LA’S NEIGHBORHOODS-Last Friday Bob Gelfand posted an excellent article in CityWatch titled, “How to Talk to Your City Council Member.”
He points out the progress LA’s Neighborhood Councils and their representatives have acquired by...
1. Realizing the NCs’ Chartered Mandate to “advise the City Government …”,
2. Achieving in getting a “seat at the table” (i.e. the ability to not just give 1-2 minute Public Comment but to give real testimony in Council and Council Committee Meetings) …
3. Establishing and realizing the effects of an improving image of NCs by the Mayor, City Council Members and City Officials. More and more, NCs and NC representatives are being treated as if they represented some kind of microcosm of the community.
NCs must continue to work on their image and firmly establish their position(s) in City Government.The NC Budget Advocates have been most effective in these achievements. For the past 5 years they have made 10-30 minute presentations of their White Papers (annual budget review & recommendation) before the Budget & Finance Committee and City Council. NCs should work on expanding similar privileges to bona fide NC representatives speaking out on an ever widening array of issues.
However, there is a definite “other side” problem to all of this. Neighborhood Councils are supposed to represent all the Stakeholders in their communities. At present, many NCs are focused on running their meetings and establishing their methods. They may focus on purely local issues and not consider city-wide issues. They often appear to be or sound like homeowner’s associations … owners and not renters. Like it or not, all of a Neighborhood Council’s Stakeholders are supposed to include non-Citizen residents of LA (“legal” and “illegal”) and non-resident businesses and business employees (small and large). Very few NCs have active participation of all of these interested parties.
The biggest conundrum (to borrow Mr. Gelfand’s term) is that the true position of NCs is supposed to represent the interests of all of the Stakeholders and that makes it almost impossible to develop a “consensus” on any issue. NC Board Members are rapidly learning that almost every statement they may make and almost every issue they consider has an opposing view. NCs can only create a consensus of the people on their Boards as they are influenced by the people attending their meetings.However, once these challenges are addressed, NCs may create Community Impact Statements (CIS) and plans to support or oppose many issues. The LA NC Coalition, Plan Check group and the 7 NC Alliances may create policy statements and make plans to support or oppose issues. Recently there have been Council recommendations (Council Files) suggest that the CIS privilege be extended to these groups as well as to the NCs, specifically. There is an issue that should be universally acceptable to all NC participants.
As I see it (and in agreement with Mr. Gelfand’s ideas), there are four things that influence our City Council Members, Mayor and other city officials:1. Campaign Contributions ... This method applies to Unions, large Corporate Interests & "moneyed" groups, but NOT to us "cash poor" NC people. Unfortunately, money still seems to exert the greatest influence in our City Government … and County, State and Federal governments, as well. Campaign Contribution Reform is sorely needed to level the playing field and return power to all of the people the City is supposed to serve.
2. Warm Bodies ... that is, filling council chambers, council committee meetings and Council Members' Offices with people concerned with an issue. All of them should fill out Public Comment cards even when the Chair Person limits their opportunities to speak. This works best for Unions but hasn't worked for NCs … yet.
3. Good Ideas ... but only if we can convey them to our Council Members and they are accepted by him/her. There are logical and convincing arguments for and against many issues but this approach involves presenting a coherent, well-thought-out view and recommendation on an issue. It often requires that the Council Member or official already has that idea or can be convinced to "adopt it" as his/her own idea.
4. Votes or threats of votes at the ballot box ... NCs have been successful in their support or opposition to measures, propositions and (possibly) specific Council elections. The weakness of this approach is that it only works as the Council Members’ term is expiring … every 4 years … but half of the Council is up for re-election every 2 years.
Here’s to the continued success of NCs in their efforts to re-establish and maintain democratic representation in our City Government and the representation of their communities.
(Daniel Wiseman is a long-time Neighborhood activist and an occasional contributor to CityWatch. He has served as an NC Budget Advocate. The views expressed here are his own.)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 49
Pub: Jun 16, 2015
