Wednesday, March 15, 2017

2017 - Time to Catch Up with Changes, Big and Small, Strarting Here-

Getting on to 2017

I finally took a little time to bother with finding out how to post here again and can ramble on as I feel like it since Facebook has less room for detail on most things that people just don't feel like reading.
Besides, Facebook is turning into mostly comments in the Negative realm where people just complain but never bother to give solutions or positive suggestions.

Back to local scene on LINCOLN HIGH subject-    If any memories of your LHS experience are still with you without new ones added from re-visiting as a parent, or in my case, a teacher, the days of old have largely been replaced by so much.  That includes the elimination of vocational classes from shops as well as what were called home economics. 

Here is what was changed when I was there for a couple of years to 2005:
 No more 'homerooms" that you had for the entire LHS years. Instead, roll call and announcement were done in an expanded 2nd period, whatever the  2nd period class happened to be. The "break" and regrouping of thoughts for the day and socializing with fellow students in homeroom each day was gone.   I thought was a big function of having homeroom and at least you had the same people to know for the years at LHS.

We had to have, in the 60s as I remember, 1 year of P.E. required and P.E. or sports for the rest of the semesters  which  could be substituted with ROTC.  There were lots of team sports populated by the students who chose that instead of regular P.E.   You could earn a letter in sports but not in P.E. and stay in your selected sport instead of just the P.E. activities.

That left when P.E. became something of a year or two requirement, can't remember which, and so going to the alternative of the 6th period sports was truly a choice that fewer made, weakening the population of sports teams from years past.

SCHOOL FACULTY

There was a big push by the District for getting teachers to retire as more reductions were in progress. An incentive program to make the deal sweeter was put together and many long-time faculty members pulled the pin, some a little earlier than they otherwise might have chosen, and that was that.    I can go over more about changes another time.

GETTING TO WHAT'S NOW HAPPENING-

The biggest thing to comment on now is the size of the student body, way down as more students that would be at LHS have gone to charter schools that have become so numerous, and more so in lower grades than at the high school level.  With the lower enrollment, you have less need for teachers and the 112 or so faculty that existed there in 2005, my last year at LHS, has gone down to something way lower. 

OK .    Will have to get to more another day. Many more differences at LHS that I think affect performance but will leave for another day.   City Politicians:  They continue to be weasels and disappoint, but not as disappointing as the people who register and don't vote.  Then, the ones in L.A. city (about 2 of 10 registered voters) decide to pick the SAME people that have made L.A. more expensive to live in and with a DECREASE in quality of life.  Again- leave for later post.

"Reading fatigue" is something that I noticed that students experience and I don't need to continue generating that effect right here for whoever happens to get this far in the post.   More later.

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council hosts Candidate Forum Tonight; Region 8 NCs (East/Northeast L.A.) Election Day This Saturday-

TONIGHT, CANDIDATES SPEAK- including me.




ERNC hosts a "Candidate Forum" tonight, April 22nd at 7 pm at the Center for the Arts (the original ER Branch library) on Colorado Blvd, one block west of Eagle Rock Blvd. Parking at Bank of America lot to the west, free.


I am a candidate for a new position created, "Director at Large." Two others have filed for the same office.   David Greene, current ERNC Vice President, and Keith William Black, a candidate who I have not seen before in the assorted meetings I have attended, and he appears to be much younger than either me or David Greene.  Greene's finishing his first term, elected in 2012 among the 15 of 19 new ERNC board members. 


I am very disappointed in the way he's handled information, especially leaving the ERNC website www.eaglerockcouncil.org to remain unchanged and still listing on resources, officials that are not in office or have changed districts, including "Villaraigosa" as the mayor when he left in July 2013.  It is a loss of an opportunity to reach stakeholders for little or no cost.




All the while I continue to participate in assorted groups and NC matters as a stakeholder, but not so for any current board members or new candidates.



I have seen only one other ERNC board member at the city-wide alliance, LANCC and the NC Plancheck monthly meetings.  


Further, no ERNC board member for the last 3 years attended the annual Congress of Neighborhoods, where all of the systems' 95 NCs are invited to this event, meeting our city official with training workshops and informative sessions and displays providing us with opportunities to speak with them.     




Very little participation of the NC keeps a lot of information from reaching the stakeholders, really, the ones that should be served by any NC.
 
And what am I doing and thinking that makes me a better choice for anyone's vote here?
It appears as simply "Consistency and Ongoing need for NC improvement"-


All that I see in the Eagle Rock Patch interview for the 2012 election is very much as valid now as before.  The concerns are still there.


(The link below goes to a item with several other interviews also presented, mine being the first on the page)
Check the ER Patch interview that Ajay Singh wrote for 2012's NC election and its still on the website, http://eaglerock.patch.com/groups/politics-and-elections/p/i-think-of-myself-more-as-an-ombudsman-says-ernc-presdb020b6fc5 




What I said about needed action for improvements then still holds true as little or nothing has been done to make the NC "stakeholder-friendly" and an information-source for actual empowerment, as initially a goal for the NC system.





