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This year's Citywide Congress and Community Budget Day will be held on Saturday, Oct. 11, at City Hall.

Ths upcoming fiscal year will once again require difficult decisions to be made and Mayor Villaraigosa is looking for feedback from stakeholders and neighborhood councils.

Workshop topics will include "Cutting Through the Red Tape to Deliver for Your Neighborhood," "Forming Community Partnerships to Expand Your Neighborhood Council's Clout and Gain New Resources" and "Tools for Influencing City Government."

There will also be open forums with L.A. City Council members, DWP General Manager David Nahai and BongHwan Kim, the new general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment.

This is your opportunity to get involved. To find out more, check in with your local neighborhood council or visit the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment's Web site by clicking here.

L.A. Ethnics Commission President Helen E. Zukin called on Monday for the City Council's Education and Neighborhoods Committee to adopt narrow financial reporting requirements for members of the city's neighborhood councils that are tied to action on neighborhood council files only.

She also asked the committee to reject moves to establish broader requirements modeled after state law using statement-of-economic-interests forms.

Zukin wrote in a letter to the Education and Neighborhood Committee that members of the Ethics Commission concluded that broad, state-like financial disclosure requirements for neighborhood council boards should not be adopted at this time because of concern that those requirements could chill participation on neighborhood council boards.

The City Council adopted a two-year pilot project last January that authorized neighborhood councils to place buisness before the City Council by creating up to three neighborhood council files a year.

As part of that project, the City Council adopted a motion to require board members of neighborhood councils to file the state's statement-of-economic-interests form.

Following the adoption of that motion, Councilmembers Richard Alarcon, Wendy Greuel and Janice Hahn asked the Ethics Commission for input regarding the use of statement-of-economic-interests forms.

Learn how to get up to $10,000 for a community project at one of four upcoming community beautification grant workshops.

Neighborhood councils, in particular, may take interest in this event.

At the free workshops, participants will learn about the funding process and how to submit a competitive proposal for a project.

Deadline for applications for the 2008/09 beautification grants is Oct. 22.

All workshops are 90 minutes and begin promptly at 8 p.m.

No reservations are needed.

Workshops will be held on Thursday, Aug. 7, at the Mid-Valley Regional Library, 16244 Nordhoff St., North Hills; on Tuesday, Aug. 12, at the Studio City Branch Library, 12511 Moorpark St., Studio City; on Tuesday, Aug. 19, at the Encino-Tarzana Branch Library, 18231 Ventura Blvd., Tarzana; and on Wednesday, Aug. 20, at the Marvin Braude Building, Room 1B, 6262 Van Nuys Blvd., Van Nuys.

For more information, call 213-978-0225 or visit www.laocb.org.

BongHwan Kim was named general manager of Los Angeles' Department of Neighborhood Empowerment (DONE) yesterday.

He has served as interim general manager since last November and is the first Korean-American general manager in the city's history.

He took the position on the interim basis after the death of Carol Baker Tharp.

According to a press release from the city, Kim will work with Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Neighborhood Council Review Commission (INCRC), who will serve as a consultant to DONE.

Last September, the NCRC issued its final report, exploring the neighborhood council system created by voters in 1999 and recommending changes to make the system more effective.

DONE's mission is to promote public participation in government through the neighborhood council system, according to the city's release.

The proposed Las Lomas development policy decision is scheduled to come before the L.A. City Council at 10 .m. Wednesday in Los Angeles City Hall, 200 N. Spring St., Los Angeles.

Residents are encouraged to attend the meeting and make their voices heard.

The controversial development by Las Lomas Land Co. would include construction of more than 5,500 houses where the 5 and 14 freeways meet and continue north along the 5 Freeway to the Calgrove exit.

The property is currenty zoned for 200 to 250 buildings.

The development would also include leveling a mountain and construction of 2.3 million square feet of commercial space.

Several neighborhood councils, Congressmen Brad Sherman and Buck McKeon, Assemblyman Cameron Smythe, Councilman Greig Smith, the city of Santa Clarita and the Sierra Club oppose the project.

According to a recent article in the Daily News by reporter Kerry Cavanaugh, a top L.A. planning official has let community avtivists know that a a new ordinance allowing developers to construct taller, bulkier buildings is "ripe for immediate litigation."

Planning Commission President Jane Ellison Usher, who was selected by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to sit on the commission, sent e-mails May 10 to activists and offered a strategy they can use to sue the city over the controversial new density-bonus rule.

According to the policy, developers may construct the larger buildings - with fewer parking spaces - as long as they include affordable housing.

Usher has been an outspoken critic of the ordinance. She told told the Daily News, "At the end of the day, the loser is the neighborhood and the winner is the developer - and the affording housing that the community receives is peanuts."

She also pointed out that if there are residents who want to sue over the new rule, there are statutes of limitations that are short.

On the Tarzana Neighborhood Council Web site, there's a new link to the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Stakeholder Survey.

It asks questions such as how did you find out about your neighborhood council meeting, did neighborhood council board members pay attention to you if you spoke, what issues concern you and was your neighborhood council meeting run well?

There are also some basic demographic questions and a place you can check if you're interested in serving on a board or simply as a volunteer.

Check out the Tarzana Neighborhood Council's Web site, tarzananc.org, and click on the icon in the left column (on top of the photo).

Once it's completed, return it to your neighborhood council or the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, 334-B East Second St., Los Angeles, CA 90012.

Joe Vetti, vice chair of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Congress, recently sent out the following in an e-mail:

Obviously, it is not possible to include in a column all the "minutes" of a meeting (of the LANCC). However, a few items of significance that were not included in the City Watch Report are briefly reported on here.

