Neighborhood Council Denied Again
We reported Thursday on the plans of the Mid Town North Hollywood Neighborhood Council to split into two.For some time, members of the Council felt that at nearly 70,000 residents, the Council's area was too large to effectively serve the community. Two councils could more aptly do outreach and engage the stakeholders.
The Council was instructed to appear before a meeting of the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners to plead their case. Though the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment felt there was no clear process for a boundary division, the recommendation of the department and its general manager, Dr. Carol Baker Tharp, was to allow North Hollywood to go ahead and then use that Council's experience as a template for additional council's citywide who wished to undertake a similar process.
However, at 3:25 p.m. the day of the meeting, Dr. Tharp informed the Council in an email that she was changing her recommendation to the BONC to deny the application, based on the advice of the City Attorney. Citing issues with the petition signatures as part of the application Tharp told the Council "The people who worked with you are no longer here, so this is no one's fault but my own. I was trying to help and I screwed up. Just as you are frustrated, so am I." Little solace to the members of the Council who showed up at 6:00 p.m., as instructed, to express solidarity and support for the proposal. Following Dr. Tharp's recommendation, the BONC removed the item from consideration.
During a period of open comment by the BONC members, Commissioner Diane Middleton told the crowd that they had been "misled." If they walk out of the meeting thinking the reason for the action was some technical error with the application, petition signatures, etc. they are mistaken. There is nothing the BONC can do as far as expediting the Council's request because nothing will happen until DONE, BONC, the City Attorney and City Council establish a complete policy. And of course the implication is this will be months later.
"The people who worked with you are no longer here, so this is no one's fault but my own. I was trying to help and I screwed up. Just as you are frustrated, so am I."No wonder people are alienated from their city. No wonder its hard to get good people involved in Neighborhood Councils. With bumbling bureaucrats at DONE and a lack of leadership by their oversight body, BONC, its unlikely anything will move forward.
Dr. Carol Baker Tharp
General Manager, Department of Neighborhood Empowerment
And they wondered why the Valley wanted to succeed.
Full disclosure: I was recently appointed to the Mid Town North Hollywood Neighborhood Council and support the breakup.
Labels: bonc, border disputes, done, neighborhood councils, north hollywood
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 5/18/2007 12:42:00 AM
17 Comments:
Not only did the Valley want to "succeed" but they also wanted to "secede".
thanks, I was going to say that!
Joe,
Is your underwear too tight again?
I'll send you some over from the NoHo Target.
It was intentional sarcasm.
Have a good weekend.
Two councils could more aptly do outreach and engage the stakeholders.
What outreach was the Mid-Town NoHo Neighborhood Council doing, and why was it unsuccessful? How would having two seperate Neighborhood Councils improve those efforts while avoiding redundancy?
wonder people are alienated from their city. No wonder its hard to get good people involved in Neighborhood Councils.
If good people were involved with the Mid-Town NoHo Neighborhood Council, they would figure out a way to improve outreach without splitting into two groups (redundancy), doubling the obligation of taxpayers (from $50,000 to $100,000).
With bumbling bureaucrats at DONE and a lack of leadership by their oversight body, BONC, its unlikely anything will move forward.
What about the lack of leadership by the Mid-Town NoHo Neighborhood Council? If the area is too large, that should have been recognized before the Council was certified by the City. It's hard to understand how leadership equals a diffusion of power, redundnacy, and increased government expenditures.
Full disclosure: I was recently appointed to the Mid Town North Hollywood Neighborhood Council and support the breakup.
This disclosure explains why Michael Higby, who always advocates for less taxes and government waste, supports a 100% increase in City funding to Neighborhood Councils in North Hollywood. Mr. Higby, are you angling for a leadership position in the "breakaway" group, allowing you to get your hands on the additional $50,000 the City would be obligated to provide? How would you improve outreach, having admitted that your current Council failed in this regard?
My full disclosure: Mr. Higby is not a homeowner. What interest does he really have in North Hollywood?
It sounds to me like DONE is still using the same tactics it used in the past...
They decide what is a neighborhood and not the stakeholders.
Right now there is an instance where a huge film festival is going to be had at the Shrine and will now extend into the heart of Downtown.
