I hope our newsletter finds you well.

We were pleased to welcome more international visitors this week from Brazil and also from our sister city, Auckland, New Zealand. It's such a pleasure to share the wonderful work of our Neighborhood Councils with other countries. They are always amazed by the integration of such a civic engagement system in local government.

Our Board of Neighborhood Commissioners met on Monday where the agenda was packed with board structure changes from Neighborhood Councils. Many thanks to Director of Field Operations, Leyla Campos, and her Neighborhood Empowerment Advocates, Amber Meshack, Melvin Canas, Tom Soong, Taneda Larios and Barry Stone, for reviewing and putting together the Commission reports on the changes. Much appreciation as well to for our admin clerk, Angela Pipkin, who stepped up to assist the Commission work after the retirement of Janet Lindo last month. The Commission also created an ad hoc committee to look at further clarifications of the stakeholder definition, in particular, the term "substantial and ongoing" for the Community Interest definition.

I was happy to stop by Studio City Neighborhood Council on Wednesday night to answer questions about online voting. With support from the majority of their many stakeholders in the room, the board voted to add online voting for their 2016 elections to their Stipulation Worksheet. Please remember that the deadline to submit Stipulation Worksheets is June 1st. If you have any questions, please contact NCSupport@lacity.org.

The City Council unanimously approved an $8.6 billion budget plan yesterday. As I mentioned last week, we are so appreciative for all of the work that goes into putting the budget together. What's even more amazing is that the Mayor's Office will start prepping for Fiscal Year 2016-2017 next month! So if you want to dig down into the budget process, please volunteer to be a Budget Representative for your Neighborhood Council and come to the Neighborhood Council Budget Day on Saturday, June 27, 2015 where next year's Budget Advocates will be selected.

This morning, I was happy to be present in City Council chambers as Councilmember Joe Buscaino recognized Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council for their public safety fairs and successful partnership with LAPD the last 2 years. CSPNC has always tried to streamline government partnerships and put their stakeholders first. They are the only Neighborhood Council that puts a limit on board member comment while giving stakeholders all the time they'd like to speak during public comment. Congratulations to CSPNC for their great work!

Don't forget that Councilmember Curren Price's citywide townhalls on sidewalk vending starts next week. Also, our office will be closed on Monday, May 25th, in observance of Memorial Day.

Enjoy your weekend!

Best,

Grayce Liu,
General Manager
Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (aka) EmpowerLA