I hope our newsletter finds you well and enjoying our warm weather.

We have the dates of Mayor Garcetti and the Pat Brown Institute’s upcoming Civic University for Neighborhood Councils! It’ll be held in the downtown area on April 2nd, April 8th and April 15th from 6 pm – 9 pm. We’re excited to partner with the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners to join in on providing this amazing educational opportunity to Neighborhood Councils. For more information, click here.

The Education & Neighborhoods Committee met on Tuesday, and they’ve sent the draft grievance ordinance (CF-15-0067) to City Council for action. In addition, the subdivision policy (CF- 12-1681) for Neighborhood Councils was sent back to the Department for further report back on the history and fiscal impact. Only 3 Neighborhood Councils have weighed in on the ability of existing Neighborhood Councils to subdivide into new Councils. Thank you to Arroyo Secco, Los Feliz and Glassell Park! This is an important issue for all Neighborhood Councils to weigh in on so please submit a Community Impact Statement in the next month. We’re at 121 for the fiscal year thus far, and our goal is 200 for the year.

I stopped by the LA Area Chamber of Commerce’s Government & Fiscal Affairs Council met on Thursday to hear Deputy Mayor Rick Cole and Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates Co-Chair Jay Handal speak on the City budget. The conversation turned to the role of Neighborhood Councils in the City, and there was general agreement in the room that Neighborhood Council influence has grown and continues to grow in City government. So thank you to our hardworking Neighborhood Council leaders for making it so!

Just a reminder that the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners will be holding a special meeting next Wednesday, February 25th, in East Los Angeles as they continue to review the Neighborhood Council elections online voting contract with Everyone Counts. More info below on online voting.

Tomorrow is a busy Neighborhood Council meetings day. The Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates will be meeting, and we’ve moved our 2016 Neighborhood Council Elections Townhall to follow them in the same location at noon. Then, I’ll be heading over to the launch of the new Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance meeting at 2pm. I hear they have 80 RSVPs thus far and not much room for more, so please make sure you get your RSVP in asap. If I don’t see you tomorrow, have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Grayce Liu,
General Manager
Department of Neighborhood Empowerment aka EmpowerLA