NC WATCH-“A Time for Action”, the final report of the Los Angeles 2020 Commission, is going to be discussed at the LA City Council Meeting on Tuesday. Commission Co-Chair Austin Beutner (photo) appeared at the monthly meeting of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition (LANCC) Saturday to give a summary and urge all NC members to show support by attending Tuesday’s meeting.
My cynical side finds it interesting that Beutner called on Neighborhood Councils to attend the City Council meeting, write to Councilmembers … copying the LA Times … to provide additional public support for the report. Where was NC representation on the Commission Board when they started this study? I asked LA Council President Herb Wesson that very question last year when Co-Chair Mickey Cantor first formed the commission.
Wesson admitted that the thought never occurred to him to include NC members on the commission. He then deftly passed the blame on selection (or non-selection) off to Mickey Cantor who “would have no interference either in scope or in appointing Commission members.”
Local media made much of the initial report finding that LA was on the edge of an abyss and in danger of falling off the globe or becoming a third world city. The Commission took almost a year to discover that our greatest challenges are (my editorial comments are in italics):
1. Decreasing job creation. LA is one of the only major metropolitan areas in the country to show a net decline in jobs over the past two decades. Even Detroit had more job creation than LA.
2. The City struggles with “chronic” budget short falls and as a result has cut services in infrastructure –both physical and technological. Perhaps they were referring to the streets that hadn’t been repaired in decade’s including the trees that are uprooting sidewalks?
3. Far too many Angelinos live in poverty, both the unemployed and those earning low wages. California has more homeless than any other State. Think our outstanding weather and magnificent landscape have something to do with it?
4. Traffic and Traffic Congestion is stifling - hurting quality of life -and poses a major problem for any employer who might locate large numbers of employees in the area. How about those of us employers and employees who spend more time idling in traffic than we do with our families? Then there is the 405 carpool lane -supposedly being completed this month- and almost a year late!
5. Public Education falls far short of the mark, yet there continues to be a lack of support in the community for the bold steps that need to be taken to prepare kids in our community to succeed. How do you explain that El Camino Real High School has won seven national academic decathlons in the last decade with, Granada Hills High a close second, and yet we have more high school dropouts and kids who can’t read than other Cities our size?
My real question is: Why did it take more than nine months to tell us what we already know?
However, I do give the Commission credit because last month they published proposed solutions to the above problems - and this is what is being presented to the City Council Tuesday.
The initial reaction to the report was less than enthusiastic. Finding an agreement with such a diverse group is almost impossible but Commission members Gary Toebben, President and CEO of the LA Chamber of Commerce, and Maria Elena Durazo, Executive Secretary and Treasurer, Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, who are polar opposites, wrote a joint letter saying that even though they don’t agree with all the recommendations of the commission, it should be a starting point for some serious discussion and hard decisions.
I know of at least one meeting where several of the 2020 Commissioners met with the NC Budget Advocates, but considering we have 95 different NC’s actively involved where the tire hits the pavement, it would have been smart for the Commission to have a citywide representative group of NC leaders.
My pragmatic side says, “don’t cut your nose to spite your face.” Maybe the 2020 Commission is late to the party and its findings were neither surprising nor unexpected. Beutner told the LANCC group that the 2020 Commission is now history. They have no staff, no budget and their mandate was to serve as a “wake up call” to city government. After Tuesday’s presentation the Commission will be dissolved.
They have come up with some new thinking and ways to address some of our most pressing problems, and deserve kudos for having the guts to discuss tough issues and present solutions.
One of the most controversial of those proposed solutions is the suggestion to set up an “Office of Transparency and Accountability.” It sets out a template for both personnel and duties. This would be an independent office similar to the Federal Office of Budget Management to “interpret” the budget and other legislative measures. I am sure that the City Council is going to love having an independent watchdog!
It would also, “take a proactive role in examining issues and service standards in City Government” (isn’t that one of the duties of the NCs?).
It continues, “Examples could include police and fire response times, effective use of technology and ENAGEMENT WITH NEIGHBORHOOD ORGANIZATIONS” (emphasis is mine). With reference to police and fire there are some reforms in the works now. It will be interesting to see if any of our NC leaders address this issue at the Council Meeting.
There are three measures to “Enhance transparency and Accountability for effective government.” I can’t wait to hear our City Council members deal with some of the recommendations.
In my next article I will report on the solutions and the reactions from the Council. Of course we have to see how Council President Wesson limits time and discussion. Given the VIP’s involved it would be really tough for him to postpone discussion for another time.
Stay tuned…
READ THE REPORTS:
(Denyse Selesnick is a contributor to City Watch covering policies, activities and foibles in NC Land. She is currently co-chair of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Congress Program Committee and a long time stake-holder in the Tarzana NC. She can be reached at [email protected])
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 12 Issue 37
Pub: May 6, 2014
