VOICES - This Tuesday, I trekked down to City Hall to speak before the City Council Planning and Land Use Management Committee on the Hollywood Community Plan Update. Alone, in my car, I always know exactly what I’m going to say. But when I get up to the podium and the City Council timer starts ticking down the seconds of my allotted time – 58 … 57 … 56 … -- I lose my voice.
I suspect this is by design. We have a City government that really doesn’t like to listen to us.
Yesterday, the PLUM Committee agenda contained seven items. The Chair allowed 15 minutes for public comment from the dozens of stakeholders who came to speak on the Plan that will affect their community for decades to come. With the exception of the lobbyists, the members of the PLUM Committee were the only people being paid to attend the meeting. By allowing only 60 seconds for each speaker, and 15 minutes of total public comment, the PLUM Committee denied a majority of those who came to speak that day an opportunity to be heard. For those who were able to speak, the clock was relentless. The Committee – like the City Council – turns off the microphone precisely as the timer runs its 60-second course.
Sixty seconds to speak your piece over the future of your community. That’s democracy in Los Angeles.
I have been a member of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council for five years. For three of those years, I have been its president. One of my duties is to chair the monthly meetings of the Neighborhood Council governing board. In all that time, we have never placed a time-limit on speakers.
At our April meeting, we had an agenda with more than 20 separate items. Our meetings generally get going around seven at night. We have to be out of the meeting room by ten. One of the items involved a request by a local business for a conditional use permit for the sale of alcohol. The discussion was heated. The applicant was long-time stakeholder and a good business with an established track record. But a lot of stakeholders in East Hollywood are dead-set against any further alcohol sales in the neighborhood.
The discussion lasted an hour.
Back and forth the different sides in the debate raised their concerns. Tempers flared, passions were ignited – but the attacks focused on the issues, not the people involved. Each side treated the other with respect. In the end, the board deadlocked on the permit. We would be unable to recommend it.
When the meeting was over, people on both sides of the debate shook hands, helped clean up, laughed. Although the business owner didn’t get what he wanted that night – he could not complain that his concerns weren’t given a fair hearing by the Neighborhood Council.
In the five years since we’ve been certified, the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council has never had a grievance filed against it. We are not plagued by gadflies. We do not have warring factions. We debate the issues that concern our neighborhood with respect for opposing views and everyone gets a chance to speak.
We got through the rest of our agenda that night in time to close the doors just after ten o’clock. If taking the time to listen to the people you serve is too much for you – then maybe you shouldn’t be a public servant.
(David Bell is the President of the East Hollywood Neighborhood Council. He can be reached at: [email protected]) -cw
Tags: Democracy, Public Comment, PLUM, EHNC, East Hollywood Neighborhood Council, City Hall
CityWatch
Vol 10 Issue 33
Pub: Apr 24, 2012