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Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Newsletter
May 26,
2005
Re: EMERGENCY
PREPAREDNESS REMINDER. CHECKING THE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL ROSTER.
BUDGET DAY CANCELLED. FUNDING PROGRAM IMPROVEMENTS REPORT UPDATE.
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
REMINDER
Following the
last newsletter, several people contacted us and asked to be put
on the list for the next Empowerment Academy training session at
which you will be taught how to prepare your neighborhood for the
“big one” and be designed official Emergency Preparedness
Ambassadors.
The importance
of each and every home and each and every neighborhood being prepared
for a major disaster is so high that we aren’t beyond using
“shock treatment.”
We invite you
to read today’s news stories about how new computer models
have discovered an earthquake fault under downtown that could produce
a 7.5 magnitude earthquake, kill as many as 18,000 people, and force
735,000 families from their homes. Granted that this might not occur
for a long time, but it serves to point out that there may be many
other earthquake faults beneath us that we don’t know about.
Let us know
if you too want to be the one who begins the task of preparing your
neighborhood. It’s a thankless task ….. until the need
arises.
CHECKING THE
NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL ROSTER
Here’s
another reminder for all Neighborhood Council board members to check
the Neighborhood Council Roster that we post on the Internet. We
need to ensure that the roster properly lists the names of all the
board members, and that you are OK with whatever contact information
appears on that roster for yourself and for the Neighborhood Council
in general.
There are two
ways to view this roster.
Go to our website
at www.lacityneighborhoods.com
and click on Database/Roster, use the dropdown menu to select your
Neighborhood Council, and click on Submit. Or you can just click
here. Ah, the wonders of technology.
BUDGET DAY CANCELLED
At least once
every eight years, we will find ourselves transitioning from one
mayor to another. Events that have been scheduled between the election
and the inauguration can present special problems.
As we enter
in the third year of the Mayor’s Budget Day process, the Neighborhood
Councils asked that they be able to get involved in the process
of planning the next budget earlier than in the past. Therefore,
the first step in the process of planning the 2006-07 budget had
been scheduled for June 11 at the Convention Center – even
before the 2005-06 budget took effect.
The reality
is that the 2006-07 budget will be the responsibility of the new
mayor, and since staff has not yet been hired and the new administration
won’t begin until July 1, we made a decision to cancel Budget
Day because we can’t clearly and definitively tell the Neighborhood
Councils what the process will be.
We will give
you more information when we know it.
FUNDING PROGRAM
IMPROVEMENTS REPORT UPDATE
Our report to
the City Council that proposes six changes to the Neighborhood Council
Funding Program has been on our home page for many weeks now. Keep
an eye on the agenda for Education and Neighborhoods Committee because
it might be on their agenda for June 7. We haven’t received
any comments yet from the Neighborhood Councils.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Greg Nelson
gnelson@mailbox.lacity.org
866 / LA HELPS
213 / 485-1360
213 / 485-4608 fax
done@mailbox.lacity.org
email
www.lacityneighborhoods.com
website
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