(June 28, 2009, updated text) -- Nearly ninety Belmont Shore Resident Ass'n members attending a special meeting on Saturday afternoon (June 27) failed to approve by a required 2/3 margin several closely watched substantive amendments to the group's bylaws proposed by its leadership.
Among the amendments was a proposal to make 2nd St. commercial property owners, business owners and managers ineligible to serve on the Residents Ass'n Executive Board. Another would have prevented write-in candidates for the Executive Board.
The vote was by room-tally. BSRA members supporting the proposed bylaw amendments as called were asked to stand; those not supporting a particular bylaw amendment remained seated. Passage required support from 2/3 of BSRA members in the room at the time of the vote.
The group's annual meeting occurred in a tense atmosphere (BSRA videorecorded the proceeding) with the group's leadership and a number of residents at loggerheads with some 2nd St. business/commercial property owners on various issues (background below).
The annual meeting was noticed to run from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. and was called to order at 1:15 p.m. by BSRA Secretary Jeff Miller. Mr. Miller gave a brief overview and then called for a vote on whether to approve all of BSRA leadership's proposed amendments collectively in a single vote. To determine how many votes were needed for 2/3 passage, Mr. Miller asked for a figure on the number of members then present.
Timothy Moriarty, a homeowner/entrepreneur who has a financial interest in Legends and Acapulco Inn (and wore a Legends T-shirt) rose from his seat and objected. "There are still people in route that are under the impression they can vote until 2 o' clock...They're not here yet...This is a sham."
Secretary Miller replied: "This meeting has been scheduled and noticed for 1 o'clock. It is now 1:20. We are well underway."
Secretary Miller called for the vote on all the proposed bylaw amendments collectively. In a bellwether outcome (with 75 BSRA members then present), the collective measure failed passage with 43 members voting "yes" but with 51 votes required for 2/3 passage.
Secretary Miller then called the proposed amendments one by one, starting with non-substantive housekeeping/technical measures and reaching the substantive amendments at 1:37 p.m. By this time, 88 BSRA members had arrived and were present in the room.
Item 2.1: 2nd St. commercial property owners not eligible for Executive Board: 51 voted yes, 59 required, measure fails.
Item 2.2: 2nd St. business owners or managers not eligile for Executive Board: 52 voted yes, 59 required, measure fails.
Item 3.1: Nominees must be declared one month in advance of the election: 53 voted yes, 59 required, measure fails.
Some subsequent measures of less substance received the needed 2/3 margin.
By 1:49 p.m., it was all over.
After the meeting, LBReport.com invited comments from BSRA President Ruehle and (separately) from Mr. Moriarty. To launch audio, click the links below:
[Updated text: An earlier version of this story erroneously referred to the meeting as the group's "annual" meeting. It was in fact a special meeting only regarding the Bylaws; the BSRA election meeting is held in September.]
Background
Acrimony has persisted since last year's BSRA election in which President Ruehle was re-elected despite an 11th hour write-in effort (supported by 3rd dist. Councilman Gary Delong) to defeat the re-election of Ruehle and his Executive Board allies.
President Ruehle has repeatedly accused City Hall, including Councilman DeLong, of inaction on neighborhood-impacting issues including disturbing and sometimes violent behavior in neighborhoods adjoining 2nd St.
Councilman DeLong has declined to meet with Ruehle and has instead met with other residents and city staff in discussions Delong says are intended to come up with proposed solutions that will be the subject of public meetings.
BSRA President Ruehle has charged that some of the problem behavior is related to a small number of 2nd St. businesses. The Belmont Shore Business Association (BSBA) denies this and has banned Ruehle from attending their otherwise public meetings.
Several months ago, President Ruehle began raising the issues at City Council meetings during the time allotted for public comments on non-agendized issues. After these produced little visible movement, residents began uploading evidence of neighborhood-impacting behaviors onto YouTube.com.
One video shows a woman leaving 2nd St. in the nighttime hours, pausing on a residential street to urinate. Another shows a loud altercation behind 2nd St. businesses that escaltes into pushing, shoving...and a man striking a woman.
In late May 2009, President Ruehle warned the Council that it was [paraphrase] just a matter of time until the situation escalated into something worse. Within days, an LBPD officer-involved shooting occurred when an individual on 2nd St. allegedly grabbed the officer's baton and refused directions to desist.
On June 15 at about 2 a.m., a 17 year-old female was sexually assaulted in the area of Livingston Dr/2nd St.
Controversy has also flared over possible valet parking on 2nd St., the area's concentration of alcohol licenses, the 2nd St/PCH proposed development and the conduct of meetings of the Belmont Shore Parking and Business Improvement Area Advisory Commission.
[An earlier version of this story erroneously referred to the meeting as the group's "annual" meeting. It was in fact a special meeting only regarding the Bylaws; the BSRA election meeting is held in September.]
