FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 13, 2007
Contact: Bob Weiner 301-283-0821/Chuck Levin
LA’S 90-YEAR OLD POLITICAL TEMPTRESS TO BE HONORED AT CITY HALL
10 AM FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 14
(Los Angeles City Hall) -- At 10 AM tomorrow, Friday, September 14, Santa Monica’s Sylvia Levin will be honored at City Hall by the Los Angeles City Council with a resolution commemorating her setting the all time California, and perhaps U.S., record for registering voters – over 46,000 and counting. The Council will unanimously approve the commendation (by Councilman Bill Rosendahl) to Levin for “registering voters for decades, her belief in the Constitution and making the Constitution work.”
September 14 also happens to be Sylvia Levin’s 90th birthday. As she has volunteered in various city locations for six days a week for the last 34 years, this week before her birthday, Levin has been registering voters, in front of the Westwood Post Office at the Federal Building at a table she has permission to use there. She has also been registering voters at the Malibu Post Office, Bricklane and Sunya Shops in Venice, and Westwood Village Farmers Market. Every week at each location, she provides instructions and forms, answers questions, and gives necessary information on a nonpartisan basis. She has spoken with nearly ½ million people since she began in 1973. Regardless of Party, Sylvia Levin – Los Angeles’ Aunt Sam -- Wants You.
Levin’s son, Chuck Levin (himself no slouch as fostering political participation --he created First Vote to register young voters), said his mother “has done it all walking and taking the bus”—without a car.
Why does she do it? She says, “It helps that one person becomes a citizen and voter in your country. No matter what the issues are, like the environment, the war in Iraq, social security, it involves them. You keep it (the power to vote) forever.” Congressman Henry Waxman said, “She’s amazing, an inspiration.”
Robert Weiner, former Chief of Staff of the House Aging Committee under Chairman Claude Pepper and later a White House senior staff member, was with at Levin at her Westwood position recently. A 40-something man came up to the table. He said to Levin, “I’ve been looking for someone to register me, and you’re like a mirage, I found you.”
In recent years – no one is impervious – she’s had a stroke, colon cancer, and a broken hip. No matter. She’s come back from each, and she’s still at it.
Weiner asked, “If Sylvia Levin cares enough to do this, shouldn’t we care enough to register? Only half of eligible voters register in America. But little known is that once people register, 85% vote, according to the Census Bureau. Sylvia Levin’s story should inspire us all.”
The City Council’s recognition on the occasion of her 90th birthday is just the latest. In past years, Assemblyman Paul Koretz nominated her for, and Secretary of State Bill Jones inducted her into(2001) the Voter Participation Hall of Fame for her “longstanding leadership… exemplary voter outreach efforts… registering Californians to vote.” State Senator Herschel Rosenthal added a Senate Resolution in 1999 “as a tribute to her exemplary record of registering voters.” The June 14, 2007 Malibu Magazine named her “Best Patriot.”
Even as far back as 1997, Congressman Waxman said in the Congressional Record, “She has done more to increase voter participation than virtually anyone we know.” In 1996, Third District County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky arranged for The County of Los Angeles to give her a plaque of recognition for her “outstanding service.”
(Source: Robert Weiner Associates 301-283-0821)