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Forum - Saturday, January 25, 2003
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Los Angeles stakeholders gathered from all corners of the City
for the most recent forum of the Alliance of Neighborhood Councils.
website address: http://www.allncs.org |
Representatives
from DONE, BONC and a variety of City Departments met with Neighborhood
Council stakeholders on Saturday, January 25, in the Faculty Center
at Los Angeles City College on Vermont.
These forums, held every few months, have become an important part
of the process of sharing current information about the emerging
Neighborhood Councils and their relationships with the City.
Stakeholders from Certified Neighborhood Councils, some with elected
Boards, mingle easily with those who represent groups still in the
process of being formed at these forums, which are quickly becoming
not-to-be-missed events.
The Alliance is a work in progress, as are the Neighborhood Councils
it is intended to facilitate and support. The group has grown out
of a partnership bringing the work of Richard MacMinn and Mark Seigel
together with the long standing efforts of Noah Modisett and Bill
Christopher, who serves as the President of the Board of Neighborhood
Commissioners (BONC).
The purpose of the Alliance is to:
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open
lines of communication between Neighborhood Councils all across
to the City to share information and experiences; |
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to
make available information regarding the legal framework, responsibilities,
and possibilities to each and every Neighborhood Council, either
in formation or Certified; |
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and
to interface with the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
on common issues which impact the Citywide System of Neighborhood
Councils. |
The agenda looked
like this:
ALLIANCE
OF NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCILS
Jan. 25, 2003 - 9:30am to 1:30pm
Los Angeles City College, Faculty Center
Welcome & Introductions
Morning Session - Open Microphone
Presentation
by Greg Nelson, DONE General Manager
How can we help each other?
Where's the money?
Teamwork LA
Early Notification System
Reaching the unreachable
Meeting techniques
Followed by a dialogue with the audience |
Workshop Breakout - Mentoring
| Experienced
Neighborhood Council leaders helping emerging NC
organizers |
Keynote Speaker
Councilperson
Jan Perry, 9th District
Her perspective on the importance of Neighborhood
Councils
Followed by a dialogue with the audience |
Lunch Session
City Departments and Neighborhood Councils
Wayne
Tanda, General Manager - LA Dept. of Transportation
(LADOT)
A discussion of the future relationship between
Neighborhood Councils and the existing City bureaucracy
Followed by a dialogue with the audience |
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Here are notes about what was discussed by each of the event's three
main speakers. As you'll see there's a lot of dialogue at these meetings,
as the participants freely ask the speakers any number of questions:
Greg
Nelson
General Manager, Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE )
DONE@mailbox.lacity.org
Money now available
Paperwork available on website - Bank of America Need an elected Board
Treasurer Training - suggests sending elected Treasurer and second
signer on account
Constituent
Services Center
8475 Vermont Ave.
Thursday, Jan 30th - 7pm to 9pm |
Money can only be released to Governing Board elected or selected
by stakeholders
Public Info question is at LA City Attorney
DONE will help NCs get grants
Hope to identify a staffer or a nonprofit organization to do this
for the NCs
It's too much to ask of each NC
Money rolls over quarter to quarter
Election Procedures are being compiled as per what's been learned
along the way
NC Budgets can be "best guess" estimates and stated in a general way
- items need not be specific - NCs will not be held to very high standards
Prior to elections Certified NCs can get help from DONE - if you have
a need in your NC go to your Project Coordinator - all legitimate
needs will be met
$50,000 per year can be relied upon in future - "You'll not be punished
for NCs' success."
Interim Funds - those to be used for Elections, etc - go to Project
Coordinator and DONE will find a way to fulfill
ADA question (Disabled Access) - all Federal, State and City laws
do apply (US Constitution trumps all else)
Robert's Rules are not required to be followed strictly - NCs are
encouraged to modify them in a way that works and will encourage participation
by the larger group - follow the "spirit" of rules, not the letter
- example: City Council does not follow Robert's Rules
Issues / Advocacy Group - would like to establish this, perhaps could
be created in coordination with the Alliance of NCs itself
Current DONE Stats:
NCs
Certified now (Jan 25, 2003)
NCs that have held elections
Estimated stakeholder population now served
NCs anticipated by June of 2004 |
60
30
2 million
100 |
Felipe Fuentes (sic / spelling?) - Deputy Mayor - oversees NCs (and
DONE)
Neighborhood Council "Action Plans" training will come up - decide
which projects are most important to your NC and work with DONE to
plan, arrange order, schedule projects, accomplish them
$50,000 - meant to be used for NC operating budgets and / or neighborhood
improvement projects
Always give some thought as to how to communicate as a priority
Always try to indicate HOW a decision was made when communicating
with DONE - decisions should not be made just one person but by the
Board - suggested wording: "This decision was decided by (BOARD or
GROUP name) on such-and-such a date."
"The size of your teeth depends upon you. We're here to teach you
and support you in doing this." (gave recent LAPD Burglar Alarm Policy
change as an example)
Jan
Perry
LA City Councilperson, 9th District
Perry@council.lacity.org
Could not stay too long - had to get to a funeral
"Make local government work for you. You make our job "easier" because
you keep us on point."
