Mayor Eric Garcetti on Monday recognized city sanitation workers for switching from using paper maps to a smartphone app designed to help with daily route navigation and speed up responses to trash collection requests. The first of several Mayor's Civic Innovation Awards that Garcetti plans to give to city departments was presented to the Bureau of Sanitation's SAN STAR team, which is using a...

City Controller Ron Galperin is on the road, visiting Neighborhood Councils and Alliances throughout the city to talk about his vision for transparent and effective governance. Next Thursday, November 13, he will be attending a meeting of the Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils (VANC). Date: Thursday, November 13, 2014 Time: 6:30 pm Location: Sherman Oaks Hospital, Doctor's Conference Room...

Have you filled out the Bureau of Street Service's sidewalk survey? Well, you still have time! The deadline for the survey has been extended until the end of November. The BSS wants to hear from Neighborhood Councils about the issues in your community, and they welcome and appreciate your help in figuring out where they are needed most and what your neighborhood's priorities are when it comes....

For a neighborhood council, social media is all about building community, engaging your stakeholders through more direct contact, and encouraging participation and involvement with your NC. Here are three quick tips to keep in mind as you build your social networks: 1. Get your story out there What is your NC's history? What are your proudest achievements? Your neighborhood is made up of diverse...

The monthly meeting of PlanCheckNC will be held this Saturday starting at 10 a.m. Phyllis Nathanson from the Code Studies Unit at the LA City Planning Department will present the latest update on the Master Plan Development Ordinance. In addition PlanCheckNC will have community updates regarding Mansionization, SB1818, Small Lot Subdivisions and more...

The New Urbanism Film Festival, taking place this weekend (November 6-9), seeks to broaden the conversation about how we design our cities. Instead of preaching design principles in academic books, codes, and seminars, the festival's creators use movies, animation, and webseries to show how urban design affects our everyday life. New Urbanism is about making better places-walkable neighborhoods...

LAAST is designed to be a fun, informative, neighborhood-based event featuring art, information and sustainable education. It's also an opportunity to put a spotlight on the powerful role the arts & cultural sector can play in creating healthy, safe, sustainable cities. Attendees will learn how to save money by making smart choices that reduce consumption and open access to rebates and services...

To enhance efforts to fight the historic drought, LADWP is now offering an incentive of $3.75 per square foot, up from $3 per square foot, to residents who choose to get rid of their water-guzzling lawns and replace them with drought-resistant vegetation or other water-wise landscaping options. According to Mayor Garcetti, this is the "most generous incentive ever" offered by the city. "Los...

LA's City Planning Department provides a bi-weekly Early Notification Report for Certified Neighborhood Councils. The purpose of this report is to provide Neighborhood Councils with the earliest possible information about all applications for planning entitlements that have been filed in your neighborhood, even though not all applications are complete and some cases may eventually be withdrawn...

As another step in the ever-evolving LA River revitalization efforts, the half-mile Zev Yaroslavsky LA River Greenway Trail, named in honor of the outgoing county supervisor, officially broke ground last Saturday in Studio City. Touted as an important "missing link" in the LA River Greenway, the new stretch from Whitsett Avenue to Coldwater Canyon will bridge the gap between two existing sections...

City Councilman Bernard Parks has teamed up with Active Recycling and Lorraine Bradley, the daughter of the late former Mayor Tom Bradley to launch "Clean Los Angeles," a campaign aimed at providing free disposal of unwanted materials for Los Angeles residents, reducing the amount of debris on curbs and in alleys and public spaces, and making our city cleaner and more attractive. Until November...

PBI Water Conference 2014 will be held next Friday, November 14, 2014 at Cal State University, Los Angeles. Please, make sure to stop by. the Schedule for the day can be found here.
 

The 9th Annual Northeast LA Veterans Day Parade to honor America's veterans for their loyal and dedicated service will take place on Sunday, November 9. The tradition began on November 11, 1947. Raymond Weeks, dubbed the "Father of Veterans Day," exemplified selfless service to his country through volunteerism. In 1945, upon returning from WWII to his home in Birmingham, Alabama, he envisioned...