A veteran community activist says that neighborhood councils are de facto excluded from participating in important decisions because notification while within legal bounds does not provide them enough time to call meetings, notify the public and to hold meaningful discussion of complex issues before the City Council and its committees. -DB

City Watch
Commentary
August 17, 2009
By Greg Nelson

By the time you read this, the Education and Neighborhoods Committee will have met and discussed the remaining recommendations of the Neighborhood Council Review Commission that the City Council hasn’t yet acted on, which is most of the 73 suggestions.

I wrote an eight-page letter to the committee with some “brief” comments for its members to consider.

The letter began with a comment, not on anything the NCRC recommended, but rather about the lack of adequate notice that this and other committees give to the public. The City Charter guarantees that neighborhood councils be given adequate time to know about, discuss, and weigh in on issues before a decision is made.  Yet, City Hall has made only a few changes to its procedures to guarantee this guaranty.

For instance, the agenda for this meeting was released to Early Notification System (ENS) subscribers on the Thursday before its Tuesday morning meeting.  That is barely more time than is the legal minimum required by the Brown Act.

As a result, it is nearly impossible for a neighborhood council to call a meeting, provide 72 hours notice, have a meaningful discussion, and offer comments or questions.

It is also impossible for CityWatch, which publishes on Tuesdays and Friday, to notify its subscribers.

And it gives individuals only two working days to review the material, ask questions, and make arrangements to attend the meeting or provide comments.

Just because the Brown Act allows agendas to be posted only 72 hours in advance shouldn’t mean that City Hall always has to wait until the legal last minute to do it.

Two weeks ago I was notified by a lobbyist of an item that would be in a committee on a specific date.  The City Clerk hadn’t been told by the committee chairman’s office what would be on the agenda so nothing was released just before the 72 hour cutoff.

I think you can see the unfairness of this process.  The lobbyists and their friends knew the day and time that the item was to be discussed, and had time to prepare.

The neighborhood councils and the public were the last ones to know.

City Hall’s age-old practice doesn’t capture the essence of an open and transparent government that values the opinions and input of the public it serves.

I made some suggestions for improvement to the committee members, including reviving a working group of neighborhood councils and city staff that suggested some enhancements to the city’s notification practices several years ago.

Greg Nelson participated in the birth and development of the LA Neighborhood Council system and served as the General Manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.

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