A drive to give neighborhood councils a formal role in the city's legislative process failed Wednesday before the Los Angeles City Council amid sharply divergent views about the role and responsibility of the community groups.

A handful of council members voiced support for letting neighborhood councils officially introduce motions for the City Council to consider. However, it became clear after a long and sometimes contentious debate that the majority stood opposed.

"I can see we don't have the votes today," said a frustrated Councilwoman Janice Hahn (left), a supporter of the plan. "So the best way to keep this alive is to agree to send it back to our committees — where it already has been."

Soledad Garcia, a board member of the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council, came to City Hall to speak and left disappointed.

She said the introduction of City Council motions would be a valuable tool for community activists serving on the seven Harbor Area neighborhood councils and the one in Westchester/Playa del Rey.

"Although we don't always agree, there are certain issues we can agree about and it would bring it here without another year-and-a-half of going through the grind," she said, alluding to the approximate amount of time it took to get the matter before the full City Council.

Several council members, however, said that the process still had not addressed their concerns about the neighborhood councils being subject to conflicts of interest and outside influence. Some said lobbyists and developers had tried to win the groups' support for controversial projects, and that without strong disclosure rules, the proposed system could be hijacked by special interests.

"I have a very big concern we're stepping into a

role of increasing involvement of neighborhood councils in legislative decision-making now rather than just an advisory nature," Councilman Greig Smith said. "I think we really need to vet that out."

The plan would have let a neighborhood council introduce a formal council motion by gaining the support of two other community groups. The item would then go to a City Council committee for an initial consideration, just like those introduced by council members themselves.

City Council members could still vote down the motions or simply let them languish in committee.

"Give the people in the community an opportunity to participate in the process," Councilman Bill Rosendahl (pictured) said. "Starting a council (motion) process is not the end of the world."

Just as the politicians were split, so were the current and former leaders of the city agency that oversees neighborhood councils.

Current Interim General Manager Lisa Sarno said the skeptics' concerns were well-founded, and that the department needs time to study the conflict-of-interest issue.

However, Greg Nelson (left), who recently retired as general manager and who helped devise the neighborhood council system in the 1990s as a council aide, said the change would be consistent with the intended purpose of the community groups.

The City Council eventually voted 11-1 to send the matter back to committee.

The lone no vote came from council President Eric Garcetti, who supported giving neighborhood groups access to council files.

By Charles Lindenblatt, at-large member,
Mid City West Community Council

(The area is generally east of La Brea and north of San Vicente; the text is from the LANC Issues discussion group)

. . . I took the opportunity to sit in on -- and present public comment to -- the Aug. 1 BONC [Board of Neighborhood Commissioners] meeting, that started about 6: 45 p.m. and ran till about 11:45 p.m.

. . . this is a much stronger group of commissioners than were in place previously, before the changeover [inauguration of Mayor Villaraigosa]. I was generally impressed by them, particularly Diane Middleton. . . . I like her thought process and how she asks the important questions that need to be asked, and the fact that she has a real personality adds a lot to the whole proceedings.

I was also impressed by the fact that they generally welcomed hearing public comment, and in fact, took public comment from about 6:45 p.m. clear through about 8:20 p.m.

The BONC meeting was opened with the election of Commissioner and former DONE staffer Michele Siqueiros as interim chair.

Following this, most of the speakers in the initial public-comment period were from Chinatown, and many spoke in Chinese, and were translated by one of their members. These folks were speaking out about what they felt are many problems with how their community was being treated by the majority of the board of the council of their area, the Historic Cultural Neighborhood Council. . . .

Others . . . included individuals from South Los Angeles who were angry that they had apparently received notice that their council could not provide services for the homeless.

There was also one Latina stakeholder from Watts NC who produced vicious letters that had apparently been circulated against her during her campaign for a seat on that council. Also, instances of physical shoving were described, eventually leading the BONC to note the need for them to take up the matter of how to ensure that civility, safety and tolerance of diversity is maintained.

Finally, there was a series of complaints relating to how the agendas were handled at the Encino NC.

The lengthy public comment that the BONC commissioners allowed, and the fact that they allowed citizens a full three minutes to speak, and then some, was in stark contrast to how the L.A. City Council has recently voted to restrict public comment to one minute per citizen.

The commissioners also considered the qualities they wanted in the next DONE G.M. [general manager], and heard input from Interim G.M. Lisa Sarno. They ultimately decided to form an ad hoc committee to draft a letter to the [City] Council's ENC [Education and Neighborhoods Committee] to express what they felt was important to consider.

I was also impressed with how they were willing to hear the dissatisfaction that many have felt with how DONE has been implementing the citywide election procedures mandated by the city. . . .

I recommended that the citywide election procedures be reviewed, but was not in support of the motion for the moratorium on implementation that was pushed by Councilman Zine and seconded by Councilman Garcetti.

Commissioner Lucks moved to oppose the motion for the moratorium, but failed to get a second, and the BONC ultimately decided to delay a decision on taking a position on this motion until their next meeting, rescheduled for Aug 10th, 7 p.m,, running the risk that they might not have input before the ENC takes up the matter.

. . . All in all, a very interesting evening.

I would encourage all of you to try to get to at least one meeting of the new BONC in the next year, if at all possible, if for no other reason than to see and witness for yourself how the city commission with oversight over DONE functions, and how its members think, because your Council may have a bylaws change, or a serious election snafu, and may find itself before this commission seeking to win a decision in its favor.