ABOUT THE ELECTIONS FOR LOCAL NCs:


Well, the Neighborhood Councils in Region 8, the East and Northeast area, will have Election Day this Saturday, April 26, 2014.  The "day" for elections in each region is the same, but each NC can select the 6-hour period for voting. 




In Eagle Rock, voting will be 10am to 4pm. at the Eagle Rock City Hall on Colorado Blvd., at Merton Ave.    The last election was in October 2012, with the Medical Marijuana Dispensaries something of a central issue for voters, generally a concern for who would be elected to work towards more control and who would be more favorable to the MMDs.
 


On that election day, over 800 voters turned out with two slates of candidates in place, one being
"Eagle Rock Neighbors,"  for a control and restriction of the many MMDs in ER and in LA.  The other slate was the "Progressive Slate" that was first called "The Green Slate" and had some candidates with very receptive ideas on marijuana and dispensaries.   There was a concern of "outsiders" voting in the election for the Progressive candidates, and the main purpose of most voters was to repel such "outsiders."




As a note here, none of the candidates was an outsider, all living or working within Eagle Rock. Voters, on the other hand, could  vote with a simple statement of connection to ER by shopping here, evidenced by a single receipt from any store in Eagle Rock.   (That loose qualification was changed since then to require a "substantial" connection to the community).


I am on nobody's slate and, as before, consider the representation to be for the entire neighborhood and not any special group or persons, taking into account what community views are and I will share information from city sources that current ERNC members have missed by non-participation in most events over their term.   My ongoing and accumulated experience and information is what I say makes me the better candidate for this position as "At-Large Director."

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Neighborhood Council Elections in Region 8 on Sat., April 26th. Candidate filing extended for one more week.

The election day coming on April 26th for the group of neighborhood councils in Region 8, including most of east and northeast, from Eagle Rock to El Sereno to Boyle Heights, including Lincoln Heights.  Candidate registration was to end Wednesday March 12th, but extended another week since there's many NCs without enough candidates filing to make a race.




The last election was at the end of October of 2012, rushed after the City Council decided to yield to the4 protests of NCs when the Council wanted to skip the elections to save money and continue terms of then-current board members for 2 years.


The normal election period is during the springtime months of even numbered years, so 2012 was a rush to complete the elections after the City Council decided on holding elections after all.


The newcomers to the NC system were many and there still are some thinking that the current elections being held for 12 regions separately over the current months were coming early.  No, it's the 2012 elections that came late, and this is the normal election period for neighborhood councils.


A lot of people think that what the NC are about is making decisions for their neighborhoods but the NCs only have "advisory" power, and the city council is free to do whatever it wants, to consider NCs input or not.  The council members usually give the appearance that the NCs matter but not all of what happens ever follows the recommendations of an  NC.  


What I think really matters is how much lobbying is done by special interest  and the campaign funding activity that goes on and that is not noticed much by the average city person.  For that matter, most of what happens in city hall is not noticed by most people.  This condition is what most elected officials in the city like since it cuts down on anyone getting in the way of what they want to do.


There may be a lot of grumbling people after a decision is made by the City Council, but if you consider that the city elections bring out about 20% or less of the city's registered voters, you see that the majority don't even bother to vote. 


This accounts for many elections decided by 11% or less of the registered voters, with Council district turnouts for a winner being anywhere from 6 to 9 thousand votes for some districts.


Well, the NC elections will be held and the NCs have another uphill battle to get voters to participate but first, there needs to be some candidates for some selections to be presented for voters.


Unfortunately, getting the word out by any NC may not be very effective.  Outreach, communication to the neighborhood residents and businesses is supposed to be made anyway, theoretically to inform of what the city is doing and finding out what the people consider should be done.  Since that sort of outreach is not very well established by many, if not most, NCs, you see this "election outreach" as more or less starting from "square one.."


It's also a matter of asking the NC board members who want to remain in office to work against those interests by recruiting what will be their election opponents.   The extent of impact that this may have is not certain but still, it's a factor.  


More on this later.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Parade today, Sunday, As Northeast LA Veterans Day Parade Rolls Out at 1 p.m.

The annual Northeast L.A. Veterans Day Parade will begin at 1 p.m., travelling from Glassell Park Recreation Center to the L.A. River Center in Cypress Park.  Cypress Park Recreation Center will host the rest of the events at 2 p.m. and sky divers scheduled to drop in at 3 p.m.

The route this year is new and seems longer than past years.  We saw the 2012 parade travelling east through Highland Park along York Blvd., and for many years since its beginning, travelling north on Eagle Rock Blvd. from York Blvd and ending just short of Colorado Blvd.

How this new route will affect any participation and turnout is yet to be seen, but I know many of the organizers and know that a lot of hard work goes into making this happen each year, even if many local groups don't appear to support it.  I know a few of those, too.

