As mentioned below in the earlier posting, I am running for the office of President of the ERNC.
If you want to see who else is runnng, and some voting information from the ERNC web site, see LINK.
My response that was posted in the
Eagle Rock Patch II today as "Meet the Candidates" posted here- kind of long, but something that tells you what the plans for improving the Neighborhood Council are about and why.
See
Eagle Rock Patch Part I more candidate responses.
THE OFFICIAL SITE from Empower LA Election page-
Click here to read the personal statements of the candidates on the EmpowerLA website.
The
Eagle Rock Patch online published responses for those candidates who responded and all candidates had the same opportunity to share their views but apparently, not all chose to participate.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Guevara, Candidate for ERNC President
Responses
to Eagle Rock Patch “CANDIDATE QUESTIONS” for 10-9-12:
1. What do you think accounts for the
unprecedented interest in the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council elections this
year?
There
was generally a more concerted effort this year than in the 2010 NC elections
to promote the opportunity for stakeholders to file as candidates for the
elections among the 95 certified neighborhood councils this year, with the
administration of these elections in the hands of the Department of
Neighborhood Empowerment. The City
Clerk’s office handled the 2010 elections for the neighborhood council
system. The contrast in the numbers
filing for offices in the ERNC’s election had a lot to do with the local impact
of the matter of Medical Marijuana Dispensary issues, the changing approaches
to regulation, as well as the laws and state court decisions that were made
over recent time. Add to that the
assorted views held by persons and groups within the local community and the resulting
strong polarization produced, and the ERNC election appeared as an appropriate
opportunity for influencing the situation accordingly by office seekers.
2.
What, in your view, is the purpose of a
Neighborhood Council?
The
Los Angeles City Charter, at Section 900, recites the purpose of the
neighborhood council system very succinctly, “To promote more citizen
participation in government and make government more responsive to local needs,
a citywide system of neighborhood councils, and a Department of Neighborhood
Empowerment is created.”
Over
time, I think that the purpose of the NC system has evolved to something that
ranges from a loose adherence to these terms, to a condition where an NC, both
board and stakeholders alike, consider the funding activity, the
higher-visibility component of operations, to be its main function. The original purpose of NCs thereby is not
being accomplished and stakeholders’ interaction with the mayor and city
council has not been advanced as the plan for NCs intended.
3. What kind of changes would you like to
introduce in Eagle Rock if you’re elected to the Eagle Rock Neighborhood
Council?
In
the capacity of President of the ERNC, I see that we would benefit as a
community by turning to the purpose of the NC system for a goal, for working to
get views of stakeholders become the basis for decisions of the NC board where
now those decisions are more strongly based on the views of the individual
board member. Our actual contact with
stakeholders is nowhere near where it should and could be with better use of updates
to our web site. Motivating more
activity of board members in the events ERNC sponsors where we can meet the
public will be a good start.
I
would like to start with some approaches that have not been regularly used over
the 3 years I have been on the board, and these are in furtherance of the items
I stated above and they are not complicated, controversial or involving any
significant expense. The President has
the role of motivating the board to achieve its duties. There are duties involved, even as
“volunteers,” and working to implement committees now dormant and getting
stakeholders working on committees is a significant “involvement” that other
NCs experience.
There
are a lot more specific items but, in brief, the ERNC board has to work to
serve the stakeholders of Eagle Rock as its connection to city government for
the benefit of the stakeholders. Better representation at City Hall was a
motivation for the creation of the system and that still remains as a need,
even after many NCs have celebrated 10 years in operation.
4. Eagle Rock has some tremendous resources many
other neighborhoods lack—two broad boulevards, two sprawling public parks, good
schools, to name a few. Which of Eagle Rock’s major assets do you think are
well utilized? Which do you think are underused—and what would you do to
utilize their full potential as a member of the ERNC?
The
stakeholder population in Eagle Rock includes business owners and their
employees. That is sizeable in
comparison to other NCs that have a less significant presence of a business
population. As mentioned in the
question, the noted resource features that we have in Eagle Rock are recognized
as part of the reasons for living in Eagle Rock.
In
order to answer your question more appropriately, we, the ERNC, should be
taking in comments from the stakeholders, as individuals and groups or
organizations, on their concerns and then we can move forward with that
information as a basis. The ERNC is not
any single organization to be a ruling factor in the area, nor should we be,
but we are a part of the whole.
