Empowerment Report
By Greg Nelson
In Tuesday’s column, I said that the mayor’s decision to dictate the important aspects of the citywide Congress of Neighborhoods was a giant step away from neighborhood empowerment.
 As proposed by City Hall, the event would be worse than a convention or
trade show that past participants have criticized. It’s a downgrade to
a kind of fair where lots of unproductive stuff goes on, but without
the corn dogs and rides. People take home handout materials, but take
home little in their brains. The only winner will be the status quo.
First, neighborhood councils should decide where the event should be held, whether or not the mayor and his staff should monopolize the first two hours and 15 minutes speaking about the city’s budget, and to question why the opening session is estimated to cost $8,000.
This rare opportunity should be used to accomplish the kind of things that can only be done when neighborhood leaders from all over the city gather in one place. Problems should be discussed, best practices shared, new friends made, and action plans developed.
Neighborhood councils and stakeholders need to decide if they want to be a captive audience for the mayor, city officials, nonprofit organizations, and even other neighborhood council leaders who want to give you progress reports on their efforts.
A larger list of ideas suggested by neighborhoods in the past can be viewed here.
Listen and respond to us. We could begin to list the ways through which City Hall should be required to at least respond to those who submit comments, suggestions, and problems.
Citywide alliance. No one has yet developed an effective way for NCs across the city to respond quickly to actions that affect all of them, so they are often left off the decision-making process.
Change the ballot measure process. Ensure that NCs have time to provide input and write the ballot arguments. Make it easier for the public to qualify measures for the ballot using petitions. Find a way to prohibit the mixing of unrelated topics in a single ballot measure, and the use of misleading ballot titles.
Governmental efficiencies and cost savings. Invite the president of the city’s Quality and Productivity Commission to sit with us and develop a list of creative ways through which the city could cut costs and increase efficiency, and agree as to how the commission and NCs can help each other change the system for the better.
Tough planning questions. Ask the Director of Planning to join us in discussing the promises that have been made to NCs, and develop a list of demands for her. Ask the million dollar question: how many people can this city ultimately hold, especially considering the water crisis and the need for additional infrastructure to support the increased population?
Repeal AB 1818. Provide an opportunity for those who want to get rid of the new state law that makes it easier for higher density housing structures to be built, even in areas with severe parking problems, to develop a strategy to get rid of the law.
Emergency preparedness. Resume the effort to make neighborhood councils an active part of the city’s disaster response system. Who better to organize the neighborhoods and got out the word?
Solve City Hall’s constipation problem. Too many good ideas that would further empower NCs are stalled somewhere in City Hall, such as the proposal to allow NCs to create City Council files, to donate money to community agencies, and to create a Sunshine Law to replace the ineffective Brown Act. Create an action plan to get things flowing.
Takeovers and the “stakeholder” definition. Two related issues. Let’s tackle them head on and find out how the NCs feel.
Early warning system. The City Charter guarantees that NCs be given enough time to weigh in before City Hall makes decisions. That rarely happens because City Hall knows that NCs are too weak to stand up for their rights. Consider updating ideas that have already been developed by NCs. Demand that the School District adopt one too.
Form a legal caucus. It may be that the only way to prevent City Hall from trampling on the rights of the NCs is to threaten a legal action. Let’s invite the attorneys on NC boards, or those who wish to help, to sit together and pool their legal talents for the big ticket fights.
Demand City Hall’s help. Make a list of those things that City Hall can do to help NCs be more effective and powerful.
Deal with violence and economic development. Further develop these two issues that were featured at the regional Congress in South Los Angeles recently.
Take Budget Day to the next level. NCs should decide if they want to increase their role and, as in Porto Alegre, Brazil, determine their priorities not just for general spending priorities, but for specific community improvement projects, i.e., streets, sidewalks, parks, street lighting, surveillance cameras, etc.
Improve public schools. Maybe so many kids are dropping out of school because much of what’s taught isn’t relevant to them. Determine which subjects, beyond the basics, you feel should be taught, i.e., financial planning, getting and holding a job, dealing with conflict and peer pressure, developing relationships, parenting, health, and civics. Begin knocking on the doors of the school board members.
In order for any of these issues to be discussed in a useful way, meaning that people get to have their voices heard, and solutions are developed, experience has shown that the workshops need to be expanded to 90 minutes. One hour has never been enough time to accomplish anything.
You may send your ideas to Greg Nelson at
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and they will added to the list. (Greg Nelson participated in the birth and development of the LA Neighborhood Council system and served as the General Manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment. Nelson now provides news and issues analysis to CityWatch.) You can reach Greg Nelson at
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CityWatch
Vol 6 Issue 64
Published: Aug 8, 2008
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