Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Newsletter

June 21, 2005

Re: CONGRESS UPDATE.  GREATER WILSHIRE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL.  BEING ABLE TO ACT FASTER.  DODGER DAY CANCELLED.

CONGRESS OF NEIGHBORHOODS UPDATE

All of the rooms for the morning and afternoon workshops have been taken.  We've ordered additional food for the lunch break.  Things are coming together nicely.  The time for registering for the Congress is over, but that was so we good get an idea of which workshops might have to be cancelled, and which size room would be needed for each workshop.  It's never too late to come.  Please visit our home page to view the list of events, or click here.

CONGRATULATIONS, GREATER WILSHIRE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL

All we have are the unofficial results, but it appears that the record for most voters to participate in an election will belong to the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council which held its first election on Wednesday.  The current record is 2,199 and it belongs to the Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council.  There were 2,180 voters at this (the first) GWNC election, and there are still 65 provisional ballots to be processed.  We'll see.

HELPFUL HINT - BEING ABLE TO ACT FASTER

Recently, one Neighborhood Council complained that it wasn't able to act fast enough to appoint a person to serve on a special committee.  It was explained that the full board needed to make decision, but that a committee had to meet and discuss it first.  So, the process would take at least two months. 

One solution would be for the board to determine that the president or someone would have the authority to take specific actions in specific situations whenever urgency required it.  And you could even require that the full board ratify the decision at its next meeting.

For example, the board could determine the president had the ability to speak for the Neighborhood Council if there were to be a governmental hearing at which toxic chemical plants were proposed to be constructed in residential zones.  In this way, the Neighborhood Council would have input when the full board was unable to meet and take a position on time. 

NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL DAY AT DODGER STADIUM CANCELLED

Previously, we polled all you about the possibility of having some Neighborhood Council leaders on the field during a Dodger Stadium, and the Neighborhood Councils advertised on the message board.   But, alas, the response was underwhelming, so that idea has been dropped.

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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