 |
|
General Manager's Update
I hope this newsletter finds you well. My week started early again with fantastic Congress of Neighborhoods on Saturday. Over 700 folks crowded into City Hall to exchange knowledge about the workings of Neighborhood Councils and the City. Mayor Garcetti presented the keynote and spoke of how Neighborhood Councils are making an impact in Los Angeles. He also issued a challenge to us to increase our stakeholder engagement in the 2014 elections with an added incentive of swearing in the Board with the most increased voter participation. A huge thanks to our Congress Planning Committee, led by the fearless Cindy Cleghorn, and to our staff, particularly Thomas Soong, all of whom spent months and countless hours planning this awesome event!
Next up is our Neighborhood Council Budget Day on Saturday, October 26th. I hope you have selected your Budget Representatives to come and participate in learning about the Mayor Garcetti's new performance metrics budgeting process and to select your Budget Advocates for this year. I want to thank our Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates, led by Co-Chairs Jay Handal and Marcello Robinson, for their tireless work as well on the City budget process. We are so fortunate to have so much talent in our Neighborhood Council system put to use for our collective good.
We're also launching our 2014 Neighborhood Council elections preparations with selection of regional election dates and release of the Election Procedures Stipulation Worksheets. I'm looking forward to our collaboration with Interim City Clerk Holly Wolcott and her team and hope to make the process even smoother this time around. We'll timing our next series of EmpowerLA Leadership Academy workshops the next few months to ensure you have all the support you need for elections and outreach with a touch of emergency prep thrown in!
Neighborhood Council fun continues this weekend with the LANCC meeting tomorrow and CicLAvia on Sunday, where I know I'll bump into some Neighborhood Council sponsors while I'm riding around on my bike. If I don't see you, have a relaxing weekend!
 Best,
Grayce Liu,
General Manager
Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Empower Yourself.
Empower Your Community.
Empower LA.
|
Mayor Eric Garcetti was the keynote speaker at Saturday's Congress of Neighborhoods, addressing a record crowd of 700+ Neighborhood Council leaders and challenging them to embrace technology. With a projected Twitter feed scrolling behind him, Mayor Garcetti (#LAMayor) urged the audience to get their Tweet on, offering ideas on how to increase civic engagement (#EmpowerLA) and to use the hashtag #NCCongressLA to engage their followers...
>>> continue reading
|
It was a perfect Los Angeles day - not too hot, blue sky, slight breeze and a massive number of enthusiastic Neighborhood Council leaders from throughout the City in attendance at the Congress of Neighborhoods, themed "Bridging the Gap," last Saturday (September 28) at City Hall. Just about everything went right. Cindy Cleghorn, Chair of the Planning Committee and her fellow organizers had every base covered. She was smiling ear to ear the entire day... >>> continue reading
|
Much like the Rubik's Cube, the City budget is time and time again a mystery for most of us. The different colored cubes are much like the many components of the budget, such as basic City services and public safety. The many tactics that can be used to solve the cube are much like the many ideas that members from different communities can bring to the conversation of what is important to them in the budget. A Neighborhood Council Budget Advocate is like the Rubik's Cube player, proactive and engaged in learning the mechanisms of the budget process and exploring alternatives to best address what is important to their communities...
>>> continue reading
|
Mayor Eric Garcetti opened Neighborhood Council Elections Season with a challenge during his keynote speech at the Congress of Neighborhoods, calling on NC Board Members to pursue greater stakeholder engagement during the 2014 Neighborhood Council Elections and to increase voter turnout at the polls. He even promised to swear in the Board that has the best increase in community participation during the elections. EmpowerLA followed up on the Mayor's challenge with three workshops at the Congress of Neighborhoods that focused on Elections and Outreach and featured...
>>> continue reading
|
On October 2nd, LA City Councilmember Paul Koretz, former City Councilmember Rosalind Wyman, and members of the Palms community joined the Palms Neighborhood Council and the Department of Recreation and Parks to break ground on the modernization of Woodbine Park - a pocket park at Vinton Avenue and Woodbine Street in Palms...
