Gerald
Silver Newsletter Index SF Home owner's home page#10 Neighborhood Council Debate
DAILY NEWS RELEASES RESULTS OF POLL--
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILS NOT REGARDED AS SUCCESSFUL!
On August 23, 2003, the Los Angeles Daily News released the results of a newspaper polls with the following findings:
"Do you think the neighborhood council program is a success?"
Results:
Yes: 13% No: 87% Responses: 150
KEEPING AN EYE ON NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILS
Some communities are to be complimented for keeping a close eye on their Neighborhood Councils. We would like to share one of these reports, published in the Summer 2003 issue of Beachwood Canyon Voice. It is a good example of how residents can track the attendance and participation of those in involved in their Neighborhood Councils.
Source: Beachwood Canyon Voice - Summer 2003 Neighborhood Council Report Card How's It Going?
Meeting Date: June 2003 [Column tabs have been eliminated in the table below.] Elected Representative - Election Category - Participation Report Joel Fisher Business + Paul Godfrey Business -
Susan Polifronio Business + Andrew Ettinger Geographic + Viktoria Gaw Geographic + Russell Brown Geographic - (-3)
Maurice Cheese Geographic + Robert Abrahamian Geographic - (-3)
John Balasz Homeowner + Scott Larsen Homeowner + Andrew Glazier Unclassified - (-2 & -3)
Susan Swan Unclassified + Norma Foster Renter + Ann DeBello Renter + Hilary Royce Non-Profit + Christopher Stehr Education + Charles Suhayda Faith-Based - (-2 & -3)
1 = left before adjournment
2 = arrived late
3 = spent time answering cell phone call during meeting.
- = no-show + = On time and paying attention
[RESPONSES TO #9 NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL DEBATE] Monday, August 25, 2003 7:56 PM Re: Fw: West Hills council threatens to quit Hello:
Hang in their it will get better I for one understand your pain.
MH
Wednesday, August 27, 2003 12:50 PM Jerry:
I congratulate this brave [West Hills] Neighborhood Council. Since most councils do not represent the residents in their respective areas and are simply another method for businness to take over I am sure that many neighborhood councils will disolve in the future.
D
Wednesday, September 03, 2003 11:41 PM We were out of town when this article was published. The writer seems to have come to apt conclusions about the formation and value of many of the Councils and the guidance and direction of DoNE being amateurish and minimal.
MG .
September 01, 2003 Los Angeles Daily News Calm on neighborhood council Distrust, inaction remain after city clerk's removal of panel members By James Nash Staff Writer Six months after activists squabbled bitterly over the election of the Van Nuys Neighborhood Advisory Council, peace has come to the panel -- and inaction along with it.
Much of the civic energy unleashed during the disputed election has been directed into two separate groups: one striving for more ethnic diversity on city advisory panels, the other hoping to represent San Fernando Valley neighborhood councils in battles with Los Angeles City Hall.
The Van Nuys Council hasn't met in the month since the City Clerk's Office settled the long-festering election dispute by removing two of the nine panel members who faced election challenges. No meeting schedule has been adopted and no projects undertaken to improve the quality of life.
"There's no cohesiveness," said Victoria Davidson-Castillo, who replaced a board member ejected by the city clerk. "I'm not looking for a social club, but there's not anything to do right now other than show up at a board meeting."
Van Nuys was the flash point in the quest for neighborhood empowerment. A group of activists, who are white and who include several founders of the Van Nuys Neighborhood Council, accused the city's Department of Neighborhood Empowerment of colluding with a predominantly Latino "diversity slate" to get its members on the neighborhood council. Most of them won in the Feb. 8 election.
The election brought a flurry of protests. At public meetings, losing candidates and their supporters angrily accused DONE of backing a "secret slate" and later suppressing a report from the League of Women Voters that called for a new election.
Since the city clerk's split decision, emotions have cooled on both sides, but so has enthusiasm.
Carolyn Ferritto, who filed one of the five election challenges, said she doesn't believe the council will be as effective as it could have been.
"I'll do what I've always done -- work with the community and the neighborhood," Ferritto said. "I've started outreach with people who will represent our community, and I'll mobilize people for the next election."
None of the five people who filed formal challenges to the Van Nuys election said they would continue to press their challenges. At the same time, they said they weren't completely satisfied with the outcome, characterizing it as a political decision by the city clerk.
And many in Van Nuys said they remain distrustful of DONE, which city officials created to administer the neighborhood councils created by a 1999 charter reform measure.
"It's left a very bad taste in my mouth -- not the resolution, but the whole process," said Malcolm Gibson. "That relationship (with DONE) is pretty much soured. I don't see that changing."
The Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils, which formed during the Van Nuys impasse, has been pushing for more uniform rules in elections to the advisory bodies.
The alliance also has advised other neighborhood councils on how to avoid Van Nuys' pitfalls. Other neighborhood councils have attempted to adopt Van Nuys' lessons, from more strictly enforcing no-campaigning zones around polling places to requiring neighborhood council voters to register beforehand.
"Van Nuys has haunted a lot of councils," said Laurie Lavine, vice president of the Valley Glen Neighborhood Council. "I think it has hurt their credibility in that it took the city six months to straighten out these problems. It should have taken a month at most."
DONE General Manager Greg Nelson said the Van Nuys dispute lasted as long as it did in part because the city did not dictate a solution. Nelson said his department is considering more uniform rules for neighborhood council elections, but that the changes were raised even before the Van Nuys dispute.
The dispute also drew attention to the need for more ethnic diversity on neighborhood councils, according to members of another group formed during the spring. The group Urban Diversity includes members of the "diversity slate" and their supporters.
Staff Writer Rick Orlov contributed to this report.
James Nash, (818) 713-3722 james.nash@dailynews.com Copyright © 2003 Los Angeles Daily News
September 03, 2003 - Los Angeles Daily News Democracy inaction Idle neighborhood council is City Hall's dream come true Peace has at long last come to the Van Nuys Neighborhood Advisory Council
--the peace of utter inactivity.
This is what's known as democracy inaction.
Since the Los Angeles city clerk resolved the community's festering dispute over the council's questionable elections -- by removing two representatives from office but letting the others stay -- both sides have grown disillusioned with the whole process.
So there have been no meetings, and no schedule of meetings to come.
What's left is a neighborhood council in name only, one not even worthy of the patronizing "advisory" title because it doesn't even pretend to advise.
Surely such pointless symbolism is not what Los Angeles residents had in mind when they voted to create the councils in 1999. But as far as City Hall is concerned, it couldn't have turned out any better.
Copyright © 2003 Los Angeles Daily News
Homeowners of Encino (HOME) serves as a watchdog over community issues. It monitors the work of elected officials, Neighborhood/Community Councils, Van Nuys Airport, etc. HOME is NOT another form of Neighborhood Council, that by law must represent Chambers of Commerce, business interests, developers, apartment associations, high-rise building owners, homeless, and "anyone who lives, works or owns property" in a community. HOME's mission on the other hand is to preserve the single-family habitability of our community.
As such, it actively addresses issues of traffic, congestion, aircraft noise, over-development, sign blight and air pollution. While Neighborhood Councils seek to be all things to all people, HOME targets issues that specifically affect the residential quality of life, and is NOT under the control of the City of Los Angeles Department of Neighborhoods (DONE).
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