I hope this newsletter finds you well. It has been a busy week as we’ve been working to resolve our vacant positions issue so we would finish our FY 2015-2016 budget submission due today. I really want to thank Deputy Mayor Rick Cole, CAO Miguel Santana, Personnel Department Assistant General Manager Phyllis Lynes and their awesome teams for working with me this week on possible position solutions. Mr. Santana even stopped by the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners meeting on Monday to share his excellent wisdom on how Neighborhood Councils can be properly supported by the City.
On Tuesday, LA Department of Animal Services General Manager Brenda Barnette and I met with Neighborhood Councils that contributed to the Reserve Animal Control Officer (RACO) Program in previous years to see what the status of the program is. Brenda says that the RACO program is ready to go as soon as they find 15 qualified candidates. So please pass on the word to your stakeholders about this great program and other volunteer opportunities with our LA Animal Services.
We took a little break yesterday from the budget to celebrate with Stephen Box, our Director of Outreach and Communications, as he graduated from the LAFD Leadership Academy. Huge thanks to the LAFD for putting on this fantastic program about collaborative leadership for free and to Stephen for taking on the additional workload these past 4 months to complete the program! I’m really excited that our entire management team has now gone through this training, which I believe is essential to creating systems with staff and stakeholders alike that are based in mutual collaboration and respect.
Last night, I was happy to stop by the South Los Angeles Alliance of Neighborhood Councils to talk about the possibility of an online voting platform for Neighborhood Council elections in 2016, Councils for Councils mentoring opportunities and just Neighborhood Council operations in general. I heard that Empowerment Congress Southwest Area is putting on a Sidewalk Summit in South LA tomorrow to inform their stakeholders on who will pay for sidewalk repair? They are partnering with Councilmember Bernard Parks, Public Works and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative. Very cool!
Sadly, this is the last newsletter for the rest of the year as we take the next month to focus on redesigning our website and newsletter to offer you Neighborhood Council information in an increasing streamline and efficient fashion. There will be tons of Neighborhood Council meetings and events still going on though, including the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners meeting on Tuesday, December 2nd and Monday, December 15th, the LANCC meeting on December 6th and the VANC Planning Forum on December 11th to name a few.
With Thanksgiving around the corner, I am thankful for the wonderful staff and Neighborhood Council leaders who inspire me every day. I am thankful, too, of our awesome City family for pulling together in dire budget times to support one another the best we can.
On behalf of our department, we are wishing you a very Happy Thanksgiving and Holiday season!!
Best,
Grayce Liu,
General Manager
Department of Neighborhood Empowerment aka EmpowerLA
