Neighborhood Council: Under Review of Villaraigosa's Shady City Hall

For those of you who don't know, the City Charter mandated something called Neighborhood Council (NC) to be a vehicle of community input that City Council is supposed to hear back from -- regarding any significant issue pending Council vote. (Like Prop. R, AB 1381, Prop. L, any significant change.)

However, all that is really outlined in the Charter is the need to install the Neighborhood Councils throughout the 15 districts. But, it's too vauge. There really isn't enough of a blueprint to allow an already beuracratic body (local goverment, no matter who is the mayor) to allow the type of synergy required to be an actual effective concept.

So now, five years after it's inception, this "trial experiment" is up for review by the NC Review Commission.

I was fortunate enough to have spent over an hour speaking with one of the Review Commisioners on the progress of NC; and what may be in the cards for the future. The interview (hosted by NC activist Dr. Daniel Wiseman) was recorded for airing on Time Warner public access (Your Neighborhood Council). So watch for it on the line-up and ZD will post air dates soon.

I followed up the interview with the mayor's Review Commissioner appointee (but still a great guy, who I felt good about), with a trip Downtown to City Hall for a big NC Head Honcho meeting with heads from all the various NC agencies like DONE, BONC (Chaired by Linda "Sucks' Lucks) and Education Committee (Chaired by Mayoral Frontrunner Janice Hahn).

Some of the topics were how to generate more participation and how can the different branches better communicate with each other. (Nothing really came out of it. They didn't cover all the agenda items, and Linda "Sucks" Lucks had to leave early anyway, for this one time only special meeting. (That now has to be a two time meeting, since they didn't finish -- and Lucks had to leave early, anyway -- and she's the head of BONC, so she kinda needs to be there.)

So that brings me to the first point: I took a look at the flow chart of all the different departments that collaborate on NC. And Dr. Deming just popped out of his grave in outrage. No offense, but you have all these arrows pointing in all these different directions (and sometimes it's not clear who answers to whom between DONE, BONC, City Council, all the various committees (like Hahn's Education), City Attorney and NC Presidents.

So that's problem number TWO that must be addressed. A few people need to get together in a room and not come out until they can draw a simple flow chart of communication and accountability. I'm not trying to be a wise guy. THIS IS THE FIRST THING DR. DEMING WOULD FORCE YOU TO DO AT $50,000 AN HOUR. You cannot progress otherwise.

But that is problem number TWO, on the ZD countdown of NC inefficiency.

PROBLEMA NUMERO UNO: The spirit in which NC is embraced by the powers that be at City Hall. In other words, if the powers that be are fundamentally against the concept to begin with (because what politician wants to have to lose some of their power by having to include the actual people in the community in the decision making process) -- you don't even have a shot for all your efforts in the first place. City Hall is opposed to NC because it's no longer as easy to steamroll your campaign contributor's agendas, is it? Public accountability is a bitch, ain't it?

Something else Deming says is that it all starts at the top. (Whatever goal you are trying to accomplish.) The top (in this case Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa) sets the tone and must have the vision to create the necessary transformation.

However in this case, you have a leader who is fundamentally against the entire concept of what NC stands for. Someone was complaining to ZD this week that Antonio's former staff and supporters are very frustrated that Tony, from the mean streets of East L.A.; who used to be the voice of the pueblos; who was an accessable guy, was turned into Darth Vader (like in that final scene in the last "Star Wars") by Eli Broad and Richard Riordan. It's a very insulated environment. Same staff and same routine as Riordan.

Now everyone says Riordan was a great mayor, so he was probably a sharper guy than current mayor, and RIORDAN was turned into Darth Vader, too, by head Sith Eli Broad, since his eight year term.

Add it all up...the biggest problem Neighborhood Councils will encounter with this mayor is this :He is doing everything in his power, to diminish the power of NC. And fools, you best believe it. DO NOT BE FOOLED BY HIS PHOTO OPPORTUNITY SMILE. THOSE CHOPPERS ARE HYPNOTIZING TOOLS, LIKE THE PENGUIN USES HIS UMBRELLA, OR THAT MIND ERASER THING IN "MEN IN BLACK". (You stare into the mayors teeth, and you get hypnotized into believeing he's a good guy.) But he is there to keep as much power and control as possible, and that means stepping on the fingers and toes of the most active participants of the community, YOUR Neighborhood Council.

So he appoints people like Linda "Sucks" Lucks, who ZD INSISTS MUST BE REPLACED BEFORE YOU CAN EXPECT ANYTHING REAL AND POSITIVE TO COME OUT OF THE NC PROCESS. I REPEAT -- ZD INSISTS LUCKS MUST BE REPLACED BEFORE YOU CAN EXPECT ANYTHING REAL AND POSITIVE TO COME OUT OF THE NC PROCESS AS HEAD OF BONC. She is the mayor's c-blocker to squelch as much of the voice of the pueblos as possible.

So again, you can spend as much money as you want on NC community participation outreach...but it's as much of a "jerk-off" session as all your other "public input" sessions the Brown Act requires, but doesn't require any follow-up, feedback or action.

That's the point: You can mandate NC in the City Charter, but unfortunatley with THIS mayor, Antonio Villaraigosa, you cannot mandate community goodwill or a true spirit in with this NC process was created. In other words, the more the City is forced to actually represent the voice of the community, the less they can steamroll their own agendas (usually construction) that they are accepting huge campaign contributions to approve.

Maybe you can start cutting in the NC members with some election contributions, of their own, and you can get them to approve more high density housing next to expanding toxic waste dumps, too!