council, people who are homeless because of drugs and mental illness will have the legal right to live in the parking lot at our public beach in Pacific Palisades,” the petition states.
Bonin sent an email to constituents in May in an attempt to dispel what he said were rumors that his motion, which asks only for a report on feasibility, would actually create encampments.
“Some are claiming I have proposed that the city allow homeless encampments at our parks and beaches. That rumor is not true. On the contrary, what I have proposed is designed to reduce encampments, so that our public spaces can return to full public use,” he said.
Supporters of “Recall Bonin 2021” said that Bonin has failed to keep promises to the district while continually ignoring his constituents through a humanitarian, public and safety crisis.
The recall petition states that: “Since he was first elected, Bonin’s history of broken promises, terrible and counter-productive public policy proposals and unwillingness to represent the interests of the people and communities of the westside of Los Angeles have had devastating consequences.”
” We feel afraid to visit public beaches and community parks. After seven years of this self-serving incumbent career politician, we have had enough, and we can’t wait any longer.”
Bonin was first elected as the CD 11 council member in July 2013 and was reelected on July 1, 2017, with a term to expire on Dec. 11, 2022.
Information from City News Service was used for this report. This is a developing story.