When I annd others were forming the neighborhood council downtown , USC wanted to be in the Downtown los angeles neighborhood council boundaries. DONE insisted that it wasn't going to happen , now we are struggling to bridge the Shrine with the historic core as a neighborhood council for a huge film festival which will draw over 75,000 people from around the world. If we could have had the figeroa corridor in our boundaries , right now it wouldn't be so difficult to rally the whole figereoa corridor to participate , which will benefit their businesses.
DONE is a lost cause..
DONE was the worst idea ever.
It is a useless step in the process that accomplishes nothing.
People will tire of it and it will disappear in less than three more years.
Admit it, there are less and less people involved in DONE and it is dwindling every meeting.
It is a dead man walking.
3:24 a.m.'s comments are so detached from reality that they are a good example of why it's dangerous to be posting at that time of the night. DONE's not going anywhere, and public attendance at BONC (not DONE) meetings doesn't determine whether the department will wither away. Idiotic comments.
And MayorSam - with his acknowledged conflict of interest in this situation - is complaining again that City regulations and laws discourage "good people" from participating in Neighborhood Councils. Is that supposed to suggest that those good people will rally to participate if the system becomes an old west-styled free-for-all in which neighborhood power jockeys can battle for control of public dollars in their little fiefdoms without any serious City oversight? That's what it sounds like.
This "give us the money and leave us alone" attitude is getting tiresome. DONE's got problems and it's working on fixing them. But they pale compared to the problems the NCs themselves have.
As long as Antonio picked Carol he has a say in everything. There is no person who has a brain to think on their own as long as Antonio is mayor. He's the HItler of LA.
....The mayor assured the demonstrators that the police actions were being investigated. Police Chief William J. Bratton, also present at the rally, last week reassigned the two top commanders at the park that day.
ASSHOLE! WHAT ABOUT THE ANARCHISTS THAT THREW ROCKS AND BOTTLES?
schmanarchists.
where were they all last nite?
these anarchists of which you speak.
big story of the day is that Mayor Sam finally got a somewhat juicy Dr Tharp DONE story.
lol.
Do a little research, will you?
DONE (puppeteering BONC), has indeed split up a neighborhood council after they've been certified, and without a "process" or even a fake plebiscite.
In fact, it was the same city attorney's office that defended the bifurcation, against the protests of both parts of the NC.
They can do it when it suits their purposes. They can do it for all the wrong reasons. They can do it against the will of the majority of people who cared to chime in.
They have, and will again! You just gotta make it worth their while, politically.
(Just a few weeks in place, and the new DONE GM is already playing political slap and tickle with the truth).
How long's she gonna last?
Someone who learns to tell lies, effectively, can last a LONG time in city government.
Right, Antonio?
Higby, its like this:
Antonio and Wendy do not want this NC split and that's the bottom line.
The breakway group are NIMBYs on steroids from Wendy's district. There is a huge project in Valley Plaza that JH Snyder is doing.
Wendy wants to diulte the NIMBY votes from her district with the pro-development council members in Tom's.
Give it up Higby, ain't a gonna happen for now.
Maybe you need ZD to come and dance and rap to convince them.
Or maybe ZD, Dowd and Company are starting to rub off on you.
Could it be that the powers that be have made the link?
Sure seems little Wendy Greusome is following Antonio like a little groupie with a big crush. She was with him at his press conf. on schools again. Doesn't she have any pride and no respect for her husband. Get real Wendy.
Matt Dowd the anarchists were there last night and the stations finally showed them this time. You are a total loser with no job and no respect. How can you look at yourself in the mirror? You are a failure.
Hey, he and ZD have a place to vent. They got busted for breaking the law and scamming at Venice, and now they have hard ons for the establishment because their scams were taken away from them.
None of the legitimate merchants who pay rent, taxes and licenses are sorry to see them go, in fact, they are happy to have the business. They are the ones that complained and turned them in, in the first place.
Havn't been here for a while but I can see that there is an effort to trash all those who would post here, rather than get into issues. If this continues, what is the point of posting?
Isn't it a fact that the N.C.'s have no power whatsoever. The whole process could be appropriately acronimmed: DUNG.
NO HO is a joke. Idiots who can not afford Encino, Tarzana, Sherman Oaks etc etc, dream of NO HO. NO HO is a dirty dump with traffic, homeless people, dead beat stores, fake yuppy people and no sense of direction.
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home