On February 19th, Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson rallied Neighborhood Council leaders to discuss and take action on DWP Reform. The full text of the letter is available in PDF and below:

February 19, 2016

City of Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils
City of Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Alliances
City of Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates
DWP Advocacy Committee and MOU Oversight Committee

RE: Department of Water and Power (DWP) Reform- Council File No. 16-0093

Dear Neighborhood Council Leaders:

Today marks the beginning of an open and public conversation about making the city’s utility run more efficiently and effectively while ensuring accountability. It also marks an important opportunity for the Neighborhood Councils to be fully engaged in the City’s legislative process and truly have a seat at the table. As Chair of the REIRN Committee that will oversee this
process and also oversees Neighborhood Councils, this is your time to shine and show the City and its residents the importance and value you bring to City government. This is your DWP and together we will have a robust conversation about the issues and a healthy debate prior to recommending anything to the voters.

As part of our conversation over the next few months, we are requesting that each Neighborhood Council, Alliance, and citywide committee agendize this item for discussion and action at your March and April meetings. We want you to take advantage of this opportunity to provide the City Council’s REIRN Committee with Community Impact Statements, white papers, suggestions and recommendations. We will consider all the information provided to us prior to the City Council making a decision in June.

Furthermore, we plan on holding at least three regional meetings throughout the City, partnering with the Neighborhood Council Alliances (e.g. South- SLAANC and HANC; Central-WRAC, ARC, and HC; Valley – VANC and LAANC), the Neighborhood Councils in each region, and Mayor Eric Garcetti to host and participate as full partners in this conversation. Lastly, we also want to ensure that other ratepayers, including homeowner groups, civic organizations business groups, environmental organizations and others participate in this process, and we look forward to discuss this further with many of you. My staff will be reaching out to you shortly to schedule these meetings in April and May of this year, and we look forward to your partnership, participation, and engagement.

If you have any questions, please contact my Assistant Chief Deputy Andrew Westall at (213) 473-7010 or via email (andrew.westall@lacity.org). I invite everyone to be a part of this discussion, because only together will we make each neighborhood, and our City as a whole, stronger and a better place for all of us.

Sincerely,
Herb J. Wesson, Jr.
President, Los Angeles City Council
Councilmember, 10th District

Cc: Members of the Los Angeles City Council
The Honorable Eric Garcetti, Mayor, City of Los Angeles
Grayce Liu, General Manager, Department of Neighborhood Empowerment