CommentsBUTCHER ON LA-Let me tell you a little bit about CityWatch. Before it was CityWatchLA, it was CharterWatch. Mark Siegel kept us all updated throughout those twenty-two tedious months we affectionately think of as “charter reform” back at the turn of the millennium. Ken Draper and the Neighborhood Councils took over and remade it as a “voice of the neighborhoods” after the new charter passed. He tells me the first mailing went to 255. Today that number has increased both logarithmetically and influentially.
Ken has an extreme vision of dramatically more engagement, deep advocacy, crisp respectful dialogue. He’s always right, you know. So: If you’re not signed up to get CityWatch, do that right now. Please share it on every one of your social media platforms. Find us on Twitter and Facebook as well. Like us, share us! For Ken! Not for me, for Ken. And Mark. And every one who claims it as part of our past and history.
Way back when we won Neighborhood Councils in the charter, many of us wanted more; many of us took shit for years because of it. Charter §900 establishes the purpose of LA’s NCs to “promote more citizen participation in government and make government more responsive to local needs…”
Are we all doing all we can to make that real? Participating to the maximum in upcoming city elections? For candidates as well as on issues? Is it time for that next new generation of activism and leadership in your neighborhood? What’s your Neighborhood Council doing? Attend a meeting! Check out an event!
If it’s cold in LA that means that it’s budget season in the departments as the CAO’s office is preparing the next budget. With a fairly unpopular interim CAO in that spot, it’ll be wildly interesting to watch the budget process, as it is always!
Watch for and help the volunteers who’ve agreed to crack the code on the City and dive deep into the budget. It is, after all, the finest refinement of program development.
As President Obama said so beautifully in his farewell speech:
“Ultimately, that’s what our democracy demands. It needs you. Not just when there’s an election, not just when your own narrow interest is at stake, but over the full span of a lifetime. If you’re tired of arguing with strangers on the Internet, try to talk with one in real life. If something needs fixing, lace up your shoes and do some organizing. If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself. Show up. Dive in. Persevere. Sometimes you’ll win. Sometimes you’ll lose. Presuming a reservoir of goodness in others can be a risk, and there will be times when the process disappoints you. But for those of us fortunate enough to have been a part of this work, to see it up close, let me tell you, it can energize and inspire. And more often than not, your faith in America – and in Americans – will be confirmed.”
“If you’re disappointed by your elected officials, grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself.”
“Show up. Dive in. Persevere.”
I’ll see you in Downtown Los Angeles this Saturday for the Women’s March, even if it’s cold, even if it’s raining (wah!) Pershing Square at 9:30 a.m.
I am so inspired by the Indivisible organizing guide put out by former congressional staff members (on their own time) and the movement it is birthing. Read it, share it, love it and live it!
There are more than 3000 “indivisible” groups organizing and mobilizing across the U.S. right now, using these lessons learned from the Tea Party’s local organizing.
When they go low, we go local!
As Bayard Rustin said, “We need in every bay and community a group of angelic troublemakers.”
(Julie Butcher writes for CityWatch, is a retired union leader and is now enjoying her new La Crescenta home and her first grandchild. She can be reached at [email protected] or on her new blog ‘The Butcher Shop - No Bones about It.’) Prepped for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.
They Go Low, We Go Local, Part II: Angelic Troublemakers
