NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--To meet a California mandate, the City of Los Angeles will be approving a new method for measuring traffic impacts of development projects.  There’s no stopping the new method. However it can mask traffic problems of development projects in our neighborhoods and take pressure off developers to mitigate these problems.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--The city is trying to increase the land use appeal fee 20%.  They think that’s fair. Well, it’s not.  We the taxpayers pay our elected officials to do their job. And, when we the taxpayers appeal their poor decisions, we should not have to pay again.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS-- While many Americans across the country are speaking out against the white supremacists who gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia recently for being racists, here in Downtown Los Angeles people are spewing their own dislike for and opposition to white supremacy.   

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS—(Editor’s Note: This letter on Neighborhood Council elections and related matters was provided to CityWatch by the author.)  Dear Councilmembers Ryu, Cedillo & Wesson -- Attached please find the Opposition CIS from the HCNC for this matter.  It was not placed in the file despite submission and confirmation and now represents the 2nd time a CIS we filed was not placed in the council file.  

Aside from the attached email, I am speaking for myself as community leader and advocate. 

I SUPPORT only the action to postpone the elections to 2019. 

I OPPOSE online voting for NC's.  (While I supported this previously the system is complete disaster and needs to be removed until an independent analysis can be commissioned). 

I vehemently OPPOSE another dollar being dumped into DONE staff or elections particularly after the farce that went down over the Skid Row NC. 

I further OPPOSE any future funding for elections until such time that an independent panel made up of independent election experts and NC Board Members selected by NC's themselves be created to analyze and recommend a standard and criteria that is not flexible for abuse and is clear to all people running and voting. 

If anything, very serious consideration must be given to the removal of Grayce Liu as GM for sheer incompetence, cronyism and partisanship.   

There is a growing movement amongst Board Members all over the City to organize for her removal.  That process has already begun. 

Addressing just a few items:

• Liu has become far too "important" to return emails or phone calls from Board Members who openly oppose her.
• Ms Liu fabricates contact with staff so she can officially close unanswered requests
• We are forced to work with staff members both at DONE and the City attorney's despite numerous requests to be removed and complaints being filed with the Office of Personnel
• Evidence of fraud in both the election process and funding have been ignored by both Ms Liu and Senior Staff
• Just in my 3 year tenure alone, we are on our 4th DONE Staffer
• Ruling politically instead of properly, ethically and procedurally, despite the recommendation not to by an independent panel on the Skid Row NC matter.
• The mission of the NC's seems to be completely lost on Ms Liu, who treats our Boards as an extension of the Mayor's office and its policies.  It is not.  The NC's as you know, are deliberately independent bodies that were formed to allow communities to organize for themselves and to tackle issues unique to their neighborhoods creating a check and balance for the City.

I and several of my colleagues, would like the opportunity to sit down and meet with you to discuss the direction of DONE and the possibilities of a full restructuring of the organization so it is removed from the hands of burned out bureaucrats.  

I apologize for dumping this here, but there needs to be a clear understanding of the reasons we are here.   

I and my colleagues would welcome a time we can meet with you and staff to discuss next steps. 

Regrettably, 

Laura Velkei

HCNC

(Laura Velkei is 3^rd Vice President of the Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council. She can be reached here.)  

-cw

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Gentrification is the greatest threat to the stability of the Crenshaw community. The biggest gentrification project we face is the proposed renovation of the Crenshaw Mall. If this project is built as currently proposed it would rise up a gentrification tsunami that will push out Crenshaw’s tenants, low-income residents, and vulnerable homeowners. Accordingly, Crenshaw Subway Coalition opposes the Crenshaw Mall redevelopment project as currently proposed…and if you care about the community you should too.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--In May, the LA City Planning Commission recommended approval of new Transit Oriented Communities Affordable Housing Incentive Program Guidelines.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--In a recent article that trumpeted the $80-million sale of a luxury housing complex in Westlake, Los Angeles Times reporter Roger Vincent appears to champion gentrification and derisively describes our neighborhood as “blighted.” We take vigorous exception.  

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Councilmember Mike Bonin today announced major changes to road safety improvements in Playa del Rey, including restoration of lanes to Vista Del Mar, and formation of task force to evaluate road safety projects in the neighborhood.

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NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--When referring to Short-Term Rentals (STRs) in Los Angeles, one City Councilmember said, “Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water.” The Council must enact rules that recognize the difference between individuals responsibly engaged in sharing their private homes and the “bad actors” commercially exploiting short-term rentals. 

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--A small coffee shop at the center of multiple anti-gentrification protests in Boyle Heights was vandalized Wednesday, according to its owners.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--A few months ago, on a Sunday morning, I drove from my house near the Venice Pier over to Abbot Kinney Boulevard to meet my cousin for a cup of coffee at Blue Bottle, which is to coffee what the French Laundry is to dinner: peak fetishization. (But yes, of course, delicious!)

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--This was a very exhausting election season in Los Angeles, particularly in my part of Northeast LA, which includes both the highly contested City Council District 1 and Congressional District 34, vacated by Rep. Becerra. We had one election in each of the four months of March, April, May and June. That's two primaries and two runoffs. Out of curiosity, in January I started saving all the campaign literature mailed to my household, with the intention of weighing it at the end. I allow for the possibility that some mail was thrown into the garbage, but it wouldn't have been very much that was lost. I even rescued some flyers that my wife had angrily torn up.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Many communities within our borders and around Los Angeles have complained about the  consequences of local prostitution in their neighborhoods -- from condoms in gutters to late night activity outside their homes. 

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Imagine if a company you never heard of showed up one day and placed an antenna on a street light near your house or even right next to your window, with several bulky cabinets, lead acid batteries, noisy cooling fans, and untidy cabling. (See photo above.)

