CommentsEASTSIDER-There are two amazing things about our very own Ken Draper. One is that it is just possible that he is older than I am. The other is that way, way back when the Charter Amendment creating the Neighborhood Council System was passed, Ken Draper and Greg Nelson were there advocating and nurturing the new system. Making sure it would work.
The Rabble-Rousers
I was recently reminded that most people don’t really know Ken, and for that matter most folks weren’t around back in the heady days of 2002, when the City Council finally got the system up and going. I was just reminded of this history when a comment on one of my articles was made by Ennnne referring to a podcast talk by Ken a while back.
Listening to the show brought back the promise of Charter Reform and Neighborhood Councils. Together with Greg Nelson’s article later in this piece, it gives a good historic context for the Neighborhood Council system, vs. the insanity that Grayce Liu’s EmpowerLA (and the City Attorney) currently represent. Here’s a link to Ken’s talk.
With all this in mind, here goes. Ken, starting out with a “print only” handout called CityWatch, kept the politicians more honest than they wanted through his newsletter, from about 2002 on.
As Ken himself explains in the podcast, the whole idea of Neighborhood Councils goes back to City Councilman Joel Wachs, and his Chief of Staff, Greg Nelson -- as far back as 1996. He got involved when the two Charter Commissions were formed during the Riordon administration, back in the late 90s. The ultimate result was the 1999 Charter Amendment creating the Neighborhood Council system.
Ken formed the Mid-City West Neighborhood Council when the Neighborhood Councils began to be certified in 2002. In the chat, he also goes into the genesis of the NC-DWP Memorandum of Understanding around this time. It was a remarkable event, prompted by citizen participation and demands.
His partner in crime was Greg Nelson, who worked for Councilmember Joel Wachs as his Chief of Staff. In that capacity he was intimately involved in the Charter amendment process. He also went on to become the first and clearly the best General Manager that the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) ever has had. You can find a recent reflection by Greg here, which bears reading.
Behold, an Actual Copy of CityWatch from 2005!
Since I long ago lost my copies of original printed CityWatch newsletters, a lengthy internet search was necessary to find any that are online. Ultimately, I was able to find a copy of the June 7, 2005 CityWatch, and you can find it online here.
The lead article addresses the issue of Neighborhood Councils wanting to provide advice to the City on issues that they fail to address. It deals with the quest to let Neighborhood Councils get Council File Numbers for what they want to talk about and is still very relevant today. Boy, was the Council shocked that Neighborhood Councils might have critical input into the 15-0 Council system.
A second article, by Ken Draper himself, gives a hopeful note to incoming Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, asking that “Neighborhood Councils would like you to take them seriously.” Indeed. Of course, on page 3 there’s an indication of things to come:
“The Mayor-Elect issued an eight-page Executive Summary this week called, A Fresh Start.” It was a sweeping overview of philosophy, vision and priorities. The shock to some...or the Freudian Slip to others: Not a word about Neighborhood Councils.”
As we now know, the Mayor had no use for Neighborhood Councils beyond an occasional sound bite. He quickly got rid of Greg Nelson as head of DONE and replaced him with a succession of incompetent toadies who did anything he wanted.
The whole CityWatch issue is great stuff, though, and well worth the read to obtain a taste of the times.
My major recollection from the early days is Ken’s most important point. The concept of Neighborhood Councils was to set up many advisory groups all over the City of LA whose major function was to have local stakeholders hold the City Council and the Mayor’s feet to the fire and give ‘em hell when they were full of it.
Yet the truth is, the City quickly bought off the Neighborhood Councils by giving each council $50,000 a year to play with. In exchange, the Councils became a part of the City itself, subject to a bunch of Brown Act bullshit, City Attorney advice (which is mostly major league malpractice), and a series of Mayoral appointees to the BONC oversight agency who would not recognize a complex sentence if it bit them in the ass.
And once they got rid of Greg Nelson as the General Manager of DONE (thank you very much, Tony Villar aka Antonio Villaraigosa), the Mayor and his successors hired a series of lackeys, all of whom systematically worked to dismantle and co-opt all the Neighborhood Councils at the behest of the Mayor and the Council.
The Takeaway
Remember: The Neighborhoods Council System was born out of an outraged citizenry who wanted the San Fernando Valley to secede from the City of Los Angeles. The politicians fear of that measure passing is why we have Neighborhood Councils today.
So, give the people on your Neighborhood Council a copy of this article. Have them read Greg Nelson’s own words and listen to Ken Draper’s podcast. Fifty grand ain’t worth the sellout, and I note that now, the NCs are down from a $50,000 bribe to more like $35,000. Out of which they make you pay for services that the City is obligated to provide under the Charter itself. This is not an upward spiral.
Just to be clear. Before the NCs were co-opted, the LANCC Meetings were at City College and had hundreds of people in attendance. The City paid attention because they were afraid. City Councilmembers were afraid -- of exposure -- and having hundreds of NC members attending City Council meetings, Committee Hearings, and oh yes, Department proposal hearings.
So, I have a modest proposal. Kiss the money goodbye. Say No, meet with or without posting agendas, dare DONE to decertify your Council, meet with or without their blessing or participation, and simply tell the DONE/BONC bureaucracy to go to hell.
Build up a base of hundreds of activist citizens who are willing to go to Council meetings, Committee Meetings, Department Meetings, and pack them when they do stupid things. Believe me, they do so many stupid things that the presence of large numbers of activist people will make them quake in their boots.
Heck. Participate in getting them indicted, and rat them out to the Justice System. Enjoy life, be good, take heart from all the new political movements. Burn up Social Media! Threaten the creeps with another Valley Succession!
Just think of AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) and the latest generation of politicians who are winning real elections all over this country in places a lot less “progressive” than Los Angeles. Tell the City bureaucracy to pound sand and take back your Neighborhood Councils.
If the City ever has enough chutzpah to decertify your Council, I’ll help set up a crowdfunding page. Because they’re dead wrong, guilty, and deep down inside they know they’ve perpetrated a massive upside-down ass backwards con of what the Charter envisioned Neighborhood Councils to be.
Otherwise, repeal the Charter, do away with the whole mess, and let chaos reign! It would be an improvement. I’m all in, and I think CityWatch will be there too.
(Tony Butka is an Eastside community activist, who has served on a neighborhood council, has a background in government and is a contributor to CityWatch.) Edited for CityWatch by Linda Abrams.