LA NC COALITION - The Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition held its monthly meeting at the Hollywood City Hall and featured Board of Public Works Commission President Kevin James, who has long been a partner with LANCC and the many Neighborhood Councils that represent the four million people in LA.
James spoke (video) of the Commission’s work and the need for greater connectivity with local communities and then made his pitch, urging Neighborhood Councils to appoint Public Works Liaisons that would represent the 95 NCs and provide the Bureaus within Public Works an opportunity to improve communications and accountability.
Also on the agenda was a presentation on the new development services department will result from the consolidation of City Planning, Building and Safety, and the plan check elements of the Department of Transportation, the Bureau of Engineering, and the Fire Department. This new, as yet unnamed, department goes to work on January 1, 2014 and the Office of the City Administrative Officer has hired a management consultant to assist in implementation of the new department and to get stakeholder feedback, ideas, and concerns about the new department. For more information on the new department, click here.
City Planning’s Rocky Wiles introduced the newly created Condition Compliance Unit (CCU) which was approved by the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee as part of the 2012-2013 FY Budget. The scope of the CCU is to ensure compliance with all entitlement conditions of approval including effectuation, monitoring, and to ensure that applications to renew expired (or close to expiring) grants and required plan approval reviews are submitted to the Department for reconsideration.
Nextdoor.com was well represented by several of their field organizers who gave an overview of the hyper-local neighborhood networking tool that allows neighbors to meet in online neighborhoods, creating community and sharing information. The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment is working with Nextdoor to create a citywide network of Nextdoor neighborhoods that Neighborhood Councils and Senior Lead Officers can work with to improve public safety and communication.
LANCC voted in favor of a resolution calling on the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment to implement a Grievance Policy that was approved by the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners (Commission) and can be reviewed in the City Clerk’s Council File Management System.
The Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition meets monthly on the first Saturday and is made up of representatives from Neighborhood Councils throughout the City of Los Angeles.
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 11 Issue 75
Pub: Sept 17, 2013