School participation should be higher from the local area, especially at the High School level.   Eagle Rock High has for years nearly ignored making a mark here although many other schools have shown up in the past.  A disappointing result when the parade passed only a few blocks from the school for many years which eliminated transportation as a typical obstacle some schools encounter.

Franklin High's representation is consistent.  Even Hollywood High had an entry in the past.   Many elementary and middle schools have joined in to march in the parade.  Enthusiasm is readily found among entrants in the younger age ranges, although their stamina may be challenged with a long route.

The weather will be cool and clear so come on and see the parade.  Here's another reliable prediction:  Local politicians don't miss public appearance opportunities and you will find many here, from City Hall to Sacramento, setting aside all the swirling stories of scandal that have been surfacing more and more in the news.

But what else is new?  Forget that aspect for the day and honor the Vets who have contributed to the country and made sacrifices of life, limb and more, in service to the U.S.

Tuesday, November 05, 2013

A Case of an NC That Doesn't Heed It's Own Bylaws- The Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council Meets Tonight

The text below is what I posted on Facebook today, adding a typo correction or two.  There's a lot more with what ERNC does, in my opinion, but the conditions below I think are more clear for determination.  
----------------------------------------
"There's an Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council [meeting] tonight, the November monthly meeting at 7pm. There's lots that the ERNC puts in its newsletter but what I see over the year since the October 2012 NC elections is more of an operating mode that fails to be as open ("transparent") as it can and should be, especially being an NC. This resulting secrecy of activity would not happen if the NC followed the old or the current ERNC bylaws approved by DONE on June 26, 2013. (1.). Agendas and minutes not created or posted for all committees, "standing" and "ad hoc", leaving the general public (the "stakeholders") out of the loop, (2.)

"The ERNC will comply with the Ralph M. Brown Act in conducting and noticing all meetings." Bylaws, Art. V, Sec. 11, E.

And in case you think minutes and agendas are not necessary, it is further stated in ERNC's own bylaws: "D. Committee Meetings: Committee meetings are subject to and shall be conducted in accordance with the Brown Act. Minutes shall be taken at every Committee meeting."
The second sentence here specifies explicitly the need for every committee to have minutes taken.
"AD HOC" COMMITTEES THAT ARE USED VIOLATE BYLAWS
The "ad hoc" committees, often appear formed in place of the bylaws-required "standing committees," most of which have not been created.


"Section 2: Ad Hoc Committees. The Board may create Ad Hoc Committees as needed to deal with temporary issues." These are inappropriately used where a standing committees authority would encompass the subject, such as "budget" creation and putting events within the "Events"/"Outreach and Events" committee (both committee titles used in text of bylaws).

If any validity of the actions done by any ERNC "ad hoc" committee formed is still rged by ERNC, there's a violation where there is more than ONE board member on the "ad hoc" committee, then they might read their own bylaws (shown below, (in relevant part), to see the language used for years by ERNC's bylaws,

"ARTICLE VII - COMMITTEES AND THEIR DUTIES,
Section 3: Committee Creation and Authorization
B. Committee Structure:"
"Ad Hoc Committees shall be comprised of one (1) or fewer Board members and may include any interested Stakeholders."

These are but a relatively few of many problems I have observed in the ERNC's conduct of its operations that still continue even following many months after mention to board members for attention deserved by the NC as an organization, and by the stakeholders they are entrusted to represent."
----------------------------------------------------------
THE ERNC MEETING TONIGHT-
Here's a link to the Agenda for tonight's meeting:
 
Agenda items "p." and "q." each call for the formation of an "ad hoc" committee.  If the ERNC forms an "ad hoc" committee and MORE than ONE board member joins that committee, you will see the violation of the bylaw mentioned above, limiting to the composition to"one board member or less."  The rest would have to be Non-Board members.
 
The particular provision is a mystery as to why it was created as it is.   BUT more revealing is the fact that it has been in the bylaws FOR YEARS and no one commented on it, which means it wasn't noticed or understood.
 
That might be understandable, not noticing bylaws terms from an old document, EXCEPT that these were revised by the board after the October 2012 elections when a Bylaws Committee (with no agendas formed that I could find) was created to go through and REVISE the bylaws to make them UPDATED for current use.   It looks like this was plainly missed.
-------------------------------
SOME ITEMS OF NOTE THAT ARE COMING UP, BUT I don't see any mention on the Agenda nor on the ERNC Website;

1.   There's the Northeast L.A. Veterans Day Parade coming up Sunday at 1pm.  It begins at the Glassell Park Community Center (next to the Glassell Park Swimming Pool), and ending at the River Center (that used to be the old Lawry's Restaurant) at Ave 26 and San Fernando Road, with more events at the Cypress Park Rec. Center just north a few blocks.

