The electrical contractor was on the verge of tears.
"I apologize," Jamie Cordaro told his neighbors as he resigned from the Van Nuys Neighborhood Council. After 11 months on the panel, he said he could not point to a single accomplishment, only many long nights of racially charged fights.
"It hurts me to think that as 13 adults, we can't come together," Cordaro said.
In the Fairfax area, by contrast, Mid-City West Neighborhood Council members say their panel is a great success, with smoothly run meetings and an array of neighborhood improvement projects. If anything, leaders there say they worry about becoming too slick and bureaucratic.
The heartache in Van Nuys and the cheerful efficiency of Mid-Wilshire are all part of the city's massive, groundbreaking effort to empower Los Angeles communities -- and quell their secessionist impulses -- by creating 100 neighborhood councils, one for every corner of this vast, disparate metropolis.
More than 80 panels have sprung into being since 2001, and there are signs they have taken root and are flexing their power.
Last week, the Los Angeles City Council scaled back a Department of Water and Power request to raise water rates after some 30 neighborhood organizations rallied against the increase. Chastened DWP officials said they wouldn't make the mistake of ignoring the groups again.
The councils also have purchased playground equipment and paddle boats, planted trees, cleaned streets and put up signs.
But if this grand experiment is sparking a renaissance in community activism, it has also prompted plenty of disputes, disorder and even shoving matches -- and led many to despair at how difficult democracy can be, especially at the grass-roots level.
"Democracy is a messy thing," said Terry Cooper, a USC professor who has studied the councils. "It's not a pink tea party. It's more like a street fight."
Still, Cooper said he has been impressed by the hunger for community that Los Angeles residents have exhibited in their rush to create the councils, and on the whole he deems the experiment a success.
"As issues emerge around the city, they are going to respond," he said. The next step, he said, is for the councils to create their own deliberative body to drive a citywide agenda.
