Second in a series. 

Re: “Can Big Little Seat Ever Be Filled?” 

Ed Little was a trailblazer for Culver City, says Steve Rose, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce.

Not because he served a term on the City Council. Many did.

But for his visionary leadership for a quarter-century on the West Basin Municipal Water district board.

In those pre-drought days, water was far from the minds of residents. But Mr. Little, who died last summer, grew to appreciate the preciousness of the resource.

He wore his water board role as a shining badge, and in the process, educated Culver City.

Celebrity is not the issue, Mr. Rose, longtime friend of Mr. Little, said.

“If there had not been a William Mulholland, there might not have been a Los Angeles,” Mr. Rose said. “But the vast majority of people today do not know of him.

“I never have known anyone, at least on a personal level, who was as committed to water interests as Ed,” Mr. Rose said.

“Water is a basic of life, a commodity everyone needs and that everyone expects is going to be there.”

Mr. Rose briefly was a candidate to succeed Mr. Little on the West Basin board last year in the weeks following Mr. Little’s resignation in May. The race was going to be a several-way beauty contest before the board abandoned the appointment concept and decided to wait until last November’s election when voters chose Scott Houston.

Would Mr. Rose, a rare Culver City Republican and former City Council member, have needed to fine-tune his views on government’s role in daily life, had he been the chosen one?

“There are areas where government belongs and others where it does not belong,” Mr. Rose said. “The water board is a place where I believe government can bring its resources in a positive manner.”

(To be continued)