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How about a $50,000 Thank You |
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Modest Proposal
Neighborhood councils have never come anywhere near the potential of their political muscle. Today would be a good time to start.
Mayor Villaraigosa’s proposed budget for the new fiscal year maintains the $50,000 annual allotment to neighborhood councils despite rumors to the contrary. Maybe he heard the rumors. Maybe the rumors were bogus from the start. It doesn’t matter.
The mayor did something good and he should be thanked for it. It doesn’t take elected officials to get tired of hearing from people who only complain. A “thank you” is worth its weight in gold.
World records would be broken if each neighborhood council board member were to send an appreciative e-mail message, which doesn’t cost anything, to the mayor at
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You couldn’t begin to measure how much more effective it is to have 1,000 board members send their individual communications to the mayor than it is for their 50 councils to take formal positions.
But the allocation isn’t safe yet. So board members should also send messages to at least their own City Council member, ideally to all of them, urging support of this part of the mayor’s budget.
To reach any City Council member, the e-mail address is
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Hopefully, the city’s website will someday include a way to send the same message to all council members with one click. Until then, you will have to send 15 separate messages, or create a “group” in your e-mail system that will turn this into a one-click operation for you in the future.
It would also be wise to remember that an annual budget is needed by June 13th, that the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment needs your budget records to be turned in on time, that clerical help is available and that you should always ask DONE first before doing something goofy with your money. This would be the wrong time to see what you can get away with.
--Greg Nelson
CityWatch
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CityWatch
Vol 6 Issue 34
Pub: April 25, 2008
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