The
ERNC is the only local group as the City Charter authorizes, to be directly
connected to the city government and that aspect should be our focal point in
acting. We should be coordinating activities and cooperating with the community
individuals and groups to determine what areas need attention and apply a
priority for attention as appropriate to the ERNC’s ability and authority.
We
should be representative in affecting ordinances, city services and other
municipal functions as our advisory jurisdiction so extends. The early notification provision for the
city to inform NCs in order for responses to be made to the city on behalf of
stakeholders is still not established, although part of the plan for NCs. There
is a coalition of NCs, LANCC, working on better interaction. The LA NC Budget Advocates is one
accomplishment, with its function and importance in budget considerations
rising each year.
5. Do you think corporate businesses such as
Target and Starbucks are good for the community—or do you think they harm the
interests of small businesses? Do you think Eagle Rock needs a judicious mix of
mom-and-pop shops and corporate-owned stores?
Corporate
entities are not good or bad, per se. They can be large and influential and
that may threaten what residents and existing businesses believe is good for
the area. There can be a balance and some planning applied to come to the best
result for both the establishment of large stores and the small businesses. An awareness of the community and
involvement by the large corporate style businesses helps to benefit the
area. The setting of the Eagle Rock
Plaza has followed the format of many malls, with large stores being the
anchors and smaller enterprises occupying smaller spaces, and many of the
tenants being a mix of corporate small store franchises as well as independent
stores.
A
blanket judgment would be a flawed way to approach the local situation. The case-by-case consideration would be a
better way to evaluate what impact a particular business type would create here
and then consider what would be needed if problems appear.
6. What’s your view about land use issues in
Eagle Rock? Do you think Eagle Rock’s community leaders are too tough on
businesses looking to open in the neighborhood?
In
the context of the ERNC, our Land Use committee is very useful to bring out the
concerns of the community and the businesspersons. It may not be a perfect condition but it is a component that
allows early examination of proposed changes, both small and large. There is a
specific plan, the Colorado Specific Plan, which applies to the area, one of
many “specific plans” that exist among communities in the city. I am not involved in that committee and as a
committee purpose, its members have developed their own level of expertise to
produce recommendations on business changes in Eagle Rock.
If
there is a matter of being “too tough” on potential openings of businesses
here, I think there’s a lot of responsibility for that coming from the way the
City of L.A. handles businesses across the city, with the idea of being
“business friendly” as some on the city council like to say, not by any means a
universally accepted condition. That may be what could be a larger reason for
problems, with the included “red tape” not being any source of enjoyment for
anyone, either.
7. How would you use the Neighborhood Council’s
limited funds for projects in the community? Which areas—neighborhood
beautification, public safety, youth programs, for example—would you like to
prioritize?
I
think our representative function would have to inquire with various
stakeholders for their views on priorities.
All of the mentioned areas have value, and how this should be determined
is the question.
We,
as NC members would or should be responsive to input and priorities expressed
by stakeholders and take that into account in establishing priorities for
action. That still is not to say the NC
should be acting only on what surveys or polls dictate, but what we do now is
not based on fully exploring the stakeholders’ concerns as much as it is based
on what we personally believe should be their concerns.
A
leadership role should include responsiveness to what the constituency voices,
but consider, too, that there should be an expectation of conflicts arising
among the views presented. A
one-size-fits-all solution is probably not going to be the answer. That is where further discussions are needed
in seeking solutions.
8. Do you think a Neighborhood Council should
spend its funds in ways that benefit every community member? Or do you think a
Neighborhood Council with limited funds has to necessarily be selective about
backing certain projects at the expense of others?
Funding
as part of the establishment of the NC system, was conceived to be there for
achieving the purposes of the NCs.
Ours, like many among the 95 certified NCs in the system, spend a lot of
time in meetings on funding requests, the function and the amounts as variables
among them. We have had successive
funding reductions for the past three fiscal years, 10 percent, 10 percent and
8-plus percent, or coming down from the initial $50,000 annual funding, to
$45,000, to $40,500, and now at a $37,000 level.
Funding
caps have been made in some NCs, as a few have set a $2,000 maximums, while
ERNC has none. Our 2012 Eagle Rock
Music Festival was granted $7,500, and an equal amount was granted for 2012’s
Music Festival when our budget was $3,500 higher. The choices were between making the expenditure for a one-time
event by the ERNC vs. having the Event make its own efforts seeking private
donations over the preceding year in lieu of the ERNC funding. This was
discussed over 2 years ago at the time the 2010 Music Festival funding request
was made and I was in the minority in trying to conserve funds.
