Neighborhood Councils

Five feet tall, with dangly purple earrings and funky sneakers she decorated with a marker, Rachel Lester is one of the city's newest elected representatives. At 15, she's also the youngest. Rachel trounced her competition in this month's South Robertson Neighborhood Council election, pulling in 144 votes. Her opponent, a man with two children and a college degree, mustered only 13. When she begins her two-year term speaking for District 1 in June, she'll have to hitch a ride from Mom to the monthly council meetings.

Last week, with a warm sun pouring into his sitting room and an ocean breeze rustling the chimes on his porch, Robert Farrell and I talked about his candidacy for the seat Janice Hahn recently vacated on the Los Angeles City Council. That's right, Robert Farrell. Bob Farrell, as those who know the modern history of this city will realize, served on the City Council for most of two decades before retiring in 1991, and he was generally admired for his idealism and for his canniness, if not always for his effectiveness.

Los Angeles police are investigating a community activist and convicted felon accused of misusing tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars while serving as chairman of his neighborhood council. The case of James Harris is just one of six involving neighborhood council treasurers or chairmen who are believed to have misspent as much as $250,000 in city money. The investigations have raised questions about the city's financial oversight of the volunteer community groups -- for example, none of the treasurers were subject to credit or background checks.

An appointee of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa assigned to oversee dozens of neighborhood councils resigned after FBI agents raided his home looking for evidence that he or others downloaded child pornography. Last Friday, investigators took a computer and other evidence from the Tarzana home of Albert Abrams, who until this week had been president of the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners, a seven-member panel of mayoral appointees. Abrams, 63, submitted his resignation Wednesday and said he did not know whether he was a target of the investigation.

"Governing Los Angeles Requires Flexibility" (Commentary, June 15) throws out several red herrings in stated opposition to neighborhood councils, and then the authors state their real concern: Neighborhood councils won't "balance" land use discussions, i.e. they won't be as friendly to developers. The authors suggest that politicians will voluntarily surrender power without being forced to by charter reform. They say that a new level of government, closer to the people being represented, will somehow alienate voters.

David Rockello doesn't live in Rampart Village, and he doesn't own a business or property there. But he's president of the Rampart Village Neighborhood Council, elected in part by voters he recruited ? people who, like Rockello, neither live nor work in the area. Rockello didn't break any rules to get his post. In fact, he followed them to the letter. And that has some people worried. The point of neighborhood councils, as envisioned by the charter reformers who designed them, was to provide a way for the city's many distinct communities to have a voice in planning decisions and other policies that affect them.

Concerned for the safety of several witnesses, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office obtained a grand jury indictment last month of a former Los Angeles neighborhood council president who had been charged in October with misappropriating city funds. James Harris, who headed the Empowerment Congress Southwest Area Neighborhood Development Council in South Los Angeles, is the fifth neighborhood council leader to face criminal charges involving misuse of taxpayer funds.

An appointee of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa assigned to oversee dozens of neighborhood councils resigned after FBI agents raided his home looking for evidence that he or others downloaded child pornography. Last Friday, investigators took a computer and other evidence from the Tarzana home of Albert Abrams, who until this week had been president of the Board of Neighborhood Commissioners, a seven-member panel of mayoral appointees. Abrams, 63, submitted his resignation Wednesday and said he did not know whether he was a target of the investigation.

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.

Last spring, leaders of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power used a tactic that looked an awful lot like extortion, telling the City Council that unless it approved a generous rate hike, the utility would be forced to withhold $73.5 million it had promised to transfer to city coffers. The move infuriated L.A. residents and touched off a prolonged political battle over control of the utility. Measures I and J represent the council's effort to prevent this from happening again.

David Rockello doesn't live in Rampart Village, and he doesn't own a business or property there. But he's president of the Rampart Village Neighborhood Council, elected in part by voters he recruited ? people who, like Rockello, neither live nor work in the area. Rockello didn't break any rules to get his post. In fact, he followed them to the letter. And that has some people worried. The point of neighborhood councils, as envisioned by the charter reformers who designed them, was to provide a way for the city's many distinct communities to have a voice in planning decisions and other policies that affect them.

One of Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's most veteran advisors is stepping down, marking another exit from his administration that has been dramatically reshaped over the last year. Deputy Chief of Staff Jimmy Blackman, who oversees the mayor's schedule and his interactions with neighborhood councils, other politicians and other government agencies, notified Villaraigosa that his last day would be Aug. 13. Since August 2009, Villaraigosa has hired investment banker Austin Beutner to be his "jobs czar," a post that has authority over roughly a dozen city agencies.

Universal Studios' back lot is rising from the ashes — literally. The studio on Thursday will unveil its refurbished New York street movie sets that burned down in a fire nearly two years ago, which comes as welcome news to the local production community at a time when Los Angeles is struggling to keep movie and TV shoots from leaving the state. After all, New York is L.A.'s biggest rival and is gearing up to expand its film tax credits. Location managers have long awaited the reopening of the 13-block New York area, the largest of its kind in Hollywood.

Five feet tall, with dangly purple earrings and funky sneakers she decorated with a marker, Rachel Lester is one of the city's newest elected representatives. At 15, she's also the youngest. Rachel trounced her competition in this month's South Robertson Neighborhood Council election, pulling in 144 votes. Her opponent, a man with two children and a college degree, mustered only 13. When she begins her two-year term speaking for District 1 in June, she'll have to hitch a ride from Mom to the monthly council meetings.

City Council members sought to tighten their grip over Los Angeles' public utility Wednesday, after an influential Wall Street firm lowered the city's bond rating based in part on "the increased political contention" swirling around the budget at City Hall. With council members angry about the refusal of executives at the Department of Water and Power to turn over $73.5 million in "surplus revenue" that they were counting on to help balance the budget, City Controller Wendy Greuel announced that she would immediately conduct a four-week audit of the utility's power operation.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Monday that he hopes to shave $2 million off the city's annual budget by folding the department that oversees the network of 90 neighborhood councils into another municipal agency. The plan would push the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment, created by voters a decade ago to increase citizen participation at City Hall, into the Community Development Department, which oversees the distribution of grant funds. That move could draw a challenge from backers of neighborhood councils, who contend that the City Charter calls for the existence of a separate agency.

After struggling for eight hours to counter a rapidly growing budget shortfall, the Los Angeles City Council put off a decision to cut 1,000 jobs Wednesday and, through other actions, managed to add $4 million to the problem. Unable to take more straightforward action on a shortfall that has grown to $212 million this year, the council voted to seek another list of possible job cuts and, after hearing pleas from a chamber packed with protesting employees and residents, promised not to act on layoffs for 30 days.