>>> continue reading
|
The CD3 Coalition will host a free Emergency Preparedness/Public Safety Fair Saturday, October 12, 2013 from 10:00am to 4:00pm at Westfield Promenade Mall, 6100 Topanga Canyon Blvd., Woodland Hills 91367. The goal of the fair is to inform and educate the public about the importance of being prepared to help themselves and their neighbors in case of an Emergency or Disaster. The event is sponsored by the Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils of Council District 3 and Councilman Bob Blumenfield. A family event, adults and children will learn about earthquake preparedness, active shooter scenarios, school safety, emergency communications, using a fire extinguisher, basic first aid, and more...
>>>continue reading
|
The Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles is a new health and wellness chapter that will be included in the Framework Element of the General Plan. The Framework Element outlines guiding policy principles for the General Plan, which is known as the City's planning constitution. As part of the City's guiding planning document, the Plan for a Healthy Los Angeles will elevate health as
a priority in the City's future growth and development....
>>>continue reading
|
LA's Congress of Neighborhoods featured four partnerships that all reflect a renewed commitment to partnering with tomorrow's civic engagement leaders, today. Two busloads of Sea Cadets arrived first thing in the morning and were on hand to greet the 700+ Congress guests, directing them throughout the day and facilitating the workshops...
>>>continue reading
|
Free legal services are usually hard to find - but not in October. Each October lawyers and legal service providers celebrate volunteerism and "pro bono" work (for the public good) by stepping up and reaching out to people who need legal help. This week-long, nationwide effort begins at the LA Law Library on Monday, October 21 with a free consumer debt clinic and ends on Saturday, October 26th, with a legal services fair...
>>>continue reading
|
We had a great turnout at the Funding Workshop at the Congress of Neighborhoods event last week. Our expert trainer Betty Wong-Oyama guided a crowded room through the intricacies of the funding process and helped more Board Members complete their training requirements. Special thanks go out to City Attorneys Carmen Hawkins and Alois Phillips for stopping by and answering some additional questions from a legal perspective. Unfortunately, October 1st has come and gone and we have not yet been able to finalize our selection of a bank for the NC Checking Accounts due to some additional issues that have to be worked out with the Office of Finance. Keep an eye on this newsletter for additional updates on the Checking Account implementation schedule as they occur...
>>>continue reading
|
Last week we worked diligently to submit metrics to the Mayor's office on significant areas of our work. I would like to share some of those metrics with you. From July 1, 2013 through present, we posted 295 agendas onto ENS through NC Support; we attended 15 regional NC alliance or coalition meetings; we reviewed 22 bylaw amendment applications; we addressed 95 complaints; we received and responded to 4,161 e-mails; we worked to resolve 365 funding issues or questions...
>>>continue reading
|
This Sunday, October 6, from 10 am to 3 pm, CicLAvia opens the streets of downtown Los Angeles to people on foot, on scooters, on bikes, and on a mission to explore the origins of Los Angeles at the street level. Join the EmpowerLA peleton for a bike ride that starts at City Hall at 10:30 a.m. and works its way through the four legs of the CicLAvia route. Wear your Neighborhood Council shirts or get an EmpowerLA shirt when you show up...
>>> continue reading
|
|
DEADLINES
10 days after your October NC Board Meeting
September Monthly Expenditure Reports due
|
RSVP Register now for the Neighborhood Council Budget Day Saturday, October 26 at City Hall.
|
|
UPCOMING
********DWP MOU Oversight Committee Meeting
Hollywood City Hall 6501 Fountain Ave
Hollywood 90028
********LA NC Coalition (LANCC)
Hollywood City Hall 6501 Fountain Ave
Hollywood 90028********NC Budget
Advocates
LA City Hall, 20th Floor 200 N. Spring St.
Los Angeles 90012********Valley Alliance of NCs (VANC) Meeting
Sherman Oaks Hospital Doctors Conference Room
4929 Van Nuys Blvd. Sherman Oaks 91403
********PlanCheckNC Meeting "Connecting with Planning Deputies"
Boyle Heights City Hall
CD-14 Field Office
Community Room (access rear of building via parking lot)
2130 E. 1st Street
Los Angeles 90033
********Neighborhood Council Budget Day
Time 8 am - 12:30 pm
City Hall
200 N Spring St.
Los Angeles 90012
********
| |
|
|
Contact Us
| |
Phone: (213) 978-1551
Fax: (213) 978-1751
Our Address:
200 North Spring Street
20th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90012
|
|
|
