How to flex political muscle

During the ninth Congress of Neighborhoods on Saturday, the question was not how the city's 89 neighborhood councils can get power, but how to wield their increasing influence. Kerry Cavanaugh in the Daily News.

Some 350 people attended workshops at the four-hour convention on themes ranging from how to get what you want from city departments to how to craft a media message - signs that neighborhood councils are getting more sophisticated and flexing their political muscles.

Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council President Doug Epperhart said some neighborhood councils are ready for graduate-level workshops on empowerment.