COUNCILS TO FIGHT WATER HIKES NEIGHBORHOOD PANELS RALLYING AGAINST PLAN.Byline: James Nash Staff Writer In a test of the clout of neighborhood activism in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. , leaders of advisory neighborhood councils Neighborhood councils are governmental or non-governmental bodies composed of local people who handle neighborhood problems. They can be found in many cities throughout the world. Saturday mobilized for another fight against an already approved increase in city water rates. Many of the estimated 600 neighborhood council members who attended a daylong conference at the Los Angeles Convention Center The Los Angeles Convention Center (abbreviated LACC) is a convention center in downtown Los Angeles. The LACC hosts annual events such as the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show, and was best known to video games fans as host to E3 until its cessation in 2006. sported ``Roll Back the Rate Increase'' stickers provided by supporters of state Sen. Richard Alarcon, who has made the rate increase a key issue in his campaign for Los Angeles mayor. They also signed petitions sponsored by Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, calling on City Council members to rescind the water rate hike, which took effect in June. Neighborhood council leaders won a partial victory earlier this year by persuading the city to scale back a proposed two-year, 18 percent water rate hike to one year and 11 percent. But on Saturday at the city-sponsored Congress of Neighborhoods, an event that dealt with a variety of municipal issues, leaders of many neighborhood councils citywide said they were ready to take up the water issue again after several residents sued the city over the increase, alleging that it was a hidden tax. ``Now that there's a lawsuit, I think it's revived the energy,'' said Porter Ranch Neighborhood Council President Ron Nagai. The plaintiffs argue that because the DWP DWP Department of Work and Pensions (UK) DWP Drinking Water Program DWP Dynamic Weapon Pricing (gamin, Counter-Strike: Source) DWP Department of Water & Power DWP Drinking Water Protection is transferring $239 million to the city's general fund this year - most of it from electricity revenue - any rate increase amounts to an illegal tax. Barbara Carroll Barbara Carroll (born Barbara Carole Coppersmith on January 25, 1925 in Worcester, Massachusetts) is a jazz pianist, composer and vocalist. She began her classical training in piano at eight, but by high school had decided to become a jazz pianist. , a Greater Toluca Greater Toluca or the Metropolitan Area of Toluca is the conurbation formed by Toluca, as the core city, and 12 adjacent municipalities of the state of Mexico, namely Almoloya de Juárez, Calimaya, Chapultepec, Lerma, Metepec, Mexicaltzingo, Ocoyoacac, Otzolotepec, San Mateo Lake Neighborhood Council board member, said the issue is one of a few that concern neighborhood councils citywide. ``I truly think that neighborhood councils have become more instrumental recently in getting issues out in front of the city that are of concern to the public,'' she said. ``I think this could result in some additional rollbacks.'' Neighborhood councils were formed under a 1999 City Charter amendment designed to increase local representation at City Hall. The panels have no formal authority over land use or budget issues other than the ability to spend $50,000 each in city funds. Addressing the groups Saturday, Mayor James Hahn For the Iowa politician, see . James Kenneth "Jim" Hahn (born July 3, 1950) is an American politician from the Democratic Party. He was the Deputy City Attorney (1975-1979), City Controller (1981-1985), City Attorney (1985-2001) and Mayor of Los Angeles, California promised them greater freedom in how they can spend funds and reaffirmed his intent to have the councils take part in evaluating general managers of city departments. In addition to Hahn and Alarcon, 2005 mayoral candidates Robert Hertzberg Robert Myles Hertzberg was born on November 19, 1954 in Los Angeles, California, was an attorney and businessperson, and served in the California State Assembly from 1996-2002. , Antonio Villaraigosa, Bernard Parks and Walter Moore made appearances. James Nash, (213) 978-0390 james.nash(at)dailynews.com |
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