Homeless in downtown area - there are two new redevelopment plans
- a lot could be resolved if the County would drop its law suit with
the City - some priorities are to build housing for homeless, mentally
ill, victims of domestic violence and families with kids
A public forum is being planned which will include three "involuntary
recovery" stories
Asked a question about insufficient homeless outreach - Jan says there
are only two people for the whole County that do direct outreach with
the homeless
Thus far there's no coordinating mechanism to bring together all the
existing groups
Asked a question about lists of hearings that will be going on - Jan
recommends contacting the City Clerk who handles all the agendas
Asked a question about the Brown Act - Jan says we need to seek ways
to streamline the process - agrees that the process takes too long
and is too complicated
Asked a question about will there ever be a specific NC rep within
each of the City Council Offices - Jan says no, that what DONE is
for - they already do this
Wayne
Tanda
General Manager - LA Dept. of Transportation (LADOT)
WTanda@dot.lacity.org
Talked about his Department's plans for development - they have a
law enforcement arm (parking enforcement officers) - talked a bit
about DASH and Express programs
There are two ways to get access to DOT services:
The Ambassador Program came to be as a part of the Mayor's TeamWork
LA plan - the DOT has about 1700 full-time and 500 part-time employees
- requests were made for individuals to come forward to take the lead
and about 28 mid-level and senior-level management people responded
- 10 teams were formed (so about 3 member for each team) and one was
chosen from each group to take the lead - These leaders are principal
Ambassadors by region as good communicators, the object is to provide
the very best service with the most accurate information available
to the NC members
Asked a question about why there's no skid row DASH line - Wayne said
there are about 25 lines running around the City and that how / where
/ when they run is scrutinized and reviewed each year - he said a
DASH in the skid row area could happen
Wayne suggested many there could talk directly to his assistant (who
had attended with him) or that stakeholders could send Wayne email
directly
Asked about checking of broken parking meters - said that they do
this already
Asked about patrolling of parking lots - directly supervise only about
115 of the lots in the City
Asked why his employees could not assist the police as extra security
officers, at a minimum calling in things they see - Wayne responded
that as a part of TeamWork LA they do use the parking enforcement
officers to augment the police in the seven City Planning Regions
- there are some 800 traffic (parking enforcement officers at DOT
and there are thousands of other City employees from other departments
(like Public Works) that as a part of TeamWork LA are all being brought
into and trained to assist police
Asked a question about traffic on the West side - Wayne said they
are taking a hard look at this and that he will be at a meeting on
the West side to discuss these matters in February - their partners
in this will include the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) and
the Planning Department of the City of LA - among other things they'll
be looking at airport "fly-away" programs where cars can be parked
farther away from the airport and transit service available to take
people into the facility
Asked a question about new light rail lines - Wayne says this is a
long term process, often taking 10 years to accomplish a line - they're
having a fight right now to keep the funding in place for the light
rail line plans already in the process at this time
Asked a question about why there was not better planning when planning
and construction of new commercial and government buildings was underway
- Wayne said the DOT was involved in planning through development
stages for all but residential construction - they're now looking
at how to develop new ways of getting people out of their cars and
into public transit - want to stop the "single car / single driver"
syndrome - example: there's a plan to have a Dodger Stadium shuttle
service from Union Station to the ballpark that may be available in
time for Opening Day Asked a question about how to get traffic control
devices (stop signs and signals) - there's a review process that's
followed because a balance needs to be struck - stop signs are not
just a liability issue but also an issue of right of way
Asked a question about response time for dealing with abandoned vehicles
- a stakeholder said it was 24 hours for the car to be tagged and
3 days to be picked up
Asked if it was possible to get paint they use on streets from the
department - they don't use paint - the material is called "Therma
Plastic" but paint could be made to match
Asked a question about events at places like the Coliseum where people
who attend take all the parking for a residential area making it impossible
for local residents to have access - Wayne suggested looking into
making the neighborhood a "Residential Parking Permit" area which
exist in many parts of the City - but he warned that this has its
own drawbacks and can make things difficult for legitimate residents,
their visitors and service companies who may not have a permit on
a vehicle - they'll all get ticketed, too
A comment was made that many perceived the DOT less as a public service
and more as a Mafia style organization (meter / parking enforcement)
- Wayne said he understood this but thought his officers were handling
it well - it's a big job - he noted that they issue about 3.2 million
parking violations a year
Asked if there could be an adjudication system for DOT violations
that would not require a trip all the way downtown (for example one
in Harbor area) - Wayne said they'd like to see this happen
A comment was made about there being insufficient parking provided
for DOT system, near major bus stops and light rail lines - this was
a big drawback to getting people to use them
Asked a question about the synchronization of traffic signals - also
could there not be reversible lane system utilized on major wide thoroughfares
- Wayne said about 3/4 of the City's traffic system is computerized
and that would be growing as equipment upgrades continue - but there
are other factors that need to be considered such as cross traffic
flows - reversible lane systems such as the ones that existed on Olympic
and on Highland were shown to be unpopular, especially with merchants
who needed ongoing continuous access for deliveries and customer parking
Wayne said the LADOT must always try for a balance of issues - they
always want to provide mobility but in an efficient, safe way - common
sense is the right thing to do and the NCs will help the department
determine this
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visit the website at:
http://www.allncs.org
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