From
the budget funding allotted by the City Council each year, an NC should cover
some overhead expenses and work on “outreach” to the stakeholders so that the
“representation” part of the system happens.
Stakeholders of many but not all NCs, are in the majority of those who
are not aware of what an NC is supposed to do or sometimes are not aware of the
NC at all. That is the responsibility
of each NC to address, but since it’s not any exciting part of the job, little
attention goes to that end as I observe.
There
was an article written in the Highland Park-Mt. Washington Patch by David
Fonseca, the July 3, 2012 on
Neighborhood Councils’ effectiveness (http://highlandpark-ca.patch.com/articles/neighborhood-councils-how-effective-are-they
) showing some good points on the funding situations as well as a few problem
other NCs have encountered. A few parts
had me identify with the presented scenarios where the funding requestors were
a big part of the typically small audiences at meetings. ERNC has not had some of the problems other
NCs have had, fortunately, and we do run well in that regard.
However,
as an area for attention, we have never had a “Budget & Finance Committee”
in the 3 years I have been on the board to vet funding requests. Instead, we
evaluate at the time the request is made and decide most requests at that same
meeting, spending a lot of meeting time on funding issues.
The
B&F committee, one of many in the Bylaws, would help produce a more
complete evaluation of the funding requests.
It also would have stakeholder involvement expanded in producing
recommendations, as committee membership is open to stakeholders. We could apply some comparative merit for
competing request for available funds instead of the “fund until the money runs
out” approach.
Actual
outreach is not being accomplished now in the best way by these approaches.
Funding is not, in my opinion, done in the most fair and effective manner. The will to change this has not risen to a
level among the board to change things to this date. My experiences at other NC coalition meetings have shown me other
ways that would improve our performance and impact with City Hall.
Let
me just say that providing funding to any particular group, while useful for
achieving the individual purposes, does not produce another stakeholder with
any more understanding of what our council members or mayor happen to do that
affects us all- and that could happen with just following the City Charter’s
descriptions. THAT to me is our current
failing in expending funds that should be for that purpose of being a conduit
between the stakeholders and the city hall, including our CD-14 representative
there.
Again,
there should be a balance between true outreach and funding action in the
community. By saying we have accomplished outreach by some “funding action” is
either a rationalization or truly misunderstanding the operation of outreach
that the City Charter and neighborhood council plans intended.
9. Would you be willing
to tap private and nonprofit organizations to raise funds for community projects? What expertise, if any—in grant writing, for example—do you have
for fundraising?
While we are not specifically grant writers nor do we have
that duty as board members, the assistance envisioned in your question where we
can direct to other sources of funding is not new. Personally, I “write” but I
am not a grant writer. We did fund TERA
at the last meeting for the employing the services of a grant writer for
pursuit of greater funding for more of the goals of “Take Back The Boulevard.”
I mentioned the “alternate source” of funding
as a suggestion during a meeting back about 6 months or more when the Principal
of Rockdale Elementary made a funding request that would be useful for them but
not absolutely essential- in my own opinion- at the time. A discussion began about developing some
manner of finding alternate sources of funding and working more as a board to
use that as an alternative to direct funding.
Dan Law, Youth Director at that time, had some suggestions for that
style of assistance. As I recall, some
funding, possibly in full, was approved that night, and alternate funding
sources remains as an area for consideration.
10. If elected, what would you like to see
as your biggest success as a member of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council?
I
would like to see a cooperative board, open to suggestions from each other and
the stakeholders so that this organization can reach a level of contact by
actual “outreach” so people understand what the ERNC does and can do for them,
and that they make use of this organization.
I
want to accomplish the joining other NCs in the local region, a move away from
our current posture as an isolationist board, evidenced by low participation in
even minimal NC actions.
I
already know many board members from other NCs, as well as city officials and
staff, as well as many department heads, and I am meeting more all the time as
I continue to attend events and meetings related to city issues. Some meetings are part of the NC service and
many are from my personal interest in gaining more information. I am not an expert in a lot of things about
the city, but I have become friends with many who are experts or at least very
well versed in particular topics to teach me more.
By grouping together a number of NCs, our voice in City Hall will be
less likely to be ignored as our numbers grow.
That would be better representation for our stakeholders and their
concerns.
Posts
