I hope our newsletter finds you well. We held great elections on Saturday with Regions 9 and 12 and will be wrapping up the Neighborhood Council election cycle with Region 10 tomorrow. In addition to elections, our amazing elections team has also been supporting Neighborhood Council selections as well. Kudos to the Central San Pedro Neighborhood Council with their over 1100 voters for their selection! CSPNC held multiple day selection, including one during the presidential primary, to connect with their voters, and it definitely had an impact. We’ve learned a lot in this election year and will be holding a series of town halls over the summer to hear feedback from Neighborhood Councils not only about elections, but about our services overall so we can improve next fiscal year. We’ll be releasing the schedule next week and hope you’ll join us.
Congratulations to our Neighborhood Council Advocate, Jasmine Elbarbary, for graduating from the Los Angeles Fire Department Leadership Academy this week! This four month program is very challenging, and I’m thankful to Jasmine for taking it on in addition to her regular assignments. I’m also appreciative of the LAFD for offering this outstanding education for free to City staff. Jasmine is the 11th EmpowerLA staffer that has graduated from the LAFDLA, and we hope to send all of our staff through eventually.
I was happy to welcome our Debbie Wehbie, one of the founders of Central Hollywood Neighborhood Council, to the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners today. The City Council approved her appointment as the Commissioner for the Central area as well as reappointed Commissioner Eli Lipmen to represent the West area. While I was in Council chambers for the approval, I bumped into our new Deputy City Attorney, Elise Ruden, and Neighborhood Council Advice Division Deputy City Attorney, Carmen Hawkins. Elise will take the reins from the lovely Deputy City Attorney, Dania Minassian, who is working on a new assignment with the City’s minimum wage program. We wish Dania all the best and welcome Elise to the team!
A reminder that the Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates meet tomorrow, the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners will meet Monday afternoon, and the Alliance of River Communities will be getting together on Monday night. Have a wonderful weekend and keep cool!
