Venice Neighborhood Council Candidate: Matthew Schildkret

Editor’s note: This is one of several articles in a series of profiles on Venice candidates.

What would you prioritize if you were voted in? 

Simple...Clean up the sidewalks, streets, and alleys. Create a plan for a greenway through Venice.

Who are your primary supporters? 

The Green Party, Venice Tribe, proactive citizens who want a cleaner more pedestrian oriented Venice, and anyone who believes in a man who has the knowhow to get actionable projects done that do not involve just dealing with large corporations or developers. 

What issue do you feel most strongly about and what’s your position? 

Venice needs to be taken more seriously by the city as a tourist destination, it is the second largest tourist attraction to Disney Land. Often in these elections the real on the street issues get sidelined by facade subjects that have more to do with the people that have big money or corporations looking to do business in Venice. Let's reel it back in and create a smaller cleaner Venice.

Why did you decide to run?

I am running for Land Use Planning Chair because Venice needs leaders who are resourceful and not politicians. I am not concerned about the this or that of local LA politics, I am interested in Venice. Interested in why we are not the beautiful Venice Abbot Kinney once envisioned. We can do so much better. I have put the hard work in for over 10 years: working at the White House under President Obama at the Council on Environmental Quality guiding communities to be more sustainable, managing an architecture firm in Washington D.C., obtaining a Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Michigan, and most of all being an artist.

Let's be creative. Let's plant trees. Let's take up unnecessary pavement. Let's get trash bins that work for our community not over flow everywhere. Let's help the homeless not boot them off with out helping them. Let's ask major corporations who come to Venice to help clean our streets. Let's give more.

Matthew Schildkret is running for Chair of Land Use and Planning Committee on the Venice Neighborhood Council, a two-year term. To read more candidate profiles, click here.  

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