Beachy Elementary School
9757 Beachy Avenue
Arleta, CA 91331

Regular meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of every month at Beachy Elementary School.

Any questions regarding this notice can be directed to 818-406-6526.

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We are currently looking to fill the following open positions on the board:

• HOME /CONDO OWNERS (1) any person who lives within the ANC boundaries, and owns and occupies their place of residence.
• RENTERS (1) any person that rents and resides in a home, condominium, townhouse or apartment within the boundaries of the ANC.
• AT LARGE (2) any person who belongs to any stakeholder group and also those who declare a stake in the Neighborhood and affirm the factual basis for it.
• YOUTH (2) Any person who is between the ages of fourteen (14) and (17) and resides within the boundaries of the ANC. A youth representative that turns eighteen (18) during his/her term shall beallowed to finish that term.

Note: Each candidate must provide acceptable documentation to determine their stakeholder status for the position they applying for.
Regular meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of every month at Beachy Elementary School. Please visit our facebook page or web page for the most up to date information.

To apply and receive an application to be appointed to the board, please call 818-406-6526. Download the application here. You may also request an application via email from *protected email*.

Candidate Filing Form

Sergio Ibarra, MPA
President
Arleta Neighborhood Council

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Los Angeles residents will be able to complain about graffiti, abandoned furniture, potholes, broken street lights and fallen trees using their iPhone and Android smartphones starting March 18.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa unveiled the My LA 311 mobile app and a redesigned website for the City of Los Angeles in a Google+ hangout with reporters Wednesday.

“Silicon Beach has raised the game,” Villaraigosa said, referring to the city’s coastal tech hub. “And the city of L.A. needed to raise ours. And we did.”

The new look for the website, which launched Wednesday, is the first refresh in 15 years. It delivers clearer portals for business owners and visitors to the city. It also brings better access to city TV channels, where people can watch live streams of city council meetings.

During the hangout, councilman Joe Buscaino said the city would be hiring a website content manager to make sure the website isn’t filled with outdated and useless information.

On the app, city residents can also pay their Department of Water and Power bill. There’s also an option to find nearby parks, libraries and police stations. By taking advantage of a smartphone’s GPS and camera, the app promises to make reporting complaints a simpler process. L.A. is one of the last big cities in the country to have a 311 app.

“My LA 311” comes alongside the first major re-launch of the city’s website in 15 years. The new LACity.org offers a smarter user experience with self-updating “Top 10 Service Requests”, “Top 10 City Council Files,” and a “Dynamic City Calendar.” The citizen-centric redesign features live streaming home screen video, centralized job opportunities, and easy to access City services. The site will also provide a more social user experience through “LA City Now,” a homepage ticker-tape of every City twitter feed.

Though city councilman Eric Garcetti unveiled a similar 311 app for his district three years ago, a citywide app had been unavailable.

The app’s likely to increase the number of complaints the city gets. Asked whether existing city staff could handle the influx of issues, he said it could.

“I think we’ll have the capacity to do what we need to going forward,” he said.

But he acknowledged there’s room to give residents faster service. Voters next month will consider Measure A, a sales tax increase that would boost the city’s budget. Villaraigosa hasn’t said whether he will endorse Measure A, but he could do so as early as next week.

“We’ve got to get into the 21st century in terms of being more efficient in running city operations,” he said.

A spokesman for the mayor was unable to immediately say how much the city spent to redesign the website and create the two native apps, though Villaraigosa said it wasn’t very expensive. The apps were designed by 3Di.

“We’re already thinking about the 2.0 version,” Villaraigosa said. “Paying parking fines is one of those things we’re looking at it.”

He added that the next one would likely be in multiple languages as well.

In the meantime, it would be interesting if the city could work with cell phone stores in the city and cell phone service providers, such as Verizon, AT&T and Boost, to promote the app.

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http://plancheckncla.com/2013/02/billboard-working-group-volunteers-wanted

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You can access the budget survey here: http://la.budgetchallenge.org

Click here for more info regarding the Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates.

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A recent fight over a proposed $3 billion bond issue for street repairs illustrated the growing influence of neighborhood councils in Los Angeles City government, as they exerted enough influence to keep the measure off the ballot for now.

