THE FEYNMAN TECHNIQUE… AS APPLIED TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL SYSTEM
There’s that old adage: If you’re going to learn something, learn IT from the best... Unless, that is, the “best” hasn’t a clue how to de-code and simplify their knowledge in a coachable manner. enter the feynman technique. but does it work in the explanation of what an nc is, how it functions, and why the 20+ year old experiment might not be working?
When an uninitiated Angeleno is asked “What is a Neighborhood Council?”, their most likely response might steer toward something similar to Neighborhood Watch groups, or a Residents Association, or a PTA. Though elements of all three are inherent within a Neighborhood Council, the comparisons are incomplete in fleshing out what a Neighborhood council is and how it functions. Add to that a follow-up question: "Are they working?"
Richard Feynman, Nobel prize winner, quantum electrodynamic pioneer, physics legend… the PERFECT individual to explain “What is a Neighborhood Council” to those lacking the knowledge since, of course, it TAKES a physics giant to grasp the master maze that is the Los Angeles municipal government. He devised what is known as the Feynman Technique to better describe complex processes to individuals in a non-complicated manner.
The four steps, as interpreted (quite well, actually) by Medium (1):
1. Identify the subject
Write down everything you know about the topic. Each time you run into new sources of information, add them to the note.
2. Teach it to a child
If you can teach a concept to a child, you’re way ahead of the game. Start with a blank note and write the topic or subject you want to teach. Then, below that topic, write everything you know about it. But, the trick is to write it plainly and simply — so that a child can understand what you’re talking about. Doing this takes into consideration a few things:
Speaking in plain terms: Children don’t understand jargon or a lexicon of dense vocabulary. Science is full of complex terminology, which is the reason Feynman’s diagrams became so valuable. His charts illustrated things that other scientists delivered marathon lectures about. When we speak without jargon, it frees us from hiding behind knowledge we don’t have. Big words and fluffy “business speak” cripples us from getting to the point and passing knowledge to others. Brevity: The attention span of a child requires you to deliver concepts as if you were pitching a business idea during one short elevator ride. You better get the concept out before those doors open. Children also don’t have the ability — or mental capacity, to understand anything longer than that. If you had difficulty putting thoughts into your note, that shows you have room to improve. This is also where the power of creativity can help you reach new heights in learning. For Feynman, much of the pleasure in science was in this first step — unraveling his levels of understanding.
3. Identify your knowledge gaps
This is the point where the real learning happens. What are you missing? What don’t you know? Highlighting knowledge gaps will help you when you collect and organize your notes into a cohesive story (which is the next step.) Now you can call upon your source material (lecture notes, ideas, etc.) when you run into questions about how much you do know about your topic. If you don’t know something, hit the books. Go back to the source material and compile information that will help you fill in the cracks.
4. Organize + simplify + Tell a story
Start to tell your story. Piece together your notes and begin to spin a tale using concise explanations. Bring the most vital pieces of your knowledge about the topic together.
Practice reading your story out loud. Pretend to tell the story to a classroom of students. That way, you’ll hear where language stops being simple. Stumbles could indicate incomplete thoughts. Use analogies and simple sentences to strengthen your understanding of the story. This sentence, written by Feynman, encapsulates the power of this technique. What started as a question about our existence has been translated into a single sentence that can be understood by a middle school student. “All things are made of atoms — little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another.” Basically, Feynman says that if you know nothing about physics, the most essential scientific knowledge to understand is that everything is made up of atoms. In one simple sentence, Feynman conveys the foundational existence of our universe. It’s a master class not just for scientists, but for writers of any stripe. Get to the hypothesis in as few words as possible. Avoid clunky, verbose language.
Source of original photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Richard_Feynman_1988.png
Thank you, Medium. Alright, then. Let’s get to it.
Identify the subject: The Neighborhood Council (NC) system was voted to existence by way of ballot initiative in 1999 as a means to create a grassroots form of community government. The NCs (eventually reaching 99 in total as of this writing) are based on the historical communities of Los Angeles (i.e., Los Feliz, Venice, Mar Vista, Lincoln Heights, Mid City, etc.), and spread over 12 geographical regions. The NC is tasked with gaining input from “stakeholders”, or individuals who live, work, own a business, own a property, or have a community interest in the neighborhood. This input, gathered from council meeting motions, are then packaged as a Community Impact Statement (CIS) or a Request for Action (RFA), and delivered to City Council members, departments, committees, and/or bureaucracies. The goal of these CIS and RFA statements are to better inform those with legislative authority to understand the “voice” of the people within that neighborhood about proposed rules, reports, maneuvers, leanings, or governmental impetus or lack thereof.
