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DONE’s New Role: Advisor to City Hall |
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Perspective
By Ken Draper
Greg Nelson reported earlier this week in CityWatch on a Department of Neighborhood Empowerment memo asking staff to collect pro and con info on incidents of neighborhood council conflict of interest.
Since the memo’s author admits the difficulty of the assignment because
of “a lack of tracking and the manner in which a conflict is
determined to exist,” one might wonder why a system created to promote
transparency wouldn’t go to the neighborhood councils themselves for
that information.
Word is that the request for the report came from a city councilmember.
So, let’s presume time is of the essence and the department felt a
quick route to the answers they were after were semi-fresh in the minds
of their Project Coordinators. Let’s deal with that issue another day.
What is most disturbing about the DONE communiqué (click here for the memo) is the announcement that it is reinventing itself.
After explaining that financial disclosure is going to be “an extremely hot issue for the coming weeks,” the Senior Project Coordinator who wrote the memo went on to set up his assignment order: “As part of our role as advisors to the decision makers” he says, we need to gather this conflict information.
I’ve reread the Charter’s Article IX and I scoured the Plan for a Citywide System of NCs and I cannot find that ‘role’ noted anywhere. I’ve been involved with LA’s council system since 1999, I’ve never heard or seen that ‘role’ listed among DONE’s responsibilities.
It appears that the Department is quietly reinventing itself.
The Charter created the DONE to “prepare the (citywide) plan … assist NCs in getting certified … to assist NCs with their elections … to arrange training … to help NCs share resources like office space.
Even in the Plan … created by the Department … I can’t find the “advisors to the decision makers” responsibility.
Foster a sense of community for all people to express ideas and opinions about … their government. That’s in the Plan.
Ensure equal opportunity to form … Councils and participate in governmental decision making and problem solving processes. That’s in the Plan.
Promote public participation in City governance and decision making processes so that government is more responsive to local needs and requests. That’s in the Plan.
Sounds to me like the Council creators saw the DONE’s role more as advisors … and support … to neighborhood councils than to the city.
“We should be able to gather enough stories to provide a picture to the BONC and the City Council,” the memo offers. No mention of info for the NCs. Who need it most to help resolve whatever conflict issues … if any … the system is faced with.
Neighborhood councils should be able to look to the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment for support. They should feel secure that when the lines are drawn in the political sand … as has been done with this conflict of interest issue … that the good folks at the DONE are going to come down on their side.
The content of this memo, and the surreptitious action it promotes, make it clear that the Department no longer sees itself on the NC side of things when City Hall is on the other side of the ‘line”.
Neighborhood councils beware: It would appear that the DONE and NCs are no longer ‘us’. They have reinvented themselves. They look a lot more like ‘them.’ ◘
City Watch
Vol 6 Issue 76
Pub: Sept 19, 2008
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