1] Janice Hahn praised the attendees for their continuing volunteering effort to have the voice of the neighborhood councils from across the city be heard by the city's political leaders.

She went on to strongly endorse the charter revisions being proposed by LANCC to help achieve this goal. Specifically, she said that the substitution of the term "Coalition" in place of "Congress," and "Board of Delegates" in place of "Senate" will help the neighborhood councils throughout the city better understand a core principle of LANCC i.e. "The LANCC is intended to enhance the ability of certified neighborhood councils have their voices heard on issues affecting their neighborhoods and the city, and is not intended to usurp or interfere with the role of individual neighborhood councils to voice opinions or positions on issues."

The proposed name revision for the organization is:
LANCC - Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition

Joe Vetti, vice chair of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Congress, recently sent out the following in an e-mail:

Obviously, it is not possible to include in a column all the "minutes" of a meeting (of the LANCC). However, a few items of significance that were not included in the City Watch Report are briefly reported on here.

1] Janice Hahn praised the attendees for their continuing volunteering effort to have the voice of the neighborhood councils from across the city be heard by the city's political leaders.

She went on to strongly endorse the charter revisions being proposed by LANCC to help achieve this goal. Specifically, she said that the substitution of the term "Coalition" in place of "Congress," and "Board of Delegates" in place of "Senate" will help the neighborhood councils throughout the city better understand a core principle of LANCC i.e. "The LANCC is intended to enhance the ability of certified neighborhood councils have their voices heard on issues affecting their neighborhoods and the city, and is not intended to usurp or interfere with the role of individual neighborhood councils to voice opinions or positions on issues."

The proposed name revision for the organization is:
LANCC - Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Coalition

Dr. Daniel Wiseman, secretary of the Van Nuys Neighboorhood Council, recently suggested, through an e-mail, ways neighborhood councils could use their unspent funds. Several councils have money that they've not spent yet and the end of the fiscal year is June 30.

His suggestions are:

1. Buy books for your local library. Wiseman says the L.A. City Council recently took away all the money that local libraries had to buy books.

2. Buy equipment for your local park or the fire or police departments. A call to your local park, fire station or police station will help identify items they can't buy at this time because of budget restrictions.

3. Put on a health fair, job fair, concert or some other community event.

4. Support local charities, service clubs or fraternal organizations with their programs, projects and activities.

Any of these expenitures should produce benefits that you can see in your neighborhood, Wiseman said.

At a Valley Vision town hall meeting on Thursday, seven proposed developments in Studio City, Toluca Lake, Valley Village, Valley Glen and North Hollywood will be discussed and the public can provide input.

The cumulative effect of these developments can be buildings up to 37 stories tall, 4,570,000 square feet of office and retail space, 5,483 new residential units and 14,817 new parking spaces within an five-square-mile area.

The meeting will begin at 5 p.m. with a meet-and-greet. Then representatives from the developers will give overviews and the public can provide input from 6 to 9 p.m.

Participants will include members from the five neighborhood councils in the southeast San Fernando Valley as well as city and state agencies and political leaders.

The meeting will be held at the Beverly Garland Holiday Inn, 4222 Vineland Ave., Studio City. Parking is $4.

A program called "Billboard Blight in L.A." will be presented at the March 1 meeting of the Los Angeles Neighborhood Council Congress.

Dennis Hathaway, a community activist and member of the Venice Neighborhood Council's land use and planning committee, will be discussing this city-wide issue.

The meeting will be held at 10 a.m. in the DWP headquarters, 111 N. Hope St., Los Angeles.

There is free parking on the DWP property.

The city's Education and Neighborhood Commission is seeking development of a "friendlier" form that neighborhood council members would have to fill out to disclose possible conflicts of interest, according to an article by Rick Orlov in today's Daily News.

There has been concern that financial disclosure requirements will discourage neighborhood councils' participation in city government.

Councilman Dennis Zine said he's concerned that requiring detailed financial information to serve on neighborhood councils will deter residents - who serve as volunteers - from getting involved.

However, Councilman Richard Alarcon argued he's concerned there's potential for conflicts of interest to make their way into the city's decision-making process.

To read the entire story, click here.

L.A. Daily News reporter Kerry Cavanaugh reports that the L.A. City Council will consider a proposal tomorrow that would allow neighborhood councils to formally introduce motions into city government.

Currently, neighborhood councils must rely on a city council member to propose policy for them.

With the proposed authority, community boards would be able to initiate a motion, open a council file and track it as departments and council committee review it.

To read Cavanaugh's story, go to dailynews.com.

Daniel Wiseman, a member of the Van Nuys Neighborhood Council, recently e-mailed the following about the possibility of the City Clerk getting involved in Neighborhood Council elections. He writes:

The central issues are:

1. Most NC elections have occurred just fine, thank you.

2. With rare exceptions, all challenges to elections have been from disgruntled “losers” in an election ... thinly based on some procedural “error,” which was not accepted by the “Final Decision Maker.'

3. Elections are a time-consuming NC activity made more frustrating by two things: a confused and confusing DONE (Department of Neighborhood Empowerment) complex and an unread set of “Citywide NC Election Procedures,” which even the “readers” didn't seem to understand.

So, it was not surprising that the NCRC (Neighborhood Council Review Commission) thought the NCs wanted relief and asked the City Clerk to step up and help them.

However, consider the following:

1. When was the last time you saw an increased involvement of a City Agency make things easier?