The Canyon Alliance Gets a New President

By Laurel Busby

News & Information Editor

The Canyon Alliance President Eric Balfour

A changing of the guard occurred Tuesday, when The Canyon Alliance President Doug Suisman stepped down, and former Alliance Vice President Eric Balfour took on the mantle of president.

Balfour initially resisted the idea of being president. As one of a new slate of board members voted into office in May, he looked forward to serving and welcomed the opportunity to be vice president. However, he wasn’t quite ready to take on the position of president until he’d had the opportunity to gain more information about both the job and the Alliance. Suisman offered to spend the summer helping Balfour learn the ropes if he would take over as president in September. Balfour agreed.

“I love the idea of being able to have a say in what happens in our neighborhood and help support it and give back to it,” said Balfour, who lives with his wife, Erin, and two sons in Rustic Canyon. “If the best thing that I can do to help is be a spokesperson for the board and help organize what needs to be organized … and communicate with our local representatives, whether they be our city council member, the mayor’s office, the fire department, or police department, I’m happy to do that.”

Balfour has a tough act to follow in Suisman, who managed a string of accomplishments first as the Interim President of the Santa Monica Canyon Civic Association, and then, once the association changed its name, as the first president of The Canyon Alliance.

Former The Canyon Alliance President Doug Suisman at the first Back to the Canyon event.

In a year of massive change due to the Palisades Fire, Suisman worked to lead the community into a period of recovery, relief, and resilience. He first created a Gallery 169 exhibit on the history and geography of the Canyon that brought a huge crowd to Canyon Square to reconnect and plan for the future.  He also encouraged a new way of seeing the Canyon as an alliance of five distinct neighborhoods—Boca, Upper Rustic, Lower Rustic, Upper S.M. Canyon, and Lower S.M. Canyon—with connected concerns about public safety, the environment, and community.

Suisman advocated for both the creation of the Canyon Business Association to help struggling local businesses and the establishment of the online news site, Canyon News, so that residents would have an accurate source of news.

In addition, he worked to alleviate the confusion that can cause both residents and first responders to be uncertain as to where Santa Monica ends and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Rustic and Santa Monica Canyon begin. Part of this effort included working with Santa Monica College students to create an accurate 3-D map of the Canyon with contact information for both renters and owners, an ongoing effort that board member Robyn Buecker has also been instrumental in conducting.

“I knew that Marilyn Wexler, who had served admirably as SMCCA president for many years, had been seeking a successor, but without success,” Suisman said. “After the fire, when so many people in the Canyon were stepping up to help in so many ways, I felt compelled to offer her relief, and agreed to become interim president for three months to get us through the emergency. It turned into seven months, but I knew that I didn’t want the job long-term, since it was essential for the Canyon community and The Canyon Alliance that younger residents fill out the membership and take over leadership. I’m very proud to see that manifested in our new board, a wonderful mix of long-time and newer Canyonites from every neighborhood, and Eric is a perfect example of that. I’m especially grateful to him for his willingness to step in and take on the responsibilities of president. I know that his deep commitment to the Canyon community and his exceptional communication skills will keep our momentum going.”

Balfour, a third generation Angeleno, is also the president of the Rustic Canyon Park Advisory Board, which supports the park. While Balfour grew up in the Valley, his wife was raised in the Canyon and introduced him to the area. As a resident, he has been inspired by the magic that a Canyon childhood has provided for his young boys, such as neighbors who greet them as they ride their bikes, invite them to pick fruit from their yards, and welcome them to feed fish in their pond.

The Palisades Fire, while a horrendous tragedy, also brought home even more the beauty of the community to him.

“There were many of us who stayed and tried to help put out little fires and guide the fire trucks and give people rides back and forth,” Balfour said. “It really cemented how incredible and special and unique our neighborhood is to me. My work on the board is all really an extension of what I want to give my children.”

As The Canyon Alliance moves forward over the coming year, Balfour and his fellow board members intend to both promote the organization’s value to neighbors and work to increase its paid membership. Over it’s almost 100 years of advocacy, the organization has been instrumental in a variety of efforts, ranging from installing a sidewalk on Entrada to ending oil drilling in Santa Monica Bay.

During his tenure, Balfour plans to both advocate for local businesses and communicate with the city and county to make sure that they do the necessary work that property taxes are supposed to provide, such as attending to public properties like Rustic Canyon Park.

“There's a lot of things we need to accomplish, but first and foremost, we need to let the community know we're here and figure out what it is the community needs from us,” Balfour said.

A chunk of the board’s work will occur at quarterly meetings, but the larger share will be done via five committees: Communications & Development, Finance & Governance, Resilience, Neighborhoods, and Public Space. These committees will meet more often than the whole board, and their members are already investigating ways to aid fire preparedness and community resilience. Balfour plans to join the meetings as frequently as he can.

“The major thing that The Canyon Alliance is here to do is to keep our neighborhood safe, keep it thriving, and keep it fun,” Balfour said. “The community needs to know we are here to protect their neighborhood and their homes and to benefit them…. We want to advocate and help.”