Pacific Palisades Community Council Elects 2024-25 Slate of Officers

By LILY TINOCO | Assistant Editor 

Pacific Palisades Community Council elected its slate of officers for the upcoming 2024-25 term, which will begin on July 1.

Elected by board acclamation on Thursday, June 13, Sue Kohl will lead PPCC as president, Quentin Fleming will be vice-president, Jenny Li will continue as treasurer and Beth Holden-Garland will continue as secretary. Current President Maryam Zar will become PPCC chair emeritus, taking over for David Card.

Kohl has lived in the Alphabet Streets since 1994, raising five kids in the area and being an active member in the community. She served as the Area 5 representative—covering the Alphabet Streets and Village, north of Sunset—for PPCC for several years, before serving as vice-president.

“I am excited and a little intimidated, if I am totally honest,” Kohl said to the Palisadian-Post about taking on the role. “It’s a tremendous honor to lead our PPCC board, the most dedicated, hardworking and smart group of community volunteers anyone could imagine, and Maryam Zar’s shoes will be hard to fill. I hope and pray that we will successfully carry on our tradition of advocacy for the Palisades community.”

Kohl said her hope for the future of PPCC is that “many more” community members will become “interested and engaged” in the council’s work.

Fleming has lived in the Palisades since 2001, currently in the Via Bluffs. Fleming told the Post he joined PPCC in 2008 when the late George Wolfberg asked him to be his alternate for the “at-large” position, a role Fleming held for 12 years before stepping down in 2020. Fleming then rejoined PPCC in 2022 as the alternate for Area 6.

“Becoming vice-president is a big honor and big responsibility,” Fleming said to the Post. “I know Sue Kohl is going to do a great job as president, and I want to support her.”

Li has lived in the Palisades since 1999 and first joined PPCC in 2020. She previously served as Area 7 representative, vice-president and treasurer. She said she looks forward to continuing to serve the community.

Holden-Garland has served as PPCC secretary from 2022 to 2024, and said she has enjoyed her time being involved with the council, advocating for issues concerning the Palisades.

“In this new term, I look forward to [continuing] to advocate and protect quality-of-life issues for the Palisades,” Holden-Garland said. “I love our community and the beautiful place in which we live, and I’m excited to help do more great work. The best is yet to come.”

Zar told the Post she is “so proud” to have been able to serve alongside Kohl as vice-president, Li as treasurer and Holden-Garland as secretary over the course of her most recent term, and she congratulated all three of them, along with newly elected vice-president Fleming as they take the helm at PPCC.

She said she has known Kohl and Fleming since she first came on to PPCC as the education representative in 2014, and is confident they will be “excellent, informed and thoughtful PPCC leaders.”

“As I transition away from PPCC leadership for the second time in a decade, I am reminded of the great work we do on this council, on a volunteer basis, and all the ways that we continue to serve as a model for LA City as to how micro-government rooted in community should work,” Zar said. “I am immeasurably proud of this council and its members for their commitment to community, and I thank everyone for lending me their trust as PPCC president. I leave this council in its 51st year of activity … never more sure that your next 50 years will be even more impressive and impactful.”

PPCC’s meeting on Wednesday, June 26, was the last one of the current officers’ term. The new slate of officers will lead their first board meeting in July.