mayor-eneko-goia-of-donostia-san-sebastianI hope our newsletter finds you well. Hola from the 2016 Global Forum on Modern Direct Democracy in San Sebastian, Spain, the European Culture Capital! It has been an incredible week so far learning about the Basque system of government. On Wednesday night, we started the forum at the beautiful San Sebastian City Hall with a live example of democracy in action with a large protest because residents were upset with a high speed rail (sounds familiar) coming through the region. Inside, Mayor Eneko Goia of Donostia/San Sebastian welcomed participants from 121 cities and 30 countries!

protest

grayce-at-2016-global-forum-on-modern-direct-democracyI sat on a panel with Mayor Goia and several other European and Asian Mayors and Commissioners yesterday morning at the Miramar Palace to participate in a nice international opening to the forum before sharing about the Neighborhood Council system in another panel later that morning. It has really been quite an honor to represent LA’s Neighborhood Council system here and to see that cities around the world struggle with the same issues of public participation and democracy, or lack thereof. Folks were impressed with the innovations and work of the Neighborhood Councils, and I’ve learned a few new things as well from fellow panelists and attendees. I shared some LA love with everyone in the form of ELA pens and Empower Yourself, Empower Your Community, EmpowerLA pins. Two more days of learning and sharing to go before I start heading back with the renewed belief that Neighborhood Councils are pretty special worldwide, and we should be proud of the work we do here.

Don’t forget the Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates and the Congress of Neighborhoods Planning Committee are meeting tomorrow. Because of the Thanksgiving holiday next week, our newsletter will be dark, but we’ll be back on December 2nd.

Have a wonderful weekend and Thanksgiving! Thank you for all that you do to EmpowerLA and the world!!