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Dear Know It All—You Talkin’ ta Me? |
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Empowerment Report
By Greg Nelson
Friday’s column suggested workshops that could be held at the next citywide Congress of Neighborhoods to make the event more attractive, inventive and relevant to the greatest number of people.
That generated a bunch of mail and some reader suggestions, such as:
1. Invite NPR’s Warren Olney to be “interviewed” by the audience. Arguably the most respected name in talk radio, day after day Olney interviews some of the most credible experts in the world. His Rolodex is to die for. He might be willing to reveal some of the opinions he has developed over the years on the important issues of the day. We might even be able to convince his station (KCRW, 89.9 FM) to broadcast from the event.
2. After Ron Kaye retired as editor of the Daily News he could have spent his time playing golf, but instead he is using his skills and resources to organize a grass-roots political movement to force change in the culture of government. The Congress of Neighborhoods would be a good place for him to continue his efforts.
Dear Know It All:
I am interested in a motion that has been made in the City Council, but it’s been stuck in committee and the chair won’t put it on the agenda. What can be done?
Council rule #54 permits a majority of the City Council members to pull a file from committee if it has been there for at least two weeks without being put on the agenda.
This rule was added to prevent a committee chair from preventing any discussion or vote on a motion, something that sadly is common within the state legislature and Congress.
But it is extremely difficult to find anyone who remembers it being attempted. The reason is the overwhelming need that council members feel to remain friendly with other members of their “club.” I have often seen council members allow their own motions to lie at the bottom of the drawer rather than “speak out” against a club member.
Dear Tired Retired Employee:
How do I get the city to name something after a prominent person from our community? Specifically, I’m thinking about Kenny Washington, a football star at Lincoln High School and UCLA, and who broke the color barrier in the National Football League?
Decide what sort of recognition you would want. Designating an intersection is cheap, easy, and non-controversial. Renaming a street or a portion of one can upset those who live or have businesses on the street. Get their support, and the support of the City Council member.
Renaming a city facility can sometimes involve approval from a city commission, such as in the case of parks and recreation facilities.
Usually any of these actions just involves approval from the City Council. Sadly there is no city policy regarding the naming or renaming of streets and city facilities. That’s why you see so many being named after politicians as opposed to the true heroes of our city.
The Kenny Washington story is fascinating. He broke the NFL’s color barrier with the Rams in 1946, a year before Jackie Robinson did it in Major League Baseball.
UCLA teammate Woody Strode joined him a couple of months later. All three played together on UCLA’s football team in 1939. According to the Pro Football Hall of Fame archivist I spoke to, Washington and Robinson were roommates at UCLA.
In 1946, the Cleveland Rams wanted to move to Los Angeles because of poor attendance. Although you won’t find this on its own website, the Los Angeles Coliseum Commission required the Rams to integrate their team as term of the agreement to play in the Coliseum. Rams’ owner Dan Reeves agreed.
It would seem that those nine commissioners, and whoever was the driving force behind the idea, also deserve some recognition. That had to have been a controversial decision.
Keep those cards and letters coming.
(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 66
Published: Aug 15, 2008
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