CityWatchLA - District 2 Leaders Set Demands for Council Candidates

Community leaders from throughout Council District 2 gathered this past Saturday and positioned issues such as Community Plans with teeth, Building & Safety enforcement, and Parking Policy as the foundation of a platform that will be used to frame the upcoming City Council Candidate forums and debates.

Neighborhoods from throughout CD2 were represented as local voters gathered and hammered out a list of quality-of-life issues that they want established and developed during the campaign for the open City Council seat.

The opening list of topics hit three dozen and then continued to grow during the breakout sessions before the group refined and combined and established a basic platform of positions that they hope will be the beginning of a basic framework of an issues-based campaign.

Community Plans, Code Enforcement, Parking, Open Space & Recreation, the Budget, Transportation, Mass Transit, Solar Energy, the DWP, the City Charter, and the Neighborhood Council's relationship with the City and with the City Council were the final topics to make the cut. The specific actions are listed on the CD2 Vision Platform document which community members indicate will be the starting point for robust conversations during the campaign.

It was obvious during the Saturday morning brainstorm session that the neighborhood representatives agree on the broad strokes but that many of the specific nuances are unique to individual communities. Through it all, it was apparent that there is a shared commitment to working together to developing an issues-based campaign and a real dialogue with the candidates based on commitments to the community and to the platform.

At the end of the day, there was general consensus and the hope that two things had been accomplished; first that the CD2 Vision Platform would create an opportunity for Candidates to stand squarely on the issues as they position themselves in the campaign and second, that the election would then be the beginning of a working relationship between the seated Councilperson and the community, one that is based on the commitments made during the campaign and a mutual desire to improve the quality of life for everybody in CD2.

As for next steps, the sponsors of upcoming forums and debates have expressed hope that the CD2 Vision Platform will frame a robust dialogue between candidates and voters and that the ultimate result will be a positive working relationship between the prevailing candidate and the community that develops into even more ambitious commitment to improving the quality of life in CD2.

Attached is the CD2 Vision Platform plus a roster of upcoming Debates and Forums:

Council District 2 Vision Platform

● Community Plan

Candidate shall ensure that community plans and specific plans are enforced and updated every 5 to 8 years with input from Neighborhood Councils and Community Organizations including but not limited to thorough assessment of infrastructure mitigations and cumulative effects.

● Building & Safety

Candidate shall ensure enforcement by the Dept. of Building & Safety all applicable laws, regulations, building and safety codes in a prompt manner with the appropriate fines and follow up including but not limited to reporting offenders to the City Attorney.

● Parking

Candidate will implement realistic project based (not street based) parking requirements for all projects with realistic expectations of what public transportation access is available to the actual project. (not within radius)

● Open Space & Recreation

Candidate will establish an interconnected valleywide/citywide long term vision for recreation, open space, trails and public space by consulting and interacting with constituents and, when necessary, outside professionals.

● Budget

Candidate will implement Performance Based Evaluations and require Departmental Spending Accountability Reports throughout the City of Los Angeles.

● Transportation

Candidate will establish a baseline of current traffic/transportation resources/challenges for CD2 and develop a plan that addresses future growth and the cumulative impact of future projects.

● Transportation Planning

Candidate will Incorporate Traffic/Transportation Planning in community Planning with focus on cumulative of development in CD2 and adjoining CD's.

● Mass Transit

Candidate will provide an accurate report of current projects in CD2 and commit that future transit spending in CD2 more closely reflect the CD2 contributions to the transportation system.

● Solar Energy

Candidate will implement multifaceted Solar Energy plan with competitive bidding, transparency, technological diversity, stakeholder choice of installer and product.

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● DWP

Candidate will stop pass through of monies to City Council General Fund.

● City Charter

Candidate will acknowledge and defend the rights of Neighborhood Councils and enforce the Charter mandate to have the NC's involved in the process.

● Candidate will develop and sponsor an amendment to require the Mayor to produce and the City Council to approve a balanced 3 to 5 year Plan. This is in addition to the Annual Budget.

● Neighborhood Councils

Candidate will meet regularly with NC's and HOA's and Community Groups in CD2, collectively and individually.

● City Council

Candidate will introduce a City Council resolution directing all city commissioners, at the start of each meeting, to verbally declare any conflict of interest issues with that session's agenda.

