MY TURN-There has been lots of hand ringing about the poor voting turnout. In fact the LA Times had three articles in the Sunday edition. One bemoaned the poor turnout State wide … another talked about the fact that young people were 5% of the vote.
Suggestions to allow mail in ballots be sent with the sample ballot so that people don’t have to request it. Allowing two weeks to vote etc. The fact that our LA elections will be held with State and Federal according to the “hundred” voters who turned out may or may not help. It doesn’t happen till 2020 so what do we do for the next five years?
As someone wrote me …”you don’t know what will work unless you try different things.” If we want to maintain our reputation for the most creative City in the country there should be a zillion things we can do, other than pay people to vote. Yes, that suggestion still rankles with me. I find the idea of paying people to vote appalling. it reminds me of the stories of stuffed or lost ballot boxes and other kinds of nefarious activities, supposedly perpetrated in elections gone by.
It seems that since the U.S. is gearing up for 2016 elections more attention is being paid to “getting out the Vote.” How do we restore faith in our democracy and politicians when a small minority do such stupid things and get the limelight?
Here is a good place to tout the exposure that CityWatch gives these various issues. Writing articles for an online website is an interesting dynamic. One sends out the “pearls of wisdom” without really knowing how many people read it. However, it is easier to detect interest from online “opens or hits” than it is for print.
In the almost two years that I have had the privilege of sharing my thoughts with you, I went under the assumption my audience was the same twenty people … ten of whom were friends and family and the other ten who didn’t like what I said.
I finally got up the courage to ask our savvy CityWatch Publisher Ken Draper if he had statistics on open rate etc. Here is what he gave me: CityWatch has more than 112,000 “opt in” subscribers who receive this email blast twice weekly. CityWatch receives more than 3.5 million hits per week.
I realize that this may not compare to the Kardashian’s numbers but considering the quality of our audience … I was stunned and admittedly intimidated.
I’m still receiving comments on both my “Election Depression” article and the Neighborhood Budget Advocates review, “Thank God for Volunteers” … which together received more than half a million page views. I do read your comments carefully and most of the time respond privately. However, sometimes I receive comments that deserve the light of day or a wide audience.
One occurred last week, which brings up much food for thought . I’m not going to divulge the name because she/ he is very active in City affairs and speaks from a wealth of experience.. He/ She was reacting to the NCBA review.
“I don't want to keep repeating this so much that I sound like a whiner, but I continue to have concerns.
“It was mentioned how much time went into interviewing city department officials, etc. But there was never a mention of the time that was spent involving the Neighborhood Council members from the beginning. Nor was there a mention of a plan they had to do this.
“The BAs have more than 29 volunteers to get the job done. The fact that they look at this effort as just being that of 29 people is part of the problem. The pool of possible volunteers begins with all of the NC board members, and expands beyond that with other stakeholders who may want to participate in some part of the effort. Outreach to the grassroots isn't anything new. Each NC had to do it when they applied for certification, and the City Charter expects them to keep doing it. And it isn't nearly as difficult as putting together the White Paper.
“Starting to outreach to the NCs once the White Paper is released is what the City Council does. It's working backwards. This is like the City Council developing a ballot measure, placing it on the ballot, and then trying to convince the NCs and voters to support it. (DS note…that does happen)
“Regarding the recommendations to increase revenue collection, it must be remembered that these ideas came from Ron Galperin when he was an NC member, a member of the city's Quality and Productivity Commission, and then candidate for controller. His ideas were adopted by the BAs.
“The comment about how hard it is to involve people in a city where there is an 8% election turnout is, at best, an excuse to do no outreach, and at worst, it's a message that the BAs will keep doing everything themselves. One of the prime reasons, I believe, for low election turnouts is that too many people feel disconnected from City Hall. They don't feel that their vote makes a difference, and that their voices aren't being heard by anyone who cares.
“But NCs were created to counteract that. And that's the reason why there were many NCs who had greater turnouts for their elections than what the turnouts were for city elections in the same areas.
“My sincere fear is that the NC system is developing itself too much in the image of the City Council. Meetings aren't warm and inviting places. They're run with Roberts Rules of Order, and whomever knows the rules the best, becomes the alpha personality.
“NC’s divide themselves in committees that mimic the City Council's committees. Small groups of people design the programs and plans in relative secrecy. Former City Councilman and County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky once told the NC’s that the person who controls the drafts of the reports controls… the outcomes. Therefore, NCs need to be involved at the drafting stages.
“Following that logic, the grassroots should be invited to be part of the drafting of any white papers, and anything specific that comes out of the white papers. Through the process, you give people a reason to get involved. Their efforts have meaning, unlike voting for another candidate, who will become just like the politician they replaced.
“And the responses you got from your survey of NCs showed me that you can't get anywhere by tossing out an idea to 95 NCs and hoping that each one acts on it. This needs citywide leadership to take each NC through the process. You would think that there would be that kind of leadership among the BAs.”
I agree with much of what was said BUT not all. Everyone talks about “Grass Roots” efforts. Let’s look at the definition according to Wikipedia:
A grassroots movement (often referenced in the context of a political movement) is driven by a community's politics. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures.
Grassroots movements are often at the local level, as many volunteers in the community give their time.
For instance, a grassroots movement can lead to significant voter registration for a political party, which in turn helps the state and national parties.
The earliest origins of the use of "grass roots" as a political metaphor are obscure. In the United States, an early use of the phrase "grassroots and boots" was thought to have been coined by Senator Albert Jeremiah Beveridge of Indiana, who said of the Progressive Party in 1912, "This party has come from the grass roots. It has grown from the soil of people's hard necessities".[1]
Faking a grassroots movement is known as astroturfing, which, as the name suggests, is named after AstroTurf, the iconic brand of artificial grass.
Astroturfing (photo above) means pretending to be a grassroots movement, when in reality the agenda and strategy are controlled by a hidden, non-grassroots organization. In this manner, a faux show is presented, consisting of robotic individuals pretending to be voicing their own opinions.[4
I realize that “astroturf” has become a major player in LA’s Sustainability program but I sure love the definition above.
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Quite a few people are upset with the passing of the two charter amendments changing the election dates. Their reason was it would make it more difficult and expensive for local elections and give preference to “special interests.”
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Voter turnout is always increased when there is a “Hot button” issue but I maintain that whether you are talking about oil and gas industry special interests or water conservation each is a special interest. So here is an idea….let’s form a special interest group to get out the vote?
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As an update to the NCBA white paper, it has been referred to the Budget and Finance Committee with language that sounds as if it will be considered.
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Surprise Surprise….The City Council Education/ Neighborhoods Committee cancelled their March meeting. I guess the annual one held in February was too strenuous.
As always Comments are welcome