2.  Saturday, scheduled for 10am on the 2nd Saturday of each month is the Neighborhood Council PlanCheck meeting at the Glassell Park Community Center. Michael LoGrande, Planning Department's General Manager is the scheduled guest to speak on current matters.

There's a LA Fire Department project, the "Strategic Plan," that was discussed at the LANCC meeting by the Chief and Captain handling this project that is planned to have the LAFD and the rest of the people work in a coordinated fashion to meet needs in L.A.  Survey online is available. Link to be posted later (one page) to fill in for the LAFD folks to hear your ideas and concerns.

There's more that needs attention in this NC operation but this is more than enough to digest for now.
 

Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Neighborhood Council "Leadership Academy" Presented at Glassell Park Tuesday Night; But Where Are All The NC People for Outeach and Elections?

Last night in Glassell Park, a Leadership Academy training session was held for neighborhood councils ("NCs") hosted by "EmpowermentLA" (aka "Dept. of Neighborhood Empowerment").  These are free to all to attend but designed mainly for NC boards to be able to do the best job possible with outreach and all else that NCs are supposed to do. There are 95 certified

The Glassell Park Community/Senior Center is a good local location but the Northeast region NCs tend to be no-shows for general and citywide activities (and too many very local ones, as well) as I have observed over at least the past 5 years.  Eagle Rock NC is the one I am most familiar with from serving on the board. Until the election last year, you did not find board members attending events that were outside of Eagle Rock or that were not coinciding with the monthly board meeting.  Even events held in Eagle Rock had few or none of the board members present, not including myself as present which is what I became accustomed to experiencing.

The current board, with the newly elected 14 members, has a few more persons that have shown up at some meetings other than ERNC-held meetings.    Most of these new members, however, and the few old ones, have not ventured any further from Eagle Rock than happened last term.

Last night's meeting had a relatively low turnout of NC board stakeholders or board members from the Northeast area considering (a.) the site was local, and (b.) that the material was designed to get more effective activity in the community with examples of other NCs hosting a disaster preparedness/CERT fair, jointly sponsored by numerous NC at a local LAFD station that had good support in the planning and a good attendance on the event day.

Election for NCs are coming in Spring 2014, so early election outreach training was included which covered a lot for NC to use in order to promote and to encourage candidates to register, among other things.  The presentation on how to reach people had a lot of new approaches for social media to be used in outreach and building connections to the public with information sharing.  The more traditional methods of communication, namely direct mail and other printed matter, were included, but with evolving methods of selecting the target audience with assorted sorting available that could be tailored as appropriate to the material.

The Leadership Academy training is a useful resource so that the many tools for accomplishing the tasks.  An NC thereby would not have to waste time and energy by having to start from scratch and re-inventing, or, in some cases, just discovering, the wheel.

Unfortunately, the low participation rate in overall training opportunities like this one and for many others will still not produce the improved results to the levels that are expected.  An NC and its board, not having any participants at all, leaves them missing opportunities to maximize results of the limited time any NC has to apply to activities, as well as not finding things that might very well get more results by applying what's been presented.

What's most valuable in the training being offered is having an exposure to many more choices and opportunities to  use as needed which have been used before, "tested," if you will, so that these tools will be used with a better certainty of effectiveness than simply having an NC going it alone, absent the shared experiences available here.

So, like lots of training and information sessions with the NC system, a lots of the persons and groups that could benefit or be fully informed very easily by many assorted activities will work without the assistance, and as I see it, work at a level well below what could very simply be realized for a relatively small investment of time.

And that's the way the system is, as many NCs seem to have a collective and/or individual view that no other assistance is needed and all is fine.  Unfortunately, the choice should be considered with and end to providing your stakeholders with the best service possible in place of what board members consider as personal goals and agendas that are their priorities.

Monday, October 28, 2013

Neighborhood Councils Elections- Already Been A Year Since All The Commotion In The Northeast Region.

Today is Monday, October 28, 2013 and last post here was a full year ago with the Neighborhood Council elections in the Northeast regions.

The short answer for what happened was that there were about 800 votes cast in the NC election in ERNC's case, with 2 "slates" of candidates present that were in opposition.

It was the "Eagle Rock Neighbors" slate, if I recall the name correctly, and the former "Green Slate," later renamed as "The Progressive Slate" getting the majority of voting activity.

It broke down to be about a concern over "outsiders" voting in the election under the qualification of the "factual basis" category.   The Progressive Slate, having first chosen the name of The Green Slate, created the controversy which centered on the Medical Marijuana Dispensaries that proliferated in the area.  The Green Slate had a general idea of accepting the MMDs as useful for the medically needy persons that were able to benefit from the herb.

The problem in Eagle Rock was that, aside from the many MMDs present, the customers often made themselves less than welcome in many instances by smoking their purchases in their cars, often on adjacent side streets, and this was day or night, accompanied  by other annoying behavior.

In many cases, it looked as if there was more "recreational" than "medically needy" customers, and these were the ones that were responsible for the annoying or offensive  behavior.

