L.A. is a city of 4 million people — and there are only 15 city councilmembers to represent them. In 1999, faced with a San Fernando Valley secession movement, the city created its neighborhood council system to increase residents’ representation at City Hall.
Anyone who lives, works, or has some meaningful stake in an L.A. neighborhood can join one of the 99 volunteer advisory boards to tell elected officials about that neighborhood’s concerns and priorities.
But start talking to neighborhood council members and you’ll quickly pick up on their frustration. Much of it is targeted at the city department in charge of supporting them, the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, or DONE. Members say the city’s mismanagement undermines the neighborhood council system’s ability to do what it was created to do: represent residents at City Hall.
Neighborhood council members say people join hoping to make a difference in their communities, and instead get mired in a labyrinth of rules and regulations, communication failures, lack of guidance or direction, and bureaucratic roadblocks.
They say conflicts erupt without getting resolved, systemic problems aren’t fixed, and neighborhood council members burn out and leave. Their spots are filled by new volunteers who join and face the exact same problems.
In February, nearly the entire board of the Hollywood Studio District Neighborhood Council resigned en masse after a DONE employee forced it to spend part of its funds to sponsor an event hosted by the Sheriff’s Youth Foundation. The DONE staffer also said the council members had to attend the event or face removal from the board.
The ensuing uproar forced…
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