The success in that case represents an evolution for the councils, which at their inception a dozen years ago were seen as potentially powerless because they held no real voting authority in city matters. But through wider participation and exerting a louder voice, observers say, they are now fulfilling the influential role envisioned for them when voters revised the City Charter in 1999.

“This is what it was meant to be,” said Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute at California State University, Los Angeles, and who served as the top aide to the appointed Charter Reform Commission.

“They were meant to be a strong community voice and weigh in on major issues. It might be annoying (to the City Council, but the whole idea was to create a different form of review and allow the community to weigh in.”

The street bond proposal from Councilmen Mitch Englander and Joe Buscaino provided the perfect vehicle for neighborhood councils to weigh in.
Englander and Buscaino proposed on a Friday afternoon to have the council vote the following week to place the bond on the May 21 ballot, without any formal staff reports and only sketchy details on the cost for the public.

Neighborhood council groups, starting with the Los Angeles Alliance of Neighborhood Councils, and supported by the Valley Alliance and others, called for a 60-day delay to allow time for review of the proposal. City Council offices began receiving telephone calls of protest from homeowners. The public outcry forced the council to put off the bond until a future election.

“In truth, that’s the way it should work,” Sonenshein said. “It’s not giving the neighborhood council a veto power, but it is including them in the process.”

Englander acknowledged as much.

“Everyone I talk with says there is a need to fix the streets, but they were unhappy with the process,” Englander said.

The Board of Neighborhood Commissioners is planning a review of the role of the neighborhood councils in the future. A daylong discussion is scheduled for Jan. 26 to look back at the original intent of neighborhood councils as part as an overall plan for their future.

Greg Nelson, the first general manager of the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, said he foresees a constant struggle between neighborhood councils and the city over early access to information and being heard.

“The City Charter requires an early notification system, but the problem is that regulations were adopted that were weak in this regard, so the City Council regularly ignores this part of the City Charter,” Nelson said.

BONC weighed in on the issue earlier this month, voting to send letters to Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Council members reminding them of the City Charter provisions and asking that the neighborhood council role be included in future decisions.

The Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, which oversees the councils, recently had a new general manager, Grayce Liu, confirmed.
Liu said she sees the neighborhood councils at a crossroads.

“They have increased their ability to access City Hall and are demanding to be part of the process,” Liu said. “I think we also need to deal with (city) departments to get the more aware of the neighborhood councils.

“Some general managers will call me and say they want the neighborhood councils to weigh in on an issue in a week. With 95, it’s just not possible to move that quickly. We tell them they have to do more outreach to make the neighborhood councils part of the process.”

Villaraigosa regularly turned to the neighborhood councils for help when he was first elected, winning their support to increase the trash fee with the promise the money would be used to expand the Los Angeles Police Department.

He also made strong appeals to win their support for his budget initiatives and even when he needed to reduce their annual budget from $50,000 to $45,000 because of the city’s financial problems. He still sends out an annual survey to the neighborhood councils on budget priorities.

BONC Commissioner Doug Epperhart said the problem is getting the City Council to listen.

“Some are very good in dealing with their neighborhood councils,” Epperhart said. “Some have this overriding sense that they are the elected representative and if they feel it’s important they know best how to handle it.

“What neighborhood councils have to realize is the game here is politics. It means more to fill up a room with 100 people wearing the same colored T-shirts to get something accomplished.”

BONC Vice President Len Shaffer said the neighborhood councils have begun to mature in learning how to get the city to respond to local needs.
But he also sees the establishment of more coalitions of neighborhood councils as being an effective voice on major issues.

“As the coalitions continue to form around the city, they hopefully will begin to act together on issues,” Shaffer said. “That’s a whole lot of people with the power to serve as an education force to tell people what’s going on.”

Liu said she sees the neighborhood councils at a crossroads.

“They have increased their ability to access City Hall and are demanding to be part of the process,” Liu said. “I think we also need to deal with (city) departments to get the more aware of the neighborhood councils.

“Some general managers will call me and say they want the neighborhood councils to weigh in on an issue in a week. With 95, it’s just not possible to move that quickly. We tell them they have to do more outreach to make the neighborhood councils part of the process.”

