EDITORIAL NEIGHBORHOOD REVIVAL? IT COULD BE A NEW DAY FOR LOCAL COUNCILS -- OR MAYBE NOT.MARCH could mark the beginning of a revival of Los Angeles' seven-year-old 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. system, which has lagged under weak leadership and lack of City Hall support. Or not. It all depends on whether the city's elected leaders follow through on several recent decisions, and do so with the proper care and feeding the councils need to grow into a legitimate outlet for citizen participation. The first good decision was the launching of a pilot program in which neighborhood councils get to review land-use proposals before they go before the Planning Commission Noun 1. planning commission - a commission delegated to propose plans for future activities and developments commission, committee - a special group delegated to consider some matter; "a committee is a group that keeps minutes and loses hours" - Milton Berle or City Council. This is a major concession, since neighborhood council participants had asked for pre-involvement for years instead of hearing about problem developments when it's almost too late. New developments greatly affect the city's already impacted neighborhoods. It makes sense that stakeholders Stakeholders All parties that have an interest, financial or otherwise, in a firm-stockholders, creditors, bondholders, employees, customers, management, the community, and the government. in the community have a say in the proposals. The second decision was the removal of Lisa Sarno as general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment. The third was the appointment of Carol Baker Tharp to replace her. Tharp, a scholar of neighborhood participation at the University of Southern California The U.S. News & World Report ranked USC 27th among all universities in the United States in its 2008 ranking of "America's Best Colleges", also designating it as one of the "most selective universities" for admitting 8,634 of the almost 34,000 who applied for freshman admission , has been involved in the creation and development of the city's neighborhood council system since before it appeared on the ballot. Her knowledge of neighborhood participation 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. and elsewhere makes her uniquely qualified to know what works, and what doesn't. And what hasn't worked -- for L.A.'s communities, anyway -- is the deliberate undermining of neighborhoods by City Hall. This series of changes gives the city the tools to forge a revival of its dysfunctional neighborhood council system, which some have suggested dismantling dis·man·tle tr.v. dis·man·tled, dis·man·tling, dis·man·tles 1. a. To take apart; disassemble; tear down. b. . "Now neighborhood councils have a very loud voice," says Councilwoman Janice Hahn Janice Hahn is a member of the Los Angeles City Council representing the 15th district. Hahn was elected in 2001 and reelected in 2005, running unopposed. The 15th District encompasses the Los Angeles communities of Watts, Wilmington, Harbor Gateway, Harbor City, Athens on the , who heads the Education and Neighborhoods Committee. A louder one, at least. We just hope that the city's leaders will be listening. CAPTION(S): box Box: Daily News endorsements to date |
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