Venice : Councilwoman Drops Ally

Councilwoman Ruth Galanter has dropped one of her most flamboyant, longtime supporters from the Venice Community Planning Advisory Council in what staffers dubbed an effort to bring “new blood” onto the committee.

Arnold Springer, a bushy-bearded professor of Russian history at Cal State Long Beach who wears skirts and dangling earrings, received a letter last month from Galanter’s office notifying him that his appointment to the 15-member committee would not be renewed.

“I’m very disappointed,” Springer said in an interview. “It’s a Machiavellian and an unprincipled thing to do. We were supposed to be friends.”

The friendship of Springer and a core of other dedicated Venice activists helped Galanter to upset longtime incumbent Pat Russell in 1987. Now, Springer complains, “she won’t even sit down and talk to me. She just slams me.”

Springer’s eccentric and rebellious style has sometimes infuriated and embarrassed Galanter. Last year, for example, Springer went against Galanter’s wishes and the advice of fellow activists and sued developer Jerry Snyder to halt the Channel Gateway project on Lincoln Boulevard. The $400-million project will include two 16-story condominium towers, 544 apartments and 314,00 square feet of office and retail space.

Snyder endowed Springer with a $200,000 grant, and there was no lawsuit. Springer used the grant to create the Ulan Bator foundation, an organization devoted to Mongolian culture, and to renovate his apartment to make space for Ulan Bator.