IGM Update, a Tour in South LA, DWP Update and Elections

September 14, 2012

Interim General Manager's Update

I hope this newsletter finds you well. As we ready ourselves for elections again on Sunday, we're celebrating the great voter turn out in the North West Valley last Saturday where we went from 421 voters in 2010 to 1354 voters! Kudos to the Neighborhood Councils and candidates for getting the word out about their elections to the stakeholders. A big congratulations also to our Elections Team for handling the elections professionally without any challenges filed in the region.

My evenings this week were again filled with watching Neighborhood Council leaders working hard for their communities. I did a tour through South Los Angeles and the Harbor areas on Tuesday night where they are diligently recruiting candidates before their filing deadlines in the next few weeks. On Wednesday, I saw the Mayor's Budget Advocates laboring until 9:30 pm in our conference room where they also took time out to meet Deputy Mayor Torie Osborn. Last night, I was at the Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils listening to over 23 Neighborhood Council representatives grill DWP Ratepayer Advocate, Fred Pickel, on his report before taking on sidewalk repair and transfer tax fees.

I'm constantly impressed with the drive of the Neighborhood Council leaders. It's really inspirational as evidenced by what's happening to some South Los Angeles Neighborhood right now. In case you didn't know, several South Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils, led by Empowerment Congress West and Park Mesa Heights, have created a task force to try and reach an agreement with the City and the California Science Center to mitigate the destruction of hundreds of trees in their neighborhoods as a result of the transport of the space shuttle. I hope you lend your support to your fellow Neighborhood Councils on this issue. You can find out more about it here.

Lastly, our Board Orientation Trainings start back up tomorrow so I hope to see you there or at the polls on Sunday. Have a great weekend!

Best,

Grayce Liu,

Interim General Manager

Department of Neighborhood Empowerment

Empower Yourself.

Empower Your Community.

Empower LA.

Grayce Liu Tours South LA Neighborhood Councils in Lead

South LA Leaders Aim to Mobilize Community Members

On Tuesday, September 11, our Interim General Manager, Grayce Liu, visited the board meetings of the Empowerment Congress Southeast, Harbor Gateway North, and Voices of 90037 Neighborhood Councils in South Los Angeles. Those councils will have their elections on October 20th and candidate filing closes a month earlier, on September 20th, but so far, few candidates have come forward.

She thanked council board members for their dedicated service to their communities and offered the Department as a supportive resource. Council leaders recognize that they have not achieved all that they intended to, but they are optimistic that the energy of new community members could advance their goals.

Community and Neighbors for Ninth District Unity (CANNDU NC)

Community and Neighbors for Ninth District Unity president Sylvia Penman, based near Florence and Central, said, "My mind is on my young people, right now." Her group recently hosted a large street festival on Avalon Boulevard with hundreds of members of the community in attendance...

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Board of Water and Power Commissioners Approves 2-Year Electric Rate Increase

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles Board of Water and Power Commissioners moved forward today with a proposed 2-year electric rate change to pay for investments needed to comply with legal mandates that are driving a complete transformation of LADWP's power supply, to invest in replacing rapidly aging infrastructure to maintain reliability and expand customer opportunities through additional investment in money-saving energy efficiency programs which also comply with state requirements. The rate action, which requires approval by the Los Angeles City Council, would increase LADWP's system average rate by 11.1% over two years, or 1.4 cents per kilowatt-hour (KWh). Typical residential customers who use 500 KWh per month would see an increase half that amount (5.5%) over the two years, and pay $3.65 cents more per month on the current average monthly electric bill of $65.79 in the second year of the rate increase...

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Neighborhood Council Parking Pass Update

The yellow parking permits from last fiscal year will no longer be honored by the parking attendants. Thanks to those Neighborhood Councils who have picked up their passes. If your Neighborhood Council has not picked up the parking passes, we will hold them until Friday, September 14, 2012, for pick up.

Please provide your car information here. After September 14th, they will be reassigned to other Neighborhood Councils requiring additional passes. Requests for additional passes will be fulfilled on a first come first served basis. Please email your request to Sonya Calloway at sonya@empowerla.org.

Track Your City Check Requests Here

Budget FY 2011-12 Neighborhood Council Expenditures

in Pdf

in Excel

Election Outreach Encumbrance Reconciliation Policy

Submit your Council News

UPCOMING

EVENTS

Board Member Orientation
Workshop

Sat, Sept 15

8am-12:30pm

Pacoima City Hall

13520 Van Nuys Blvd

Pacoima 91331

RSVP HERE

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Region 4 - Mid-Town NoHo NC Meet the Candidates

Sat, Sept 15

11am-2pm

North Hollywood Farmers Market, on Bakeman st. between Chandler and Weddington

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Region 4 - A Day in the Park - Sherman Oaks NC Meet the Candidates

Sat, Sept 15

12noon - 4pm

East Valley Adult Center
Multi-Purpose Room

5056 Van Nuys Blvd.

Sherman Oaks, 91423

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REGION 5
ELECTIONS

Sun, Sept 16

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Region 3 - Reseda

Candidates Forum