Minutes
PALMS NElGHBORHOOD COUNCIL
Tenth meeting of the Council and its
REPRESENTATIVE ASSEMBLY
Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2006
IMAN Center, 3376 Motor Ave., Palms, California, U.S.A.

1. Facilitator. Alejandro Soschin being absent, Secretary George Garrigues called the meeting to order shortly after 7 p.m. By general consent, Todd Robinson was selected as Facilitator for this meeting.

Self-introduction by members of the Representative Assembly. A quorum was established.

Members of the Palms Representative Assembly:

Todd W. Robinson President Present
Pauline Stout Vice President Present
George Garrigues Secretary Present
Asad Yavari Treasurer Present
Alejandro Soschin Nonprofit representative Absent
Willie Bell Palms West Residential A Present
Billie Silvey Overland Residential B Present
Mario Bruhwiler Motor Residential C Absent
Neal James Anderberg Studio Residential D Present
Ingeborg Prochazka Exposition Residential E Present
John Riordan Pacific Electric Business 1 Present
Lori Donahoo Charnock Ranch Business 2 Present
F. Danny Monempour Palms Depot Business 3 Absent

2. President. Waived his opening statement.

3. Public forum. Remarks were made by John Brady of the Mayor's Office (Budget Day, Jan. 21), --------- of State Assembly Member Karen Bass's office, Richard Leib (concerning Westside Village), Joyce Purcell (concerning the Motor-National project), Tom Bryer of the University of Southern California Neighborhood Participation Project survey of neighborhood council governing bodies, past and present, Jay Handel of the West L.A. Chamber of Commerce, Terry Robinson and Bob Quinn (both concerning the Exodus Recovery Program).

4. Secretary. Minutes of Dec. 7 and Dec. 28 were approved as amended (see Secretary's file).

5. Treasurer. Oral report was given.

6. Collective Assembly position on the Mayor's Budget. Pauline Stout facilitated this part of the meeting.

She read the sections of the survey, and a preliminary show of hands (straw vote) was made of all the Stakeholders in the room, including the Assembly members. All of the choices were then decided by the Assembly, as follows;

Please rank the general budget priorities from 1 to 4:

1. Economic development, six votes, first priority.
2. Improved traffic flow, four votes, second priority.
3. Livable neighborhoods, general consent (based on straw vote)
4. Homeland security and public safety, general consent (based on straw vote)

Education:

Gang prevention programs (by straw vote and general consent of Assembly)

Transportation:

Rail transit, including Red Line extension, Gold Line extension and Exposition Line completion (by straw vote and general consent of Assembly)

Trash disposal fee:

Raise the monthly trash disposal fee by about $7 so that residents and the City are each paying half the costs, including increases (seven votes of 10 votes cast in the Assembly).

Police protection:

Expand the force by over 1,000 officers over 4 years through a combination of budget efficiencies and an increase on the county-wide sales tax by less than 1/2 cent (six votes of nine votes cast in the Assembly).

Sidewalk repair:

Increase spending on sidewalk repairs by charging a fee on all properties of $.01 per square foot, approximately $15 annually on a typical 1,500 square foot home (seven votes of nine votes cast in the Assembly).

Given the tough choices that may face our City, in which priority area would you decrease funding?

Homeland security and public safety (by straw vote and general consent of Assembly).

Suggestions were then made by the Assembly and Stakeholders under the request by the Mayor's Office to "Please identify any specific issue area for cost cutting."

7. Stakeholder proposal for Palms to join a citywide Congress of Neighborhoods. After discussion, the Assembly voted 8-2 by a show of hands to postpone the issue for four months.

13. Elections committee (moved up on agenda). Terry Robinson, chair, asked for volunteers (limited to stakeholders who are not running for office).

8. Outreach Committee. President Robinson made a report on the activities of the committee.

9. Motion: Robinson moved, seconded, to assign the concept of the "Celebrating 120 Years of Palms" to the Outreach Committee for evaluation and proposals. Approved by voice vote.

10. Motion: Create the Palms Projects Committee to evaluate submitted funding requests and to seek out and propose funding. First duty is to consider funding requests or to propose projects based from the Outreach Committee's Leadership Forum results. By general consent, the Assembly agreed it had no objection to the President appointing such a committee.

11. Transportation and Roadworks Committee report. Ingeborg Prochazka gave the report and noted that John Riordan had resigned. Robinson said he would appoint another member within the next couple of weeks.

12. Planning and Land Use Committee report. No report due to the absence of the chairperson.

14. Assembly business. Prochazka said she needed training in how to use the Web site. Garrigues suggested the next agenda contain an item on the continued absence of Danny Monempour from Assembly meetings. Stakeholder Joyce Purcell wanted information about the meetings to be placed at the Palms-Rancho Park Library; Garrigues said five copies of each agenda are placed there. He wants the official list of posting places to be on the next agenda.

15, Adjournment. The meeting was adjourned at 8:55 p.m.