So, even with the change to the Progressive Slate name, the idea of a group of candidates supporting the "offending" element that the MMDs represented, and to see that slate as being the victors in the election was too much to accept by many of the ER residents and established opponents to the uncontrolled MMDs in operation.

There were five candidates for president and most of the other offices had more than one person running.  There was a candidate forum that had about 2/3 of the candidates show up to speak, with the views on the MMDs being very much a central concern of the small audience that heard them.

The responses by the candidates were generally in agreement that there needed to be some order and regulation set up to control what was turning out to be a lot of rogue operations; setting up shop without any approvals of any sort from the city government.   Additionally, part of the Neighbors Slate momentum was derived from the fears of the NC being taken over by outsiders to the neighborhood.  The truth was that practically all of the candidates were residents of Eagle Rock, or satisfied the qualification of "working" here, as was the case for Mr. Posada, Principal of Eagle Rock Elementary, who ran successfully for "Public Safety Director."

The "fear" part of the perceived "outsiders" could be traced simply to the announcement early in the candidate recruitment period of a Green Slate candidate who was a solid supporter of the marijuana dispensaries. His short item of interest, placed in the monthly Boulevard Sentinel, carried the news that the customers of the MMDs, being eligible to vote by reason of being consumers or shoppers in the area, would be a source of hundreds or more votes. I think he even said it could be potentially in the thousands.

And that was all that was needed to mobilize the opposition to keep that from happening.  Our last Neighborhood Council election two years before that was visited by less than a hundred voters in total, so the dimensions envisioned by that Green Slate candidate seemed to be a huge threat to the opposition.

So what happened just a short time before the election day was that the City Attorney's office issued an opinion that concluded that the MMD customers were not eligible to vote as planned due to the nature of the MMDs, operating in an illicit manner of some sort or another, but that business would not be legal for customers to use as a basis for voter eligibility.   It was an opinion and not a ruling of any tribunal, and resistance was voiced to the questioned level of authority that the opinion carried.

So as far as the election results turned out, the two slates had their Presidential candidates collect over 300 votes each, while there remaining 3 other candidates for the office pulled in votes something like 45, 55 and 65, or roughly that sort of spread, with me fitting in the middle of these other two, one a fellow ERNC board member and the other, essentially an unknown who said he recently sold some software endeavor for three million dollars and espoused views based his own economic models that I saw as purely social theory but untested locally and likely to remain that way.

OUTCOME
There were two from the Progressive Slate that were successful in this election.  Overall, it was about 14 or 15 new people gaining a seat on the Board that had 18 or 19 total seat. there were 3 members re-elected and the past president was retained by default, as the "Immediate Past President."

So this new board has been in place since November 2013 (make that "2012"), with most of them from my recollection, not having attended any NC meetings and thus being new to the process and the rules.  The two members coming from the Progressive Slate have turned out to be relatively active board members, venturing outside the geographic boundaries of the neighborhood for other meetings, a marked contrast from what earlier versions of the ERNC demonstrated.

It would be very difficult to even recall those original hopes and fears that drove so many to vote in the ERNC election last year.     The question for the next election will be whether those high numbers of voters was any indication a continued interest of the neighborhood in supporting NC candidates or a response simply to "intruders" and some threatened takeover notion.

2014 NC ELECTIONS
The two year election term is coming to an end in Spring 2014 when the city's NCs will be going through the elections over the course of 3 months. 

Saturday, October 13, 2012

Robert Guevara- A History of Participation- No other candidate or current ERNC board member has more than a couple of such examples.


ROBERT GUEVARA, Candidate for ERNC President
Partial History of relevant experience for Neighborhood Council
In most cases, there were no or few ERNC board members appearing.
 
*  LANCC, “Los Angeles Coalition of Neighborhood Councils,” I attend monthly meetings, beginning with contacts in 2009 and am a regular participant- the only one from the ERNC.
 
*  Event:  2010, City Hall, Dept. of Neighborhood Empowerment, open house and information session.
 
*  City Council Budget and Finance Committee meeting, Chair: CM Paul Krekorian, CM Jose Huizar, and CAO Miguel Santana, at Women’s 20th Century Club, Eagle Rock.
 
*  City Council Committee Meeting re: Neighborhood Councils, City Hall, Chaired by CM Bernard Parks.
 
*  Budget Representative for ERNC, 2010, 2011, 2012, attending meetings at City Hall, elected Budget Advocates for each year.
 
*  Attended Mayor’s Budget Day at City Hall, 2010, 2011, 2012, city wide event with presentation of report by Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates.
 
Meetings-
*  Attended meetings of other Neighborhood Councils, Historic Highland Park NC, Glassell Park NC, Lincoln Heights NC, and LA-32 NC (El Sereno).
 
* Attended Dahlia Heights awards ceremony as an ERNC representative and attended the Dahlia Heights 2012 Ice Cream Social community event.
 
