Neighborhoods deserve some say in City Hall

EDITOR'S NOTE: Normally we don't repring OPINION articles from the editorial boards of local newspapers.  But this so closely resemble our own views and mission at LA Community Policing that we could herdly NOT reprint it.

Sept., 10, 2008

The Los Angeles City Council has a rare opportunity next week to empower Angelenos to help shape their futures.

That opportunity comes in the form of two recommendations this week from the council's Education and Neighborhood Committee that are expected to come before the full council as soon as next week.

The first is a pilot program proposed earlier this year that would allow the city's network of neighborhood councils to initiate City Council files. In other words, neighborhood councils could propose legislation for City Council consideration directly.

This is a small thing, but it's significant for the mostly-powerless panels. Currently, if a neighborhood council wants to propose a policy change or legislation, it has to talk a City Council member into sponsoring it.

The committee also rejected a related proposal to force neighborhood council members, who are citizen volunteers, to fill out conflict-of-interest forms before they propose legislation. That requirement is overly restrictive and would only discourage the panels of diverse neighborhood residents and stakeholders from getting involved in policymaking.

The second recommendation is a proposal that gives neighborhood councils the right to collectively file appeals on land-use decisions made by the city. Any individuals, as well as the city's homeowners associations, are allowed to be heard on issues of development in their neighborhoods. There's no good reason to deny this right to neighborhood councils, set up nearly a decade ago for the express purpose of giving the city's diverse communities a voice in City Hall.

All politicians in Los Angeles say publicly that they support the neighborhood councils. Those on the City Council, at least, have the chance to prove their support by adopting these recommendations.

The result might cost them some time. It might embolden some neighborhood councils to propose ridiculous legislation. It might force a longer review of policy issues. But so what?

The council members are elected to do the business of the people. And the neighborhood councils - for all their flaws, their quirks and their characters - are the people.