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Los Angeles is many years, and in some cases decades, behind the key U.S. Western Cities in planning for its future, but as a result of the pressure placed on the City Council and Mayor during the Measure S campaign, city officials promised to dust off plans that last took a serious look at LA's Infrastructure Element in 1968 and last took a serious look at LA's Public Parks Element in the 1970s.

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--A state appeals court has upheld a lower court’s ruling that Malibu can’t limit chain stores or force major projects to be put to a vote of the people.

IMAGINE VENICE--When Crayola can kick a color like the beloved ‘dandelion’ to the curb, how can we whine about the oh-so-much less monumental changes in our beloved Venice?

15 CANDLES—(Editor’s Note: It has been 15 years since Los Angeles certified its first neighborhood council … Wilmington. Former and present neighborhood council leaders have been invited to provide their perspective on LA’s NCs, what difference they’ve made if any and what their future holds.) It was 1999, City Hall was perceived as becoming alien, insular, exclusionary, and non-responsive to regional issues, only to serve their own interests and lacking real tangible outreach or civic engagement.

At the dawn of the Succession Movement, voters approved a City Charter that established the Neighborhood Council System and the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (the Dept) “to promote more citizen participation in government and make government more responsive to local needs” and in May 2001, the City adopted the “Plan for a Citywide System of Neighborhood Councils (The Plan). This effort would finally empower NC’s to have Advisory Capacity decision-making influence while connecting residents to their local, regional, and city depts. on community-based issues – a real voice in the democratic process.

In the beginning, emotions ran high, participants scurried to become involved, outreach to local residents was at a fever-pitch, angry citizens arguing over historical boundary, grasping NC mandates, and the definition of advisory capacity leadership.

Now 15 years later with 97 NC’s and counting, they have taken their position as Neighborhood City Halls that have become alien, insular, exclusionary, not representative of their regions or communities only to serve their own individual interests lacking real tangible outreach or civic engagement. And to think it only took 15 years, 100’s of thousands of tax-payer dollars, and a further erosion of engagement and empowerment only to create another level of bureaucracy mandated by City Charter.

There is only one difference – there is no city agency that can enforce, mandate or hold NC’s or their boards from actions, decisions, or exclusionary practices accountable. When was the last time you received a local NC newsletter, announcement or notice in your mailbox or at your front door?

Are you being engaged or empowered to participate? Do you see change? Do you feel connected to City Hall?

(Bradley is a citizen advocate and was the founder of the Glassell Park Neighborhood Council.)

-cw

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Grievance panels and election challenge panels are one and the same. And they don't work. 

In 2 different election/referendums, the appointed panelists were over ruled by the general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE). 

NEIGHBORHOOD SUPPRESSION-At a recent hearing of a Neighborhood Council Election Challenge Review Panel, the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE), the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council (DLANC) and the Skid Row Formation Committee testified before the Panel regarding three challenges on the Skid Row Neighborhood Council subdivision election. A special shout-out to General Jeff and his committee for their hard work in organizing an under-represented group of stakeholders in Skid Row. DONE and the DLANC were allowed 10 minutes each to speak against the challenges; the Skid Row Formation Committee, who filed the challenges, was allowed 10 minutes. 

NEIGHBORHOOD POLITICS--Dear Council President Wesson and Board President Kevin James: We are writing you, as community advocates, to urge you to use your power to right a wrong that has tainted the City Council race in District 7 and threatens to undermine the public’s trust in city institutions.

The Board of Public Works was created to prevent the politicization of public works services, to ensure the city invests in public works projects according to residents’ needs, and to stay away from the corrosive influence of political machines, political campaigns and cronyism.

On Thursday, April 27, a person affiliated with Sylmar Graffiti Busters, a contractor with the Department of Public Works, was caught on security cameras trespassing onto private property in Sylmar (located at 13701 Sayre Street, 91342) and illegally removing campaign signs. The representative can be seen on video driving a Sylmar Graffiti Busters truck and wearing a vest like those worn by workers associated with this city contractor. In the video, the person walks onto private property through a gateway to remove signs that were legally placed there. The signs belonged to Karo Torossian, one of two candidates vying to become the next representative of Council District 7. As you know, the election is on May 16.

This breach of public trust was so blatant that CBS 2's David Goldstein investigated the misdeed and reported on it in a May 9 segment titled “Controversy Swirls Around Campaign-Sign Removals In LA City Council Race.”

We can reach no other logical conclusion than that this illegal act was perpetrated to benefit the campaign of Torossian’s opponent in the election, former Board of Public Works Commissioner Monica Rodriguez. Rodriguez has close ties with the organization in question and we have on good authority that she has met privately with their leaders and directors to discuss how they can help her campaign.

We hereby request an immediate investigation into this incident, and we demand answers on how the Board of Public Works plans to punish those involved in the misuse and misdirection of taxpayer dollars for private gain. Our communities already suffer by receiving an unfairly small share of city resources, which makes it all the more insulting to have beautification dollars being wasted on dirty campaign tricks to benefit a former Board Commissioner. This violation threatens to undermine our trust in city institutions and run contrary to the founding mission of the Board of Public Works.

We urge you to act quickly and do the right thing. This wasn’t a mistake. This wasn’t a fluke. It was a deliberate action taken to influence the outcome of an election. We would like a response in writing on or before Friday, May 12, detailing how you plan to address this matter. Please send it to [email protected]. 

(This letter, sent under the name ‘CD 7 Residents Against Corruption’, was signed by:  Chandra Prater, Abby Diamond, Hon. Patty Lopez, Dale Gibson, Doreen Przybyla, Pati Potter, Mary Ellen Eltgroth, and Alfredo Diaz)

-cw