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LANCC Minutes

LANC CONGRESS
March 3, 2007
L. A. DWP Building
111 N. Hope Street, Los Angeles

MINUTES

1. Meeting was called to order at 10:45am by Chair, Brady Westwater

Roll Call: Delegates from the following member Neighborhood Councils were present: Bel Air Beverly Crest, Central San Pedro, Coastal San Pedro, Downtown LA, Encino, Granada Hills North, Greater Griffith Park, Harbor Gateway South, Historic Highland Park, Lincoln Heights, Mar Vista, Midtown North Hollywood, North Hills West, Northridge West, Pico Union, Silver Lake, Studio City, Tarzana, Valley Village, West Hills, West Los Angeles, West Van Nuys/Lake Balboa, Westchester/Playa del Rey, and Woodland Hills-Warner Center.

2. The minutes were unanimously approved as presented.

3. Under public comment, George Garrigos, Palms NC, stated they had been successful in keeping open areas and a 20 foot set back in planning for their area. Pico Union did a major clean up. Daniel Wiseman said that Carol Baker-Tharp would be at the E&N meeting Tuesday at 10am. He also wants to see the NCs solve problems in the NCs by conflict resolution. Tommy Thompson said that he was locked out of their meeting building by the City.

4. The cost of the Congress of Neighborhoods is still at $169,000. Coastal San Pedro has passed a resolution condemning this excessive sum. Doug Epperhart stated that Janice Hahn is hiding from the huge development in their area. A transportation study by DOT was deemed bogus. The basic structure of counting traffic is not working. He suggested that NCs send emails to Councilwoman Hahn asking why she is not working with the NCs on this.

5. Brady Westwater stated that he felt Carol Baker-Tharp will be great as the new head of DONE. Motion was made and seconded that Ms. Baker-Tharp be invited to attend a Congress meeting. It passed unanimously.

6. The LA Times’ city portal pages will cover the NCs. They want to carry more stories regarding NCs.

7. The UNCOLA is still not certified by the IRS, but has been certified by the state. Community Partners will help fund the Congress until the grants come in.

8. The DWP-MOU Board reminded delegates that every NC must vote on the proposed MOU changes.

9. Gale Goldberg will be the keynote speaker at the Saving Los Angeles event on March 18. Over the long term, the history museum will branch out into the city.

10. NCs know their communities and want to be partners in budgeting, with more emphasis on needs-based budgeting. Sally Choi is the new Budget Director for the city. NCs have the potential to have a great impact on future budgets. They gave both problems and solutions to the mayor. The city has said that the trash fee increase was for the general fund and is not being used for police.

11. Len Shaffer reported that a meeting with Gwen Poindexter regarding her letter concerning the Congress has been re-scheduled. He is hoping to come to a compromise on the issue.

12. The six NCs in CD3 will experiment with all of them holding their elections on the same day. They will coordinate outreach and six IEAs. They want to see if this will increase participation in these areas.

13. Motion was made, seconded, and passed unanimously to change the date of the next Congress meeting to March 31.

14. Motion was made, seconded, and passed to create an Animal Welfare Committee with Charlotte Laws as its chair.

15. The Transportation Committee will work on reducing traffic.

16. The Home Show did a great outreach job, with approximately 10,000 people passing through the Show. The DWP had give-aways, and it was a great success

17. The LANCC will have one room at the Congress of Neighborhoods, and will do three sessions. The Committee is still hoping to get an additional room and do an additional 3 sessions. Chief Bratton was suggested as a guest speaker.

18. The meeting was adjourned at 12:45pm.