I hope our newsletter finds you well. Happy New Fiscal Year! We’re starting the year off with a new City Council Committees. The list is still being finalized with meeting times, but Neighborhood Councils will now be under the Health, Education, and Neighborhood Councils Committee, chaired by Council District 4 Councilmember and former Neighborhood Council board member, David Ryu. We are looking forward to working with Councilmember Ryu and the other committee members, Vice Chair Councilmember Gil Cedillo and Council President Herb Wesson!

I’m happy to report that three more EmpowerLA staffers have completed the four month Los Angeles Fire Department Leadership Academy. Congratulations to Octaviano Rios, Kori Parraga and Kathleen Quinn, who was also selected as class speaker! I’m so grateful to them for taking on this important training on collaborative leadership skills that includes a lot of homework and a twenty page paper at the end. I’m also appreciative of our other staffers who took on their colleagues’ day-to-day work so they could attend the program. Many thanks to LAFD for continuing to offer this amazing course to the City family!

It was great to have an opportunity to head down to the Harbor area this week to attend that Harbor Alliance of Neighborhood Council’s monthly meeting. The HANC members are planning a retreat to plan for their work this fiscal year, which is a great idea. I was there to answer questions the members had about Neighborhood Council exhaustive efforts and the bylaws amendment moratorium, which is now in effect. If Neighborhood Council elections are moved from 2018 to 2019, then we will begin accepting bylaw amendments again immediately. City Council has not taken any further action on the election timing so City Clerk has started preparing for a paper ballot only election for 2018. Once City Council is back from recess at the end of the month, we may have a final decision on the Neighborhood Council election timing.

Don’t forget that PlanCheckNC meets tomorrow. They will be looking at new reCode zones for the Downtown Community Plans with the Planning Department.

Have a wonderful weekend and stay cool!