COUNCILS ARE CHANGING THE FACE OF DEMOCRACY.

Byline: James K. Hahn

THROUGHOUT history, the world has seen untold ideas that the so-called experts scoffed at as being unworkable. But the dreamers dreamed, the ideas flourished, and the ``experts'' have long since been forgotten.

In Los Angeles, the idea of a citywide system of powerful and influential neighborhood councils received, at best, a lukewarm reception from objective observers. And the cynics were in their element.

Now that idea is flourishing.

Los Angeles' great experiment in grass-roots participatory democracy - its new system of neighborhood councils - is surpassing expectations.

Recently, Valley Glen became the 53rd neighborhood to request recognition as an official neighborhood council. The response from neighborhoods throughout the city is on the verge of being overwhelming, but it's the kind of surprise that excites those of us who know that we must close the disconnect that has, for too long, existed between the people and their government.

We are proving that people want to become involved in their neighborhoods and in their government more than the system had ever allowed them to. We are building it, and they are coming.

When the city began implementing its plan for strengthening grass-roots participation in government last year, the prediction was that between 10 and 20 would be certified by June 30 of this year.

Today, 20 have been approved and are planning their first elections. It's a whirlwind of democracy.

For the last six months, the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, under the exceptional leadership of Greg Nelson, has been accepting and approving applications from neighborhood councils wishing to achieve official status, and receive financial support from the city with the fewest possible strings attached.

Since that time, the process has been constantly redesigned to make it easier for the public, not for the bureaucracy.

The application form itself was slashed from 20 pages to six. Filling out the original paperwork made preparing a tax return seem like something you would do for relaxation.

We have met every group's request for help with printing and mailing fliers to help them reach out to people who ordinarily wouldn't get involved in their neighborhood.

City agencies are becoming instruments of this new culture of participatory democracy, erasing the old stereotypes and making the inner workings of government transparent to the public.

Low voter turnout in recent elections may fuel the pessimists, but on any given night there are at least a half dozen neighborhood councils organizing in living rooms, churches and union halls around the city, and our community organizers are there. People will get involved if what they're doing has relevance.

People of different backgrounds, values, viewpoints and life experiences are talking with, not at, each other in order to find common causes that can unite them. They are learning that the more people interact with each other, the healthier their neighborhood and the stronger their government will be.

As we show people how City Hall works, teach the neighborhood councils how to get and use power, and create strength through diversity, we expect that they will quickly become more influential than the most powerful lobbyists.

As more neighborhood councils begin operating and working with each other as a family of neighborhoods, we expect that government in Los Angeles will reflect Daniel Webster's timeless description of the ideal government: the people's government, made for the people, made by the people, and answerable to the people.

Those who want to know how to participate should call the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment at [phone].