IGM Update, Funding Report, MVNC Awardee, Instant Runoff Voting, Local Hero and more

October 26, 2012

Interim General Manager's Update

I hope this newsletter finds you well. We are prepping for our long election weekend where we'll be holding 6 elections in South LA tomorrow and 8 elections in West LA on Sunday. I am going to apologize to my elections team again for scheduling back to back regional elections months ago. I guess I knew back then that they were going to be incredible and could handle it! We're even piloting instant runoff voting at Palms Neighborhood Council (more on this below). After this weekend, we'll only have 1 region left on November 15th so we'll have a small window to work on our budget for the next fiscal year, which is due on November 15th, too (see the save the date below).

Several Council Files concerning Neighborhood Councils were filed this week on subdivsion / boundary adjustments and on the factual basis stakeholder definition. Please take a moment to review them with your Boards and weigh in either in person or via Community Impact Statements. We're trying to give you notice of relevant issues for Neighborhood Councils going to City Council so your Neighborhood Council will have time to provide comments. The City needs to hear from you in order to be more responsive, so please take the time to let us know what you think.

I was lucky enough to get some face time with Councilmember Eric Garcetti this afternoon where we talked about the Neighborhood Council system. When I first started with the City almost 5 years ago, it was his regular City Governmnet 101 class for the public that taught me a lot about City Hall workings. I pinned him at the Congress, and he sure seemed to heart NCs as he told me about how he'd like to take them to the next level of engagement with City Council. He was also enthusiastic about using technology to get Neighborhood Councils more connected with their stakeholders and the City. We'll be having a follow up meeting to discuss the details. I'll keep you posted so you can let me know any ideas you'd like me to share with him.

Enjoy your weekend, and I hope to see you at the elections!

Best,

Grayce Liu,

Interim General Manager

Department of Neighborhood Empowerment

Empower Yourself.

Empower Your Community.

Empower LA.

Save the Date!
November 5th for our
Department Budget Presentation

We're very happy to partner with the Mayor's Budget Advocates in presenting proposals for our budget next year based on your input on what services are important to you. We've been asked to cut 10% from our staffing budget, which is approximately $230,000 and possibly 3-4 positions of our 19 permanent staff, and we need your help on how we can do this. If you could take a moment to let us know what your Neighborhood Council needs in this survey, we'd really appreciate it.

Then, please save the following date: Monday, November 5, 2012 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. where we'll work with the Mayor's Budget Advocates to present the survey results and possible proposals to the cuts.

We're still working out the details of the presentation, but we'll have more information next week. Thanks for your help!

Funding Report 10.26.12

Treasurer's Trainings - I'm excited to report that we had a full house for yesterday's Treasurer's Training. That means that the word is getting out about how useful having a working knowledge of the funding program can be. Keep an eye on our newsletter, the EmpowerLA calendar of events, and subsequent email blasts for more information on future trainings. If you are a new Treasurer or 2nd Signatory...

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Instant Runoff Voting comes to
Los Angeles!

Actually, it's been here for some time. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has been using the very popular form of preferential voting to select the Oscar winners, a process that requires voters...

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Administration Section Report
10.26.12

From the Administration Section, a point of clarification is needed for those Neighborhood Councils that currently use or plan to use the Temporary Staffing Services contracts. Please note these individuals are not employees of the City, Department or the Neighborhood Councils. These individuals are employees of the...

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EmpowerLA Award Recipient
Mar Vista Community Council

EmpowerLA Awardee Mar Vista Community Council (MVCC) won for their outstanding community outreach and their "green" program, which has brought in many stakeholders from Mar Vista and beyond. MVCC educated and actively involved participants in taking personal responsibility for...

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1200 Tarzana-Area Youth
Participate in
Earth Day Poster Contest

Joel Jaffe of the Tarzana Neighborhood Council enlisted the artistic talents of 1200 local young people from Tarzana-area K-7 schools in an Earth Day poster contest in April of this year. "The results were spectacular!" said Jaffe. The 1200 colorful hand-made ...

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Veterans Appreciation Festival

The City of Los Angeles invites you to attend its First Annual Veterans Appreciation Festival from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 10 at the USS IOWA, 250 South Harbor Boulevard in San Pedro. The free event includes ...

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Arroyo Seco NC Courts
Disaster at Great ShakeOut

More than 200 Northeast Los Angeles residents participated in the Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council's Great ShakeOut mock earthquake drill on Saturday. Children, adults, and pets from the neighborhood played...

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