| General Manager's Update
I hope this newsletter finds you well. While I'm out this week, the Co-Chairs of the Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates, Jay Handal and Joanne Yvanek-Garb, accepted my offer to write the GM Message. Even when they've been busy with their own Neighborhood Councils, Jay and Yvonne have invested hundreds of hours in the City's budget process. We're so lucky to have them and the Budget Advocates stepping up for Neighborhood Councils and the stakeholders, and I thank them for taking the time to share their thoughts with you today.
Have a great weekend and Happy Independence Day!
 Best,
Grayce Liu,
General Manager
Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
Empower Yourself.
Empower Your Community.
Empower LA.
******************************** Hello Neighborhood Councils, The new fiscal year has kicked in and that means only one thing: It is time to appoint 2 budget reps from each neighborhood council to work on the next year's budget with the city on items of importance for their neighborhoods. There is nothing more important that the City Annual Budget. Everything we do and need has to come from an item in the budget. Police, fire, street services, graffiti removal, arts, neighborhood council budget money, just to name a few. The City Charter states that the neighborhood councils can weigh in on the city budget, spending and allocation of services. There is no better place to do so that through the budget process. The budget reps come together on budget day and elect 36 people from around the city to represent them as Budget Advocates. These advocates meet dozens of times during their tenure, to discuss ways to help craft a better budget while advising the Mayor and his staff, as well as the City Council, on our local needs. The advocates meet with department heads, labor leaders, Mayor and council staff, the controller and locals, in an effort to come to the table with the Mayor presenting a "White Paper" of recommendations. Budget Day this year is set for August 16 at City Hall and EVERY NC is being asked to agendize and vote on 2 Budget Reps in your July (or early August) meeting. The Budget Reps who attend Budget Day will elect 2 Budget Advocates for the region and 1 alternate. Those 3 people will be responsible for informing and working with the Budget Reps in the region as well as representing the region to the City-Wide NC Budget Advocates. Here's what a motion for your board to pass can look like: The _________________ NC, at its ________________ meeting, hereby appoints ________________________ and ____________________ as budget representatives for our NC. ____ yes ____ no ____ Abstain
Motion: adopted/rejected If you have questions or want to know more about NCBAs please don't hesitate to contact me by emailing BudgetAdvocates@EmpowerLA.com. As one of the co-chairs of the Budget Advocates I'd be happy to share more about the process. If you're interested in checking out an NCBA meeting, the next one is scheduled for July 8 at 7pm in West LA (1645 Corinth Ave, 90025, enter on the west side of the building) Agenda Below: Agenda Budget Advocates
July 8 @ 7 pm 1645 Corinth Avenue
L.A. Ca 90025
(Not necessarily in the order shown) - Budget day date & location
- Allocate up to 3,000.00 for City Hall budget day fees
- budget day caterer - allocate funding for caterer.
- budget day speakers/agenda
- budget day coordinators
- Budget day facilitators in rooms with regions
- Budget day invitations-who will send and when
- Press release and outreach info to each NC re budget day (What and who)
- Re-cap of meeting with Rick Cole and future of budget advocates with Mayors office
- next meeting date and location
- adjourn
 
Your NC Budget Advocate Co-Chairs,
Jay Handal and Joanne Yvanek-Garb
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