At the Santa Monica City Council meeting Tuesday, July 20, five several former members of the Virginia Park Advisory Board (VAPAB) alleged that they had been improperly removed from the board by the Recreation and Parks Commission and asked that the Commission be investigated for possible violation of the Brown Act.

   George Hickey, who resigned from the Board because he saw the removal of his five former colleagues, as improper, reiterated his view to the Council.

   Clyde Smith, Andrew Macias, Matthew Millen, Rik Ricard and Art Casillas, the former Board members claimed, as Smith put it in a letter to the Council that their removal was "an egregious action prompted by a personal vendetta...in total disregard for (our) effective efforts and volunteer service" and that the Commissioners "acted in concert to remove (us), targeting those members who have exercised their first amendment rights to criticize city policy on different issues not related to VAPAB."

   Barbara Stinchfield, Director of the City’s Community and Cultural Services Department, denied to the Mirror that Recreation and Parks Commissioners had violated the Brown Act, saying, "They did all of this in public session, everything was always agendized and noticed. The intent was not to reconstitute the advisory group to exclude individuals. It was to ensure the broadest and most inclusive participation by the community in the park."