NEIGHBORHOOD COUNCIL, OR (IS IT A) RESIDENTS ASSOCIATION?
Let us begin with an indisputable baseline reference: LOs angeles Neighborhood Councils are OFFICIAL government entities, AND RESIDENTS ASSOCIATIONS, although equally as important, ARE NOT.
A Neighborhood Council (“NC”), by its very nature, is an advisory body occupying the lowest tier of the Los Angeles (“City”) government structure. The task of a Neighborhood Council is to weigh the opinion of the community it serves (stakeholders), and transition these opinions to City council members and departments via both Community Impact Statement (CIS) or Requests For Action (RFA). Any Neighborhood Council “belongs” to the stakeholders of the community. As the Board may manage the entity, the People are the reason for its existence. Think of an NC as a government-sanctioned polling group — it takes the pulse of the stakeholders regarding various issues, and delivers this perspective to the City council members associated with that community. For example, Greater Toluca Lake NC would work directly with Council District 2 and council member Paul Krekorian in delivering these opinions to better inform Mr. Krekorian on the concerns of Toluca Lake stakeholders.
Note the term “stakeholder” being utilized in lieu of “residents”. This is due to the definition of a stakeholder being, in the simplest manner possible: any person who lives, owns property or a business, is employed within, or participates in an organization within the boundaries of that Neighborhood Council. This means that both a homeowner AND a developer are equal stakeholders with an equal voice within the system. So too is the owner of a marijuana dispensary and the leader of an anti-drug organization based within that community. Thus, the term stakeholder is a catch-all for every person directly involved in that community, which leads to every person — resident, business owner, even students 16 years or older — having a voice as to what’s right, what’s wrong, what is required, and what needs to change within their community.
AN NC IS NOT AN RA
Residents Associations (“RA”), those being private organizations encompassing communities rather than individual buildings or complexes, are designed specifically for residents of that community. Their task is to convey the thoughts and sensibilities of both homeowners and renters alike, and deliver these opinions to the respective lawmakers for processing. A Residents Association can be a powerful tool, especially when multiple Associations are combined to form a Federation (such as the Hillside Federation along the Santa Monica Mountains). In their own right, these Associations serve the purpose of segregating the needs of residents in a more tailored opinion. As it stands, both NCs and RAs serve as individual necessities to their respective communities. One is government, the other is private. Both have connections with their respective City council members Yet, their opinions should differ somewhat from time to time, since the NC also serves non-homeowners and non-renters as well, and thus it’s opinion should be broader in scope.
But, this isn’t always the case. What happens when that dividing line has been blurred. What happens when the Neighborhood Council begins acting more like a shadow Residents Association, rather than a City Government entity?
SPECIAL INTEREST FACTIONS RUN AMOK
At any level of politics, there are special-interest factions. Whether they be for development or against it, for big business or against it, for helping the homeless or against it, factions exist at the polar ends of each hot-button topic. The task of the NC is to hear all sides, all opinions, all arguments, and arrive at an informed decision based on the collected community voice. This includes the voice of developers, business owners, activists — in short, “stakeholders”. The RA, in turn, only requires the voice of residents to arrive at their opinion, though many Residents Associations take into consideration the voice of their local Business Improvement District (“BID”) as well in forming their eventual opinion.
Yet, as politics in general is fracturing toward the polar extremes of the political spectrum, leaving a gaping chasm of nothingness in the center, community factions are taking over a number of Neighborhood Councils. In moves to shame Board members into silence, they attack any and all who ask questions, raise concerns, have opinions. In fact, it is the task of the elected or appointed Board member, who is a City official, to vet agenda items as a process in eventually arriving at an informed and confident vote. These factions understand that NC Board members are not paid for their civic duty (all neighborhood Council Board members volunteer their time for their community), and thus when choosing to stand their ground to defend their values, or remaining silent to ease mental strain, most will choose the latter. In addition, the vast majority of NC Board members are not skilled politicians, nor own a career where navigating the gale force winds of public opinion is par for the course. Public berating, badgering, and bullying may be uncommon in their life, especially when the very reason for such abuse is something as innocuous as asking a question which may be interpreted by such a faction as not being in lockstep with their ideology.
In addition, the City has no resource, whether it be legal, literature or training, to assist the Board member in handling such abuse. Over time, many Board members choose to remain silent, resign or simply not to run for re-election. This has the intended benefit of transforming the voting body of the NC noticeably toward the sensibilities of the residential faction. At this point, it may appear a foregone conclusion that, as constructed, the NC system has placed Neighborhood Council at a distinct disadvantage against small groups of motivated special-interest parties looking to corner the official opinions of the local governing body. The reality couldn’t be further from the truth.
A NUMBERS GAME
They key word in the previous paragraph was “small”. Most community special-interest factions comprise of no more than a dozen or so motivated individuals. There are exceptions, especially when the concern is far-reaching, but more often than not the will of a small group outweigh the larger majority of the community only by the volume of their voice. Volume does not equate to resonance, and this is amplified when such a project holds benefits to the community in general. Simply being “louder” does not necessarily mean the voice is correct. And now that Neighborhood Councils have returned to in-person meetings, the level of difficulty for a working individual or a busy parent to attend a Neighborhood Council meeting has elevated exponentially. In contrast, the special-interest, over-zealous human megaphones WILL attend, and WILL be heard to a near-empty room, with little to no pushback from a community that might not be as in tune with their ideology as the zealot would have the Council believe.
EMAIL EMAIL EMAIL
The solution, as it stands, is quite simple — email the Board. Not the President of the Board, but the entire Board. All NCs have an email address that copies the entire voting body of that Council (usually “board@nameofnc.org” or something similar). In the CC section, add the email address of your local City Council Member (their website will have such an email address listed). Ensure the contents of the email can be read in under 60 seconds time, since most public comments at meetings run 60-90 seconds, and place in the title of the email the agenda item (ex. “6c”, or “Motion re: streetlight on corner of…”). In addition, the very first line of the email should read, in all caps: “CHAIR OF MEETING MUST READ THIS EMAIL DURING PUBLIC COMMENTS FOR AGENDA ITEM”. By doing this, you will have your voice heard, even if you cannot physically attend the meeting. Naturally, the faction may choose the same approach, but now they’re not the only voice being heard. An email campaign holds an additional benefit: If you believe your Neighborhood Council has omitted your email from public comment inclusion, due perhaps to the NC operating as the previously-mentioned shadow Residents Association, a grievance with the City can be filed. The hard rule with Neighborhood Councils are that they are here for YOU, the Stakeholder. They do not exist as a tool to be utilized solely for a special-interest faction. In fact, there are laws against such an endeavor [LAMC 49.5.5.(A), for example].
LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD
Getting your voice heard levels that proverbial playing field, places you on record, and — if your words ring true with more than a few Stakeholders “on the fence” regarding a topic, may swing that gate away from the radical faction, and towards the community majority. And within this community majority is where Neighborhood Councils ought to reside, should reside, and must reside.
