Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Newsletter

March 3, 2006

Re: Next Congress of Neighborhoods Planning Meeting Set.  How to Speak to the City Council from Van Nuys.  Conflict of Interest Training Correction.  Old Northridge Decertification.

NEXT CONGRESS OF NEIGHBORHOODS PLANNING MEETING SET

The next meeting at which the public will have an opportunity to help design the next Congress of Neighborhoods (scheduled for June 17 at the Convention Center) will be held this Monday night, March 6, 6:30 p.m. at our Little Tokoyo office at 305 East First Street.

It is my fault that this notice is being sent at the last minute. Send your angry messages to me.

At the meeting on February 15, Neighborhood Council leaders began discussing what they would like to see take place at the event. We will continue this discussion at our next meeting. We will e-mail you the notes from this meeting if you wish and we will attempt to post them on our home page today.

Free street parking is available after 6:00 p.m., as well as in Lot 7 located around the corner on Judge John Aiso Street (the parking attendant leaves at 4:00 p.m.). There is no access to our office from Lot 7, so you will need to walk around to First Street.

Please call Anataly De Jesus at (213) 473-4656 or e-mail her at AnatalyDeJesus@lacity.org to let us know if you will be joining us.

HOW TO SPEAK TO THE CITY COUNCIL FROM VAN NUYS

This is so cool that words escape me. The City Council wants to hear from you, and you can saw what you want. Don't forget that if you wish to speak to the City Council, share your wisdom, give them a piece of your mind, or be profound, it's much easier to do this if you're near Van Nuys.

Through a pilot project, you can go to the Valley Municipal Building, 14410 Sylvan St., Room 208, any Tuesday, Wednesday, or Friday morning (that's when the City Council meets) and speak directly to them using a two-way audio and video link. You can use innovation to speak on specific agenda items or to speak during the Public Comment which is reserved for those who have comments on subjects that are not on the agenda but within the jurisdiction of the City Council. So if you wanted to talk about whether or not the Dodgers should trade for another power hitter, I don't know what they'd do. Here is a link to the city's website to find out more.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST TRAINING - CORRECTION

The training that was scheduled for April 12 has been rescheduled for April 11. Same time. Same place. Later today, our home page will have the revised flyer on it.

OLD NORTHRIDGE DECERTIFICATION

At its meeting on March 21, 2006, the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners will have before it a recommendation from the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment to decertify the Old Northridge Community Council. This is the first such request that the department has made. You can view the staff report by going to our website and clicking on Commission>Staff Reports.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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