Equestrian Communities CD2 Candidates Forum

Sponsored by the LA Horse Council

Tuesday, Aug 4, 6:30pm

All Nations Church

10000 Foothill Blvd

Lake View Terrace

Info: 818 353-3467

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Sunland-Tujunga CD2 Candidates Forum

Saturday Aug 8

Meet & Greet 1-2 pm Forum 2-4:30 pm

North Valley City Hall

7747 Foothill Blvd

Tujunga

Info: 818 438-7076

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Valley Glen Neighborhood Association &

Laurel Grove Neighborhood Association &

Valley Village Homeowners Association

CD2 Candidates Forum

Tuesday, Aug 18 @ 7pm

"Meet & Greet" start @ 6:30pm

Laurel Hall School

(Oxnard/Radford, east of Laurel Canyon)

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Neighborhood Council

Valley Village

CD2 Candidates Forum

Wednesday, Aug 26 @ 7pm

Colfax Elementary

Info: www.myvalleyvillage.com

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The Sherman Oaks

Homeowners Association

Wednesday Aug 19

"Meet & Greet" start @ 6:15pm

candidate debate start @ 7:15pm

&

Wednesday Sep 16

"Meet & Greet" start @ 6:15pm

candidate debate start @ 7:15pm

Notre Dame High School at Woodman & Riverside

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The Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council

Monday, Sep 14 @ 6:30pm

Sherman Oaks

Elementary School

Info: (818) 990-4002 or jbbarad@roadrunner.com

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Park[ing] Day LA

Friday, September 18, 2009

CityWide in a park(ing) space near you!

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For more CD2 info:

www.cd2election.blogspot.com

For even more CD2 info:

www.phinvv.wordpress.com

CityWatchLA - Rosendahl on Solar: "I Might Not Support It"

CityWatch, Jan 13, 2009
Vol 7 Issue 4

DWP Workshop Notebook
By David Lowell and Stephen Box

DWP General Manager, H. David Nahai, spent Saturday morning giving a three-hour "Renewable Energy" presentation to a crowd of approximately 70 community leaders representing Neighborhood Councils from throughout the city, most of whom were sitting on the edge of their seats waiting for the discussion of Measure B to come up.

Measure B is the City's proposed "Green Energy and Good Jobs for Los Angeles Act," which has been called "risky" by the City's own analyst and will appear on the March 3rd ballot. Nahai and Assistant GM Aram Benyamin went to great lengths to steer clear of the topic, instead demonstrating incredible message control and sticking to the polished PowerPoint presentation that was well received.

Their efforts to bypass B went askew, however, when Councilman Bill Rosendahl dropped by and jumped into the mix, announcing "I have not made up my mind. I voted to put it on the ballot but I haven't voted to support it because, frankly, I want to understand the details that are to be presented to us as a Council. I might end up supporting it, I might not."

Rosendahl echoed the sentiment of literally everybody by stating "I believe whole-heartedly in Solar. We're in California. It's Sunny. My roof is flat." He continued by endorsing the DWP's union and the opportunity to bring more people into the DWP workforce while at the same time developing the private sector partnerships and supporting solar housing collectives such as proposed in Mar Vista.

Rosendahl polled the room and found that many were opposed to measure B, that many were undecided, that everybody reckoned that they had an open mind and that there were two people in support of Measure B, one of whom was Gary Baratta who explained "Solar Power has to go forward. There is absolutely no reason not to go forward. The DWP is the only party in a position to develop the infrastructure necessary to deliver power." Gary went on to urge Nahai to ignore the City Charter and to stop contributing funds to the City's general funds.

This softball suggestion from Baratta allowed Nahai to respond vigorously that the DWP would by no means violate the City charter and that it was their desire to abide by the rules and obligations and processes.

Nahai called the meeting a success saying "I think it went well. There were many probing questions and the feedback from the audience was that the presentation was very comprehensive. It was a good meeting. As for Measure B, the DWP has no position on Measure B. We are waiting on financial reports from Huron and we will release them as part of our outreach."

Jack Humphreville “thought the presentation was great, very informative and very interesting. The thing is,” he said, “I came to hear about Measure B."

DWP Advocacy Committee Chair Soledad Garcia agreed, "Solar energy is not the issue, we're all for it. The DWP has much to answer for if we are to work together to develop a solar plan for Los Angeles.”

Rusty Millar, Co-Chair at the Silver Lake NC was unconvinced saying "The LADWP asks us to trust them but they never came to the Neighborhood Councils as required by the City charter and they never revealed any information on the cost of Measure B. I want to know how much, how it will be paid and what the fiscal impact on the city will be."

Barbara Moynihan Burke called the entire process "A travesty!. I was there in Van Nuys when they voted on Measure B. It was called as a "special" with 24 hour notice and then it was over. No financials, no information, no opportunity for feedback from the community. I protested to Council President Garcetti based on process and based on content and yet it's still underway."

Jeff Jacobberger and Tony Butka both referred to the meeting as an informative and comprehensive big-picture presentation of the future of LA's Renewable Energy program but both also left with their expectation of a discussion of Measure B unmet.

Observers Everett Littlefield and BONC Commissioner Al Abrams seemed destined for the Diplomatic Corps. They both argued for open minds. Littlefield said "I'm union and I believe in unions but not when we're getting less for more. I have an open mind and I think like an investor, I think like a rate payer, and I think like a homeowner who wants to install solar. I need to know that everything we do is financially sound." Abrams echoed and said "It's our DWP, we're the stakeholders. We owe it to the DWP to wait and see, to keep an open mind and to evaluate the Huron financial report."

In summary: the Department got good marks for their solar presentation but disappointed many when they avoided the hot-button Solar Energy Prop B issue.