* Attended Open House for 710-Freeway planning and comment event at Eagle Rock Elementary School.
 
* Attended the dedication of the Van de Kamp Community College campus on Fletcher Drive.
 
* Attended NC PlanCheck meetings in 2011 and 2012, City Planning Dept. presentations on upcoming changes
 
* Budget LA meetings of NC and other city activists.
 
* NECA meetings, (“Northeast L.A. Councils Alliance”) in Silverlake, 2012 presentations by Zev Yaroslavsky, L.A. County Supervisor, and representative on LAUSD Redistricting.
 
* NELA meetings, (“NorthEast LA” coalition of Neighborhood Councils.)
 
* Dept.of Neighborhood Empowerment 2012 Elections, Region 8 meeting-Glassell Park, candidate information and training meetings, Glassell Park, Highland Park, Lincoln Heights.
 
* 2010 City Election, attended CD-14 Council Candidate forums with CM Jose Huizar and Rudy Martinez,
a. hosted by Arroyo Seco Neighborhood Council,
b. in Glassell Park by the Glassell Park Homeowners Improvement,
c. and hosted by TERA and ERNC in Eagle Rock.
 
* 2010 Elections, member of the L.A. Clean Sweep organization with a major goal to have qualified candidates challenge incumbents in the “even-numbered” council districts.
 
* Attended the 2010, 2011 and 2012 Congress of Neighborhood Councils, the annual city-wide meeting for the city’s 95 certified Neighborhood Councils.
(I was the only ERNC board member attending in 2010 and 2012; one other ERNC board member attended in 2011).
 
* Attended DWP informational meetings in 2012 and some meetings of the DWP committee preceding the LANCC meetings.
 
* Attended Lummis Day annual event in 2011 as ERNC representative.
 
* Attended each of the Northeast L.A. Veterans Day Parades each November 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011.
 
*Attended 2012 Primary Election L.A. District Attorney Forum, KPCC studio, Pasadena.
 
*Attended 2012 L.A. District Attorney Debate, August, 2012, LAPD Auditorium. Jackie Lacey and Alan Jackson for Nov. election.
 
 
* Eagle Rock Park, Concerts in the Park, 2011, 2012 as ERNC rep.
 
* National Night Out 2010, 2011 (2012 date conflict with D.A. debate downtown).
 
* KPCC Forum with former City Department head, Austin Beutner, KPCC studio, Pasadena.
 
*Attended various City Council meetings at City Hall downtown.
 
*Attended series on government, at City Hall, hosted by CM Jose Huizar
 
*Attended City Hall panel meeting on campaign funding issues, hosted by L.A. Downtown News
 
*Attended CD-14 Council member Jose Huizar “State of Town” address for 2010, 2012 (no “address” in 2011).
 
*Attended Eagle Rock Music Festival, 2009, 2010, 2011, ERNC booth.
 
*Attended 2012 Primary Election, Candidate Forum for Assembly District 51
Candidates:  Luis Lopez, Jimmy Gomez, Arturo Chavez and Oscar Gutierrez appeared. TERA as primary host.
 
*Attended L.A. City Redistricting meeting at Occidental College, 2012.
 
*Attended presentation by Eagle Rock High School, Principal Velasco with faculty member, joined by presentation from City Controller Wendy Greuel at Occidental College.
---------------------------
And attended the Regular meetings of the ERNC Board and Executive Committee since joining the ERNC in April 2009.

Vote Today-Robert Guevara - Candidate for ERNC President


The View from the ERNC Candidate Forums This Week

by

Robert Guevara - Candidate for ERNC President

Election Saturday, Oct. 13, 2012- 10am-4pm

Eagle Rock City Hall, Colorado at Maywood


 
(Note: This was a post that I thought would be up way earlier in the day, Friday, in the Eagle Rock Patch.com, than whenever if ever it finally appears.  Part of this delay is my doing for being slow in finishing the writing.  And part is due to a computer operating in the tired mode, just when some speedy changes would help.  Since I did write this, I might as well post it now.  It wasn’t supposed to be a post-election commentary but it may come to that.  The ideas and views still stand as I have them now.)

----------------------------------------

The live Candidate Forum on Tuesday and the Eagle Rock Patch online reporting and Forum helped to sort out the many candidates for Saturday’s ERNC election. I am running for President after 3 years on the board. I appreciated the opportunity to share my views and hear those of the other candidates. 

Here is what I want to fill in about the area that supplies more direct information on the subject of the Purpose of the NC.  Also I want to show some reasons I think I would be the best choice for President over any of my opponents, most of whom I have come to know and like over the years working with them.

Funding Concerns with the ERNC Budget

A big part of the questions posed by the live and the online forums were in connection with the funding that the ERNC receives annually from the city, a current level of $37,000, with the same amount going to each of the 95 NCs.  There has been a yearly cut for the last 3 years with more expected in the future based on the city’s precarious financial condition.

