Local Councils Press Hahn for More Funding

Officials with the Department of Recreation and Parks pleaded poverty, so frustrated members of the neighborhood council stepped in, along with Councilman Greig Smith.

"The park is a big part of the community," said Mary Ellen Crosby, the neighborhood council member who headed the project. "We have a lot of children in this community and they really missed it."

But the project cost the neighborhood council $25,000, half of its annual allocation from the city of Los Angeles.

Nearly two years after the city began giving each of its neighborhood councils $50,000 per year, leaders of the panels throughout Los Angeles have concluded that it's not enough for them to do the meaningful work they would like to accomplish.

Presidents of neighborhood councils have begun urging Mayor James K. Hahn and his opponents in the upcoming election to increase the allocation to between $100,000 and $500,000 so that councils can better address community needs.

"The neighborhood councils are vastly underfunded, and that's a big part of our problem," said Jim Alger, a member of the Northridge West Neighborhood Council, a point he has conveyed to the main mayoral candidates.

Citing city budget woes, Hahn spokeswoman Sahar Moridani confirmed that there is no plan to increase the councils' budgets in the fiscal year that begins July 1. Moridani said she could not rule out an increase in future years, but added that the mayor is pleased by how the councils have spent their money.

"It's been a great tool that they have been able to use specifically to improve their communities," Moridani said.

City Councilwoman Jan Perry said it is premature to talk about increasing the allocation. "It's enough as it is," she said. "They need to establish a track record with the money they have."

Twenty months after the city began funding neighborhood councils, 70 have received $1.5 million.

The councils are filling in to pay for neglected community needs: fixing sidewalks, planting flowers in street medians, installing signs and buying books for school libraries.