LA’S NEIGHBORHOODS - The floodgates certainly opened on the subject of making the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners (BONC) more effective.
Thank you for your comments. They help make this analysis on BONC interesting, sometimes funny…often frustrating.
Opinions ranged from getting rid of the Commission entirely to getting an ordinance passed by the City Council to give BONC authority to insure its recommendations are followed.
Naturally, there were many suggestions in between those two extremes. It is particularly timely because Mayor Garcetti is in the midst of appointing new BONC Commissioners. His most recent appointment, Victor Medina from the Harbor area, was approved by the City Council Neighborhood/Education Committee and now goes for a vote to the entire Council. One of the reasons for the nominations being piecemeal is that BONC was left without enough members for a quorum.
The City Charter specifies that the Mayor select BONC Commissioners. Among those who commented on the last few articles, there was almost universal agreement that the NC’s for each of the seven planning areas should have some influence in selecting who represents them. The most sensible suggestion was to have each of the NC’s suggest two or three candidates from their area and have the Mayor select from that group.
Even though the make-up of BONC is supposed to draw from both the NCs and the non-profit community, opinions were almost unanimous that the Commissioners should have NC Board experience. Most believe, to avoid conflict of interest, each commissioner relinquish his/her individual NC Board and/or Alliance seat. If they were to fully fulfill all of their duties, it is enough of a work load, and would also eliminate basing decisions as to what is best for their individual NC rather than the system as a whole.
Several people also commented that the NC’s should have a say in the appointment of a General Manager for EmpowerLA (DONE) and that commissioners be appointed for three year terms, not five. Reappointment should require that NC’s in the area endorse the incumbent or recommend a new candidate.
A couple of readers asked why I had not shared all of the answers to questions for the Commissioners which appeared in the previous article (see citywatchla.com/neighborhoods). They were mostly the same answers. No one had any startling new ideas. A couple of the BONC Commissioners didn’t bother to answer (rude) so we will keep an eye on what they do – if anything.
As far as an overall feeling about BONC - what it does and what it is allowed to do - most people felt they are not living up to their promise. There were no BONC Town Halls where NC’s and stakeholders could ask questions and understand the thinking of the Commission on certain items.
The major effort by BONC this last fiscal year was organizing the NC Planning Commission, which was given the charge of making procedural recommendations like definition of a factual stakeholder and physical posting of NC agendas. The recommendations have been sent to the 95 NC’s through Survey Monkey for feedback prior to September 1. There were very few instances where BONC has asked for opinions from the NC’s. Most all the reports I heard were “fait accomplis”, mostly informational and certainly not asking for feedback.
In previous articles about BONC I mentioned that EmpowerLA (Department of Neighborhood Empowerment) General Manager, Grayce Liu, and her staff are the ones with the power over NC’s. I also mentioned how fortunate we are to have Ms Liu. She has the institutional knowledge, and simultaneously, is a breath of fresh air in what previously could be described as a rather moribund agency.
I went to the source and asked Ms. Liu for a “wish list” for BONC. She made a very thoughtful and provacative list. In this day and age of government double speak Ms. Liu again proved that she is the right person for the job.
In the next article I will share her list and give you some of my observations as to what I discovered. CityWatch, according to Editor Ken Draper, is not a news letter but consists of opinions on the news. After all this research I definitely have some opinions (surprise, surprise).
Keep your comments coming even if you disagree. After all we are one of the best examples of democracy in action.
(Denyse Selesnick is 2nd Vice-President/Outreach Chair of the Tarzana Neighborhood Council and a contributor to CityWatch covering Neighborhood Councils.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 68
Pub: Aug 23, 2013