The responses of candidates showed the assortment of views about the purposes and goals of the NCs and few of them reflected what the ERNC’s connection to the city government is or should be.  I think there was a lot of misinterpretation of the system, but I have had years now of working in this particular area of interest.

There were many questions about “funds” and the ways that the money from the ERNC’s annual budget should be handled from the candidate’s perspective. This might have been a validation to candidates that funding is a primary purpose of the NCs over working in the area of involving all stakeholders, not just the funded entities.

 The questions produced a variety of proposals, usually focused on improving one or more aspects of life in Eagle Rock, with programs or projects considered for that purpose.  These were all for getting to a better level of conditions in Eagle Rock, but still leaving our interaction with the city government untouched.

 NC Purpose- In The Beginning

My view is more a reflection of the basic purpose of the NC system as the short statement as the purpose of neighborhood councils presents it:

“To promote more citizen participation and make government more responsive to local needs.”-  Los Angeles City Charter, Article IX

We still are in an “advisory” capacity, but fully authorized to act as such by the City Charter, the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment and several major reportson the system have this as the foundation for the system’s creation.

- A USC Policy Brief from 2007 shows one extensive study still applicable on operations of the neighborhood councils.

The priority for the NC system as shown in the many documents about the NC manner of administration is the accomplishment of outreach to facilitate the City Charter description, a goal all in itself.

Any funding actions in the nature of grants from the local NCs are secondary to all else that connects to the task of being responsive to the stakeholders and voicing the concerns to the city council.  The funding side of things is done at the discretion of each neighborhood council, within the parameter set for eligibility, which were very loose until this year when the mandatory use of the NPG, the Neighborhood Purposes Grant applications was enforced.

We have a condition now where funding is the considered purpose that NCs are to serve while outreach is more of a condition that will presumably occur on its own.  After 10 years in existence as a neighborhood council, the stakeholders’ continuing lack of knowledge of the NCs, even as to its existence in some instances, shows very well that this is not the case.  The impact of outreach is achieved by directly working toward accomplishing it as the Election effort demonstrated can be done.

Personal Experience as a Qualification Factor - Both as independently chosen actions and as an ERNC Representative.

Some reasons for getting your vote include being the only past or current board member with a history of participation in the wider scope of activities in city’s NC system.  I like to stay informed on relevant events and conditions affecting us on the NC level.  The overall topic of city government activity is a particular interest of mine. 

I have a better perspective on what the city government is about from hearing from our officials, representatives and the critics as well as the many peers that have developed an expertise in understanding and working within the system.

I have been the only ERNC member attending the several events over the years, as well as related but voluntary events.  I have been an ERNC Budget Reps for the Community and the Mayor’s Budget Days each year as part of the NC involvement with the annual city budget planning, electing the NC Budget Advocates who do further work to produce recommendations that are presented to City Council

My participation in LANCC, “Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition,” has been immensely helpful in understanding the system and the ongoing issues that the NCs are facing individually and system wide.   I think we need to be involved with the city government operations more than just what the past ERNC activity has focused upon. 

Along with becoming more informed on issues and events, I have met many people who provide me information of all types, many of them being from other NC across the city.  The acquaintances and friendship made along the way is another beneficial impact of the efforts, as we all want to have a better city.  We share a lot of views, what we think and what we learned, all to help make improvement.  Collective progress and impact is a result of the LANCC meetings, as well the other events and meetings that happen less frequently.

Miguel Santana, the Chief Administrative Officer for the city, spoke much earlier in the year and said that when he came on board, the city was “ hair’s breadth from bankruptcy.”  Now this was from a guy that knows and the story from the Mayor at that same time was totally different, all going to show that what is said at the time and what is true for that time do not always match, and with the city, the mismatches are many.

 A lot of what can be learned comes from the participants themselves from there own presentations and there’s not much to compare being there in-person to size up things by how it is being said and what is not said, as well.   So attending meetings can have a useful purpose and most of the time there’s something gained from them, if only to be sure of how deceitful a person can be to the public and not be affected by that.

Participation and Representation in Events Has Value

I attended the kickoff election meeting for the 8 NCs of Region 8 in Glassell Park as well as three more training and candidate information sessions.

 Even as to elections, no one on ERNC’s current election committee used the opportunity from these meetings to employ the techniques presented, and as far as I know, they still had not met Terrence Gomes, the Region 8 Independent Election Administrator, the “IEA,” who was present at each of these meetings.

Aside from missing the opportunity to learn diverse outreach approaches and hearing more on marketing aspects, the personal contacts are not made with city personnel in attendance, ranging from staffers to department heads that are there to make their own presentations.

