SUN VILLAGE – Local residents and potential candidates hoping for any information on the anticipated Sun Village Town Council election in April will continue to wait.
A Sun Village Town Council community bulletin board at the northeast corner of Palmdale Boulevard and 90th Street East.
But as the questions pile higher, the Bee was able to contact the council’s assistant treasurer this week, who was only able to say that no information is yet available to the citizens of Sun Village.
“We may have information for the public by Tuesday next week, and we will make a public announcement as soon as the paperwork is filed,” Assistant Treasurer Gim Lawrence told the Bee by phone on Thursday.
Lawrence said the town council does not have any information on the upcoming election at this point because they are still working to file the necessary election paperwork in Los Angeles.
In an email to the Bee last week, Littlerock Town Council Secretary Annamarie Dyemartin announced that the Sun Village Town Council was to dissolve its current membership at Monday’s meeting and announce election information for the open seats on the town council.
“Please attend this important meeting and make your voice heard, maybe you might want to place your hat in the ring or know someone who would like to be a Town Council member,” Dyemartin wrote.
But potential candidates are still holding onto their hats – even after Dyemartin raised that one critical question minutes before the Sun Village Town Council meeting was to be adjourned on Monday: Does the town council know when the election will take place?
Town Council President Magdalene Lawrence answered, “No we don’t. But we will make sure that it’s put into the community, and you will be aware of it. We’ll make sure of that.”
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COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARDS
According to the council’s agenda announcement, the election is in April, and “open positions will be posted on the community bulletin boards.”
At Monday’s meeting the Bee asked Town Council Secretary Bernadette Moore where exactly the bulletin boards are located in the community, and Moore said there are three bulletin boards, though one had been vandalized – or perhaps blown down by the wind.
The most well-trafficked Sun Village bulletin board is located at the northeast corner of Palmdale Boulevard and 90th Street East – across the street from Hicks Mortuary. And this will have to do for any election announcements to the community, since there the March public meeting is cancelled for the Sun Village Town Council.
This does not leave interested candidates much time for campaigning and outreach in Sun Village. Nor have any plans been announced by the town council for any type of ‘Meet the Candidates’ forum or public discussion.
If anyone had to guess, the odds are against the public at large really getting to know their candidates for the upcoming election.
An anonymous reader told the Bee that intersection bulletin boards are slightly faster than a message in a bottle – but not as transparent.
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SUN VILLAGE CELEBRATES BLACK HISTORY
Larry Chimbole, left, (the first mayor of Palmdale) and Fred Thompson, right, (recently elected to the Palmdale City Council)
Civic stewards to the Antelope Valley provided moving stories on their connections to the unincorporated town and how exposure to the predominant African American community throughout the years had laid the groundwork for increased tolerance and diversity throughout the unincorporated Antelope Valley.
The forty-plus people who attended the public meeting appeared to enjoy the very inspiring life stories from well-known civic leaders in the Antelope Valley, including 94-year-old Larry Chimbole (the first mayor of Palmdale) and Fred Thompson (recently elected to the Palmdale City Council – but remains unseated due to the Voting Rights Act lawsuit against Palmdale).
Both speakers commemorated Black History Month with thought-provoking testimony on their connections to the Sun Village community.
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The next Sun Village Town Council public meeting is scheduled for Apr. 28. There will be no meeting for March.
Sun Village Town Council holds its public meetings the 4th Monday of the month at 7 p.m. at the Shaw Building, 9657 East Avenue Q-10 (at 97th and Ave Q-10) in Littlerock.
