I hope our newsletter finds you well.
I had a great time at Ciclavia last Sunday in the Valley riding with a group of Neighborhood Council folks: Commissioner Lydia Grant from our Board of Neighborhood Commissioners, LANCC Chair and C4C mentor Terry Gomes and Northridge East Neighborhood Council board member Glenn Bailey, whom we fondly nicknamed Greater Valley Glenn for his knowledge of all things Valley. We joined tens of thousands of people biking, skating and walking down Lankershim to Ventura and back. Along the way, we visited with Mid-Town North Hollywood and Greater Toluca Lake Neighborhood Councils at their outreach tents. We also chatted with Councilmembers Paul Krekorian and Mitch O’Farrell along the route. It was definitely a Sunday fun day.
Speaking of Councilmember Krekorian, both he and Council President Herb Wesson will be holding several Education & Neighborhoods Committee meeting the next few months to hear feedback on the Neighborhood Council system. We’re excited to work with Council President Wesson and Councilmember Krekorian, both good friends of the Neighborhood Councils. I wanted to thank and appreciate Councilmember Bernard Parks for his amazing leadership of the Education & Neighborhoods Committee the past several years which resulted in the successful administration of the 2014 elections with the Department and City Clerk, the change of the stakeholder definition from factual basis to community interest, the opening of the Neighborhood Council checking accounts, the creation of the Congress and Budget Advocate funding accounts and the passing of the citywide volunteer grievance panel policy among many other important issues. HUGE thanks to Councilmembers Park, Martinez and O’Farrell for their work!!
I was happy to stop by the Emergency Management Department’s Tedx Event on Crisis Leadership on Wednesday. Kudos to GM Jim Featherstone on creating a space for City staff to learn and connect on emergency management issues. Jim and I will be following up on a program to include Neighborhood Council in the City’s emergency management preparation so more updates to come there. Later that day, I’m excited to report that our entire staff completed Mayor Garcetti’s Continuous Improvement and Innovation Green Belt training, which is based on the Denver Peak Academy training on lean government I talked about last year. Much appreciation to our wonderful trainer Ashley Stracke from the Mayor’s Budget and Innovation Team! Look for us to take this training to Neighborhood Councils in the near future!!
Besides doing awesome trainings, the Mayor’s Budget and Innovation team has also made the finalists for the City Accelerator, a program which would help us improve the way the City engages you all in the work of making our City better. The City Accelerator would connect us to support and guidance from some of the country’s best leaders on civic engagement to adopt best-in-class innovations and tried-and-true approaches. Please help LA win by giving feedback on their pitch video today!
Thanks to Empowerment Congress Southeast for inviting me to their meeting Wednesday night to talk about online voting where they were also tackling their first ever Community Impact Statement on the proposed minimum wage increase (CF-14-1371). I was so appreciative of the board for getting their community’s voice heard on the matter. Much thanks to West LA Neighborhood Council as well where the board asked me to do another online voting presentation on Thursday night. Please let us know if your board needs more information about online voting.
Lastly, congratulations to Chatsworth Neighborhood Council on their selection turnout of over 1000 voters last Saturday!! A belated birthday wish to the VP of CNC, VANC Executive Officer and fellow Piscean, Judi Daniels!
Just a reminder that Budget Day is cancelled tomorrow, and our office will be closed on Monday, March 30th, in observance of Cesar Chavez Day. Have a great weekend!
Best,
Grayce Liu,
General Manager
Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (aka) EmpowerLA