Forming Alliances for Better Representation

Despite the uniqueness and warmth of community generally here in Eagle Rock, an awareness of and involvement with the operational side of city is needed to keep Eagle Rock and the Northeast L.A. area represented to preserve and promote what is important to us. There was little concern in the past for collaborating and joining with other neighboring NCs until now.  There are 37 NCs covered in the large Valley Alliance of Neighborhood Councils, “VANC,” an influential group outside of the formal city system and created by voluntary participation.

 Motivating the Creation of an NC System

A major cause for creating the NCs system came from the conditions where San Fernando Valley considered seceding from the city. There was a widely held view that the level of city services and quality of representation were disproportionately poor when considering the money that the city was collecting in fees and taxes in the Valley.  In short, we now have 95 certified NCs in the city system that grew from heading off the drastic goal that this dissatisfaction might have produced.

 A Part of City Government

Very little discussion by candidates on Tuesday even touched upon the nature of the NCs as part of the operation of city government or the interaction done with the city at the NC level, which is a principal reason for the formation of the NC system.  More time was spent on the preferred applications of the available funding if the candidate was to be elected. 

Each NC has the outreach aspect of NC operations as the most challenging part of operations, some to a greater degree than others. The recent election outreach shows what progress can be achieved in reaching more people when it is done by purposeful action. Spending first on projects and programs still does not address the “representative” part of having an NC exist, putting the cart before the horse, as those “in the know” would be more likely to have access to funding that heretofore was generously made available, to the extent that outreach did not really suffer because it was not actually part of the plan. Again, by “gifting” among the community recipients by the NC, it was rationalized that the NC was doing that purpose, i.e., an interpretation something like, “We reached out.  Look what the money got.”  And really, the public was not one bit more in touch with the NC or getting better informed on how city services could be handled any differently than before, since no input on the public’s behalf was made due to “no input” being sought by the NC in the first place.

So I am probably being more harsh than the situation calls for but when there is no recognition of real priorities or the need to touch base with constituents every once in a while, the local operation really leave you with a big feeling of frustration.  It is probably due to the fact that I go to meetings where members of other NCs have similar tales and some others have some successes that are shared that keeps me in the picture.  I know there’s a better way.

 The idea that was circulated today about dedicating a seat on the board to be the “factual basis” representative was an approach to counter NC takeovers non-resident groups that I learned about from the LANCC discussions a few years ago.  I presented a proposal to fill a long vacant Business Director seat. The idea was about taking action after “x” months unfilled, with an “At-Large director” appointment who would “continue until the next election at which time the seat would revert to the original category.”

 

That was an idea from a discussion during a LANCC meeting, probably arising at the same session as the dedicated “factual basis seat.”  Bringing that idea up at the ERNC meeting got the equivalent of a pat on the head and “run along now, we have to move on.”  So we moved on.  Now, in true retrospect, it’s one of those things that might have been useful had there been a climate more receptive to the suggestions made for better management of the NC rather than get a big helping of resentment for bringing up ideas from outside sources and not from ourselves on these things.

 ERNC Funding Realities

Unfortunately, the FY 2012-2013 budget’s available funds will be around $11,000 according to a statement made last Tuesday. 

Aside from ideas of funding and a limited ability to do so, the real purpose of the money is to provide the town halls for community views to be aired, for costs like the ones encountered in the election outreach so that all stakeholders will be included in what information is being disseminated.

 The budget for the NCs was created to enable each NC to be able to cover overhead and to pursue the task of outreach to establish the connection to the community and be able to provide the information as the City Charter authorized all this to happen. 

Another area that has not been visited in years by the ERNC is disaster preparedness, something of an area of concern brought to our attention in the power outage following the windstorms nearly of the past year.  Earthquakes continue to be another preparation area.  Information sessions and fairs have been conducted by other NCs. 

To add to the explain current ERNC spending for this FY, consider that the Eagle Rock Music Festival last week used $7,500 as one lump sum funding. This same funding amount was made last year when our budget was $40,500.  I tend to be the conservative one on the board and could not support these levels.  We have reduced funding and an exposure for more assorted overhead expenses to arise.   We had a discussion 2 years ago at a prior funding request whereby we suggested seeking other private donations based merit and popularity of the Festival. The result would be to gather the funding sought and reduce its need to request ERNC’s limited funds.

Learning About the City and Issues

My interest in the Neighborhood Council activity comes from my concern over the management style of the city in local government and its resulting impact on us all.

Over years of observing and being involved in the NC system, I learned that our city officials were not really doing many things with the constituent’s best interest in mind. My agenda is simply to share with others that information that many try to hide and to give to others who may be too busy to find what is being done by City Hall’s professional politicians so that we can have a better quality of life and intentionally so, not depending on City Hall working it in when convenient.

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Some good sources for information that many do not notice-  the L.A. Weekly, the L.A. Times and the L.A. Daily News are but a few of the sources of information about the city.   Deeper examination on city actions is provided by several major activist blogs that include CityWatch, RonKayeLA and Mayor Sam’s, with several others providing varied news about city hall and beyond.  The politicians and their staffs keep up with these sources, too.