Attempts To Recall Councilman Mike Bonin Heat Up With Organizers Gathering Enough Signatures To Force Election

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) - A group of Westside residents seeking to recall Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin said they have enough signatures to force an election, after turning their petition into the city clerk Wednesday.

The recall effort's organizer, Nico Ruderman, said the petition collected 39,188 signatures, while it only needed 27,317 by the Nov. 10 deadline.

Bonin tweeted his opposition to the recall effort, saying "the recall can legally raise and spend unlimited sums of money against me."

Bonin was reelected to represent Council District 11 in 2017 with 71% of the vote and is seeking reelection in 2022. His district includes Venice, Pacific Palisades, Mar Vista, Marina del Rey, Sawtelle and more Westside neighborhoods. The draft redistricting map approved by the City Council on Tuesday left his district intact.

"This is what happens when the obstructionists who have battled Mike Bonin for years to stop homeless housing and services on the Westside get funding from secret donors and guidance from professional right-wing operatives," Jesse Zwick, a spokesman for the campaign against the recall, said in response to the petition's filing.

"Mike's opponents are weaponizing the recall process and trying to take out a courageous, compassionate public official who is fighting for smart, proven solutions to the homelessness crisis. The city clerk will now spend several weeks reviewing and verifying each signature submitted. In the meantime, we will mount an aggressive campaign against this recall. Los Angeles and the Westside need Mike Bonin's vision and leadership."

The petition for the councilman's recall was approved on July 13, which made him the second of three council members to be targeted by a recall this year, following Councilwoman Nithya Raman and preceding Councilman Kevin de León.

Organizers of all three recall efforts cite opposition to the council members' handling of the city's homelessness crisis.

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.

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 the 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.

On Aug. 10, the chief administrative officer recommended the city not pursue tiny homes or safe camping sites at Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades, at Dockweiler State Beach in Playa del Rey, or at a privately owned lot at 5000 Beethoven Avenue in Del Rey.

Bonin responded that he will not push the city to pursue any of the sites deemed "infeasible" and will instead focus on four locations where the CAO's report recommended further assessment, including at Marina Del Rey boat launch ramp, a vacant lot owned by Culver City, parcels at LAX and an RV park at Dockweiler.

A recall proponent and Venice resident, Katrina Schmitt, told the Los Angeles Times that the number of signatures on the petition indicates that Bonin's district is frustrated by homelessness, crime and what they view as a lack of responsiveness from Bonin's office.

"We want him gone, we want him out. This is the official process to fire someone," Schmitt told The Times.

Bonin has been praised by progressives for conducting a successful pathway to housing operation over the summer on the Venice Boardwalk, which brought 213 people living on the beach and boardwalk indoors with a promise of a pathway to permanent housing. By the end of October, 49 of those people have moved into permanent housing and 122 are in interim housing, awaiting permanent placements. The remaining 42 include people who were reunified with family or are awaiting permanent housing but left the interim housing placements.

Bonin's office is in the midst of a similar "Encampment to Home" operation in Westchester Park.

(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. City News Service contributed to this report.)