I hope our newsletter finds you well. On Saturday, I was happy to stop by the Valley Disaster Preparedness Fair. Thanks to Bill Hopkins, Chair of the Valley Disaster Preparedness Team, his team, and the 21 Valley Neighborhood Councils that supported the event – it was a great success!

 

They had 5,000 RSVPs the night before and 1700 free emergency preparedness bags were gone within the first few hours of opening. I’m hoping to see more Neighborhood Councils take on emergency preparedness in their communities, as around the nation we are now seeing how important it is to be ready for any natural or man-made disaster.

 

I was happy to explore some new ways of civic engagement this week. First, I stopped by Hack for LA on Tuesday night, which brings activists with ideas together with people who can design, write or code to create awesome projects to help our Los Angeles. Whether it’s tackling food deserts or helping veterans find jobs, there’s a place for everyone to volunteer their time and contribute. On Wednesday, I attended the International Association for Public Participation (iap2) Southern California chapter’s meeting to learn new ways of connecting communities through storytelling and art when engaging the public.  My group and I crafted a vision of LA with public transportation, innovation centers, affordable housing and green space with art supplies.
It was very fun and inspirational, and I hope to bring these trainings to City staffers and Neighborhood Councils.

 

The Board of Neighborhood Commissioners will be meeting on Monday to continue their discussion on their subdivision recommendations. If you would like to email your comments, you can send them to Commission@empowerla.org. The Commission has also opened up the application to be considered for a working group on Neighborhood Council funding equity. If you are interested in being appointed by your Commissioner, please apply here.

Don’t forget that PlanCheckNC meets tomorrow. Have a wonderful weekend!