Neighborhood Council Funding Still In Limbo
Smith & Parks give the finger to the Neighborhood Councils!
Today's epic meeting of the Budget & Finance Committee has just ended with no resolution over the proposed 78% cut in funding to the Neighborhood Councils. There were over 2 hours of public comment from just about every NC official in Los Angeles. Passionate & logical statements were made by LA's finest volunteer program participants opposed to this illogical slashing of funds. I am not a member of a NC but I would guess that the City gets a 110% return on every dollar they invest into this charter mandated program. As many speakers stated, for $50k per year to each NC, let's see the City come up with anything comparable to the efficiency and productivity of the all-volunteer Neighborhood Council system.
The City Council should be raising the NC budgets, not cutting them. Particularly in bad fiscal times, you need to encourage and accommodate your volunteers, not castrate them. The NCs are a magnet for volunteers and community involvement. They are not paid, they don't ask for pension benefits or overtime, and they are the first responders to community issues.
Greig Smith & Bernard Parks, the advocates for the 78% budget cuts, spent the afternoon belittling the Neighborhood Councils with Smith saying he'd rather keep a staff member than pay for NC T-shirts. Really Greig? Is that where you think the money goes? I am sure the NCs would beg to differ.
Labels: bernard parks, greig smith
Posted by Unknown @ 5/12/2009 06:12:00 PM
11 Comments:
COUNCILMAN SMITH CUTS HOLIDAY SHRIMP
Los Angeles, Calif. May 12th - In what could only be described as a long, arduous, and passionate meeting by the Los Angeles City Council's Budget Committee Tuesday the Neighborhood Council leaders turned out in large numbers. These well spoken individuals spent several hours asking the committee to recognize the millions of dollars that are being saved by the city in volunteer work alone. At the very end Councilman Smith spoke out implying the Neighhorhood Councils proposed 78% budget cut would save jobs. Smith compared the thousands of hours of volunteer work improving the city to "shrimp for your holiday party" stating that he would cut that to save jobs. Council was no longer accepting public comments by the time Smith made this snide remark that left the room silent in disbelief. There was no longer any chance to respond and it clearly left the NCs feeling agitated and ignored. Both Parks and Smith claimed that the loss of jobs was far more important than the Neighborhood Council programs. At least one hundred speakers had spent hours outlining contributions by the NCs like Security Cameras, equipment for the Fire Department, equipment for the LAPD, school programs, speed monitor signs, emergency preparedness equipment and responses to Chatsworth's recent train derailment though many other emergency response examples were available. The testimony given was to show where the small $50,000 annual budgets of NCs were going and how it is dollars well spent. Some NC leaders went so far as to point out the caliber and cost of such volunteerism from all walks of life, contractors, executives, delivery personnel, environmentalists, secretaries, all manner of employees and CPAs, attorneys, doctors, nurses, policemen, firemen all of whom hold volunteer spots on the various NCs. There are approximately 90 Neighborhood Councils and each has anywhere from ten to twenty volunteers. If each member volunteers ten hours per week that would translate to a minimum of nine thousand volunteer hours, per week, to benefit the city. That many hours reduced to an offhand insult of "shrimp" at the holiday party by Councilman Smith shows absolute contempt toward many devoted volunteers. One representative even challenged the council to spend so little and achieve so much in any other program. Councilman Smith's unfavorable remark might have been due to one complaint that the LA City Council is the highest paid council in the nation and challenging them to lead by example taking a 78% pay cut. No one really expects that to happen but the point was made and clearly Smith didn't like it.
-Tomi Lyn Bowling
Smith is a jerk of the worst kind.
Thank you Councilmembers Smith and Parks! We appreciate this unexpected opportunity to tell you how really beneficial the Neighborhood Councils are to Los Angeles.
And thank you for letting your constituents know so they will remember when they go to the polls to vote against you in your next election - or is it true CM Smith, that you do not intend to run again, so you have volunteered to be the "Neighborhood Council Destroyer?"
And what are your plans, CM Parks? Are you on your way out, too - of your own volition or via your constituents?
Although I am unable to vote against either of you, your constituents will likely throw you out if you do run again, and either way I am so glad that I can be the first to say "Goodbye, Goodbye, Goodbye!"
Stop and think about this.
Before Neighborhood Councils:
1) When you walked into the councilmembers office, the deputies had a difficult time finding time for constiuents because their phones were literally ringing off the hook with calls from persons who needed help.
2) The only time community members got any information is when a field deputy would show up a community function.
Since Neighborhood Councils came into being:
1) NC's get early notices to communicate with all community members.
2) NC's are now the problem solvers. They are the first line of communication for community members and the first responders regarding problems.
3) NC members are the ones who attend all community functions and events.
NC's do everything at no cost to
the city!! And, with a smile!!!
Not like you owe them for their service!!!
Makes you wonder...doesn't it?
HoooYaah!!
Give them a place to meet, fine. Give them a means to submit community input, fine. But Neighborhood Councils NEVER deserved $50,000 per year. We're talking about layoffs of real jobs and cuts to real services, folks. Wake up!!
Actually, we DO deserve the money. Since our councilman won't beautify the corner WE want made to look nice, we do it with the money.
Since our councilman would never say no to the people who gave money to his campaign, we have to be there to hold his feet to the fire.
Since our councilman would not tell the community when his biggest developer and close personal friend decides to drop 100 houses down in the middle of a neighborhood on swamp land that is within our boundaries, we have to notify them and sometimes those first class mailings are expensive.
When our councilman takes tons of money from every taxi company that does business in the city of LA and feels obligated to side with them, we have to gather the people to write letters protesting the taxi cabs parked all over our neighborhood and who should be expected to pay for that? Us? The NC members?
We didn't even have a holiday party, much less one with shrimp.
I think the two councilmen who proposed the cuts must have the neighborhood councils who are the most active and disagree with them.
Greig and Bernard, give up some of your Council District Community Services fund. How about cutting that by 78% What is it? $100,000? $150,000? You can scrape by on that $22,000 - $33,000 a year instead. I'd like to see specific examples of what YOU'VE done with YOUR money.
Give it up 10:10. You must be a disgruntled NC member who didn't get elected and resents that the people who should be deciding what's best for their communities (as opposed to the council member who has 250,000 people in their districts) are spending money that you aren't happy about. Or you could be a staffer of a council member.
The NC's do more then the damn council offices and their staffers. This is why they want to shut them down. NC's organize, beautify their communities, organize town hall to discuss quality of life issues, out reach with good information to help residents. What does the council morons and staffers do? Waste our tax dollars. I say its time to Revolt Big Time!!!!!
Paul Koretz came to the hearing to testify against the cuts. Way to go Paul!
Wow 9:21 and 10:44 .....
Wish the NC in my neighborhood was like yours.
I"ve never received notices from them except for elections. Parties they do have though - at least twice a year. From the feedback I get they spend most of their time arguing with each other.
I'm glad to hear that there are functional NCs out there that are making an effort to get things accomplished!
NC'S AND DONE NEED REFORM AS DOES THE BROWN ACT AND THE CITY CHARTER WHICH GUIDES THE COUNCIL. THE STACKHOLDERS ARE THE ONE'S WHO NEED EMPOWERMENT OVER THESE BODIES.UNTIL THIS HAPPENS THERE WILL BE NO DEMOCRACY. PERIOD!! AND NO ONE WILL JOIN NC'S.
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