So far so good.
Teach it to a child: When you and a bunch of your friends get together at school to talk about something the school is doing that you don’t like. You get a discussion going with a bunch of other kids from different grades. They agree. You have one of your friends (the best writer of the group) write up a letter to the administration of the school telling them what you think. Maybe the Principal agrees with you, but didn’t know how the students felt about the matter until now. And, perhaps they like to concept so much they form a student government for each grade so they may continue to hear from the students to better understand their concerns. Take that idea out of the school campus and apply it to all of Los Angeles, and you have the Neighborhood Council system.
I’m certain there are better ways to explain the concept to a child. In fact, I don’t think #2 was about constructing an analogy a child could understand, but instead to simplify so a child could understand. It’s Sunday afternoon, so I’ll take it as is.
Identify the knowledge gaps: Okay, here’s where it gets a little saucy. When the entity you report to is, shall we say, “slightly” unclear about a great many things pertaining to the NC system, it’s difficult to pinpoint any knowledge gaps within the fog of bureaucracy. For example: Are we “elected and appointed City officials who volunteer our time”, or “volunteers who serve as elected and appointed City officials”? Where “volunteer” is placed, some might argue, defines its term of art. The first sentence affords the NC Board members and amount of veto power over City departments such as empowerLA, since an elected City official supersedes a City employee, with the term acting to describe only the unpaid status of the Board members. But the second sentence places the term in a way which it describes the status, that being a volunteer first and foremost, which would allow City employees to technically dictate authority over an elected official, since that person is by definition a volunteer, rather than an official who volunteers their time. There's one further complication -- if NC board members are, in fact, volunteers as a term of function, then does Anthony Scearce v. City of Los Angeles apply (2), where is was successfully argued that volunteerism is a form of employment. If this is the case, what's to make of Sec 293 of the Los Angeles City Charter, which states:
Notwithstanding Section 213, additional responsibilities related to management-employee relations or other responsibilities that are not the responsibility of other departments, offices and commissions may be assigned to the Office of Administrative and Research Services by ordinance. Responsibilities of other departments, offices and commissions may be transferred to the Office of Administrative and Research Services only pursuant to Section 514.
Another gap, so to speak, is the efficacy of the NC system. The scandal of late 2022 was that the empowerLA CIS Portal, an online resource many Councils used to deliver their findings, had not been maintained and up-to-date, and thus an undetermined number of NC-filed CISs and RFAs were NOT making it to the intended decision-makers. Lo, a question: What’s the point of an NC system created and designed to better inform legislators on how the People feel when the very portal used to deliver that message ceased to function properly… and it took a whistle-blower to finally fix it?
To add a bit more saccharin to the recipe, the General Manager of empowerLA, Raquel Beltran, was recently “invited to resign” via the Office of the Mayor. This in the midst of a hybrid meeting pilot program fiasco, a low candidate turnout across the NC system for the election cycle, and a perfectly good Council Weekly cartoon featuring Beltran and our City Attorney wasted (such is life).
A recent meeting of LANCC (LA Neighborhood Council Coalition)(3) proposed a Neighborhood Council Bill of Rights via their WG4CC committee (Working Group for Constructive Change… which has the unfortunate ring of a 1950’s Soviet politburo concoction). All kidding aside, it’s quite an ask (link to agenda: http://www.lancc.org/resources/LANCC%20agenda%202023.04.01.pdf). Yet, the very necessity for an NC Bill of Rights after over twenty years of the Neighborhood Councils existing signifies the many possible freight train-size gaps in a system cloaked in a darkness the Bureau of Street Lights has yet to rectify. Perhaps in four to six months time we’ll gain a clearer portrait of the situation.
Organize, simplify, and tell a story: With so many uncertainties enveloping the Neighborhood Council system like June Gloom (if you’re not from LA, look it up), the best way to arrive at an eloquent narrative could be this: The Los Angeles Neighborhood Council system is a good concept of how regular citizens can participate in City government by having their voices conveyed to those who make the decisions affecting their lives.
However, the "problem" isn’t the egg — the problem is the incubator.
2. 21STCV14635 ANTHONY SCEARCE VS CITY OF LOS ANGELES, GOVERNMENTAL ENTITY, ET AL
