What Win Streak?

 You say the Mayor has a win streak going. (CityWatch-May 4.) I think you’ve go the wrong scorekeeper. The court turned down his attempt to take over the schools unconstitutionally, the city lost the Olympics, his police department is roughing up the press, the union is running the DWP, millions of dollars are lost for the homeless because the city didn’t manage it paperwork, another judge said the new living wage ordinance was bait and switch and he was just charged with campaign violations. Those don’t sound like wins to me.
--Randy Caruthers
Westlake

The Congress. What’s New?

The East Hollywood NC has been attending the Congress of Neighborhoods ever since the first one at the Sheraton Universal in 2001. We stopped going in 2004 and decided not to go until we were certified. Some 36 hours after being certified, we came to represent at the recent Congress. The format remained largely unchanged and the morning session ran embarrassingly long. The only value I really saw at Congress was the ability to network with other NCs and interested parties.

With the NC system functioning for half a decade now, and with someone from an academic background now at the helm of DONE, the time is right to change the format, preferably to one that is oriented towards learning. Our 89 NCs seem to exist in vacuums at times, so it would be wonderful if we all had the opportunity to participate in an engaging, interactive atmosphere where we can all learn from each other's successes and challenges. We're all in the same boat, now it's time to upgrade to a better ship.
--Elson Trinidad
East Hollywood NC

Words from a Winner

I want to thank you very much for sending that CityWatch watch. It’s beautiful. I will wear it with pride!
--Cliff Jacobs
Van Nuys NC
(Winner of a CityWatch watch at the April 21 Congress.)

Exploiting the War

Using the Iraq war (CityWatch- May 4) to promote a Neighborhood Council election strikes me as highly disrespectful and inappropriate.
--Sandy Dresson
Brentwood