Recently, the Westside Current published an article regarding the upcoming Mar Vista Community Council election. The Westside Current is a project of Traci Park’s CD11 Communications Director Jamie Paige. In this article, the author Angela McGregor misrepresents and mischaracterizes the positions of the progressive slate for the MVCC Mar Vista Progress, as well as that of community group Mar Vista Voice. Mar Vista Voice published the following thread in response to McGregor’s article:
Mar Vista Voice sets the record straight..
We appreciate the attention & interest that right-wing blogs on the Westside like the Westside Current pays to us. We couldn’t help but notice a number of inaccuracies in the portrayal of Mar Vista Voice in one of the West Current’s recent posts though, so here’s a clarification
Mar Vista Voice has no official structure, there are no positions and no leadership. We are literally a group of people, in and around Mar Vista, in a group chat, sharing things we’re interested in, trying to make our neighborhoods better for all on the Westside.
Some of us focus on mutual aid and homelessness, others on transit advocacy, others on schools and education. Rest assured, we are all locals acting of our own accord. We receive no payments from special interest groups, corporate actors or shady non-profit board members 😉
As for our origin, we actually have Mar Vista Community Council to thank. Most of us participated in MVCC meetings regularly but soon realized that the Council was was a waste of our time, as they seem to be most interested in obstructing progress and discouraging stakeholder participation.
It is no secret that most groups like our own are held together by strong, powerful femmes that lead by example. Mar Vista Voice is no exception. While members drift in and out of the group, it is our femme friends that have been our most constant and visible public presence.
Taking that into account, and the well-documented history of misogyny and sexism in right-wing cesspools, it’s not surprising that Westside conservatives would want to intimidate our most visible, femme members since they can’t stand criticism of the status quo.
As for the supposed “reporting” on the upcoming MVCC election, we know better than to expect fairness from the Westside Current. Still it’s pretty amusing to see such blatant misrepresentations & straight-up falsehoods published on a blog pretending to be a legitimate news site.
The whole thing reads as if pulled from Joseph McCarthy’s wildest fever dreams. Red-baiting and Othering are not new tactics in MVCC elections. Some candidates running for re-election this year on the Conservative slate have resorted to this lowly fear-mongering in the past
It’s really rich for the Westside Current to accuse candidates in a local election of politicking when their own site is run by none other than Traci Park’s Communications Director Jamie Paige 😳 Their little blog is essentially the PR arm of the CD11 Office! No irony lost there.
It’s interesting how “reporter” Angela McGregor considers some stances like anti-homeless NIMBYism to be legitimate, “local” concerns. But others, like concerns over pedestrian safety on Mar Vista roads & renter protections are “ideological” and unfair. What’s your standard for these assertions Ang?
Perhaps, she doesn’t know that an average of five people die every year on Venice Blvd -Mar Vista’s main thoroughfare. Or the fact that 64% of Mar Vista residents (a majority) are renters. Exactly what makes these issues “ideological”, while others are “legitimate concerns”?
Maybe next time Angela can reach out to those that she’s criticizing in her hit-piece for comment, as is journalistic practice. Or at the very least try to not misgender elected MVCC officials whose pronouns are literally on their Twitter bio.
It’s also interesting how she tries to paint the progressive slate for MVCC as scary socialists. Her proof for this? A Wiki article listing the candidates for the LAST election, none of whom are running for re-election
I wonder if she would consider the mailing lists and emails that Mar Vista Home Owners Associations send to their membership as much of an egregious violation of Democracy as her false accusations of DSA affiliation. Surely, as a journalist she wouldn’t apply that double standard.
Lastly, Angela Mcgregor slanders LA Neighbors 4 Neighbors, a grassroots coalition that has served the unhoused community on the Westside for almost two years by providing access to essential services that our City Government refuses to provide.
LAN4N’s status as a 501(c)(3) through a fiscal sponsor is easy enough to figure out with the barest of Google searches. But I guess that’s asking too much of the Westside Current and Angela McGregor.
If the Westside Current had any shame or integrity they’d pull this shameful hit piece from their blog. But they won’t because they are the PR arm of Traci Park’s Office -aware of their role in the culture war, stoking fear and spreading hatred and bigotry across the Westside.
The final cherry 🍒 on top is her implying that we had anything to do with obscenities being displayed as hackers took over MVCC Zoom meetings. As if we forced them to being so inept at technology that they can’t keep a Zoom meeting secure… worthless and laughable “publication”.
