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NC Almanac May 6-12, 2008 |
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1999
Xandra Kayden, president of the League of Women Voters, wrote in the Los Angeles Times that voters should approve the new City Charter in a few weeks. She said that the new NCs will determine how they will affect city governance, and she pointed to the 8th District Empowerment Congresses as a good example.
She said that the new NCs will determine how they will affect city governance, and she pointed to the 8th District Empowerment Congresses as a good example. She also noted that most immigrants come from communal-oriented societies, but what makes the town or village associations so welcoming is the presence of local political party machinery. She anticipated that the NCs could play a similar role for our city’s immigrants.
The Times editorialized that voters should approve the new City Charter. It noted the current problem of local communities that “feel they have no voice at City Hall.” It wrote that the first and best answer is that “voters ought to hold their elected officials accountable for representing all parts of the city ….” It wrote that the years of frustration led to the NC idea, which could lead to neighborhoods beginning to have “serious clout …”
2004
In an editorial, the Times speculated that developers may attempt to get NCs to join them in opposing the inclusionary zoning plan of Councilmen Ed Reyes and Eric Garcetti. The Times felt that the City Council members would also go after the NCs, and doing so would test the City’s Council’s negotiating skills. “At the same time,” the Times concluded, “tackling this admittedly complex proposal will test the neighborhood councils' willingness to offer guidance beyond the reflexive ‘no’ that many expect.”
The Times reported on what it called “the biggest victory yet for Los Angeles' fledgling network of neighborhood organizations” -- the City Council’s approval of an increase in water rates far smaller than what the DWP had requested. The Times wrote that “humbled DWP officials acknowledged they had made a strategic blunder by not winning the support of the neighborhood councils, and Mayor James K. Hahn said Tuesday's vote heralds a new force at City Hall.” "It is significant," Hahn said. "Now that we have over 80 neighborhood councils, their voice is going to be increasingly important at City Hall." Ken Draper (vice president, Mid City WEST Community Council) said, "This shows the neighborhood councils have matured and are beginning to figure out how to make their voice heard." Cal State Northridge political scientist Tom Hogen-Esch, said, "The real story is the coalition-building they did," he said. "They built alliances over the Internet and over the phone and by holding meetings, and that kind of coalition is hard for policymakers to ignore."
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