Villaraigosa regularly turned to the neighborhood councils for help when he was first elected, winning their support to increase the trash fee with the promise the money would be used to expand the Los Angeles Police Department.

He also made strong appeals to win their support for his budget initiatives and even when he needed to reduce their annual budget from $50,000 to $45,000 because of the city’s financial problems. He still sends out an annual survey to the neighborhood councils on budget priorities.

BONC Commissioner Doug Epperhart said the problem is getting the City Council to listen.

“Some are very good in dealing with their neighborhood councils,” Epperhart said. “Some have this overriding sense that they are the elected representative and if they feel it’s important they know best how to handle it.

“What neighborhood councils have to realize is the game here is politics. It means more to fill up a room with 100 people wearing the same colored T-shirts to get something accomplished.”

BONC Vice President Len Shaffer said the neighborhood councils have begun to mature in learning how to get the city to respond to local needs.
But he also sees the establishment of more coalitions of neighborhood councils as being an effective voice on major issues.

“As the coalitions continue to form around the city, they hopefully will begin to act together on issues,” Shaffer said. “That’s a whole lot of people with the power to serve as an education force to tell people what’s going on.”

“The city’s neighborhood council system results in hundreds of thousands of volunteer hours given to the city every year by NC board members.”
Candidate Emanuel Pleitez, a businessman, said he believes more authority should be given to the neighborhood councils.

“Specifically, he thinks they should have more input on the development and planning side of decisions made in or about their communities … because they know their communities best,” spokesman John Hill said.

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Follow these steps and share them with fellow riders.

Record the serial number, make, model and color of your bike. This information is usually located somewhere on the frame. Put the information in your cell phone or somewhere easily accessible in case it it is stolen.

Register your bike with the LA County Sheriff’s BEAR Program. The Bicycle Education and Registration program is a county program aims to educate citizens on bicycle knowledge, safety, laws and security. They also will register your bicycle with their county bicycle database.

Learn how to lock your bike and keep it locked when not in use.

Use a high quality U-lock.

Never leave your bike unattended. It only takes thieves a few seconds to steal it!

If your bike is stolen report it immediately with your local police department.

For more information about the BEAR program go to www.bear.lasd.org

For full details, view this message on the web.

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Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa nominated Liu to serve as permanent general manager in December. In his letter to the City Council he wrote, “Her leadership skills are strong. There are fewer complaints than ever…and the general consensus is that outreach was more effective.”

“I’m looking forward to working with the Neighborhood Councils and continuing to find opportunities for neighborhood councils to work within the city council system and the city family as well,” Liu said.

Leonard Shaffer, vice president of the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners was on hand at the morning Council session to share his recommendations in support of Liu’s confirmation.

“She’s created a new culture of inclusiveness, which is very important. She leads by example. She’s not afraid to roll up her sleeves and get her hands dirty,” said Shaffer.

What’s Next for EmpowerLA?

Grayce Liu shares some of her strategic priorities for the neighborhood council system.

Enhance Neighborhood Council Support Networks and Alliances
Liu will work with Neighborhood Council peer networks, such as Councils 4 Councils and the Valley Area Neighborhood Council Resource Board to encourage them to expand and multiply. Liu explained that if the groups continue to cross-pollinate, develop trust, and learn from one another, the Neighborhood Council system can increase their sustainability.
Create a More Accessible City Hall
Liu intends to launch a campaign to educate City departments and elected leaders on ways to include Neighborhood Councils in decision-making and also to educate Neighborhood Councils on how to work with the City more effectively.
Simplify the Process of Participation
Liu will also lead a review of the rules and regulations governing Neighborhood Council activities to remove overly complicated or unnecessary items that stand as barriers to participation. “We have to see how we can be creative and think outside the box to make the system easier for neighborhood council members to access,” she explained.
Embrace Innovation and Technology
Liu will embrace innovation and technology to develop more efficient strategies for civic engagement. In recent years, the Department has had to learn to do more with less. EmpowerLA will explore new engagement strategies, such as webinars and live-streaming video for public meetings. EmpowerLA will also look into low-tech solutions, such as crowdsourcing to the volunteer base for help with Department initiatives.

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