San Fernando Valley : Council Drops Plan for Off-Site Meetings

The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to hold at least one October meeting in the West San Fernando Valley but quashed a plan to hold regular sessions outside of City Hall.

At the recommendation of Councilwoman Laura Chick, who represents parts of the west Valley, the council voted unanimously to schedule a meeting at Pierce College in Woodland Hills to give Valley residents a closer look at their elected officials at work.

But most of the council members were unwilling to commit to a plan to hold four meetings a year in various communities throughout the city, saying such meetings in the past have been costly and poorly attended.

“I’ve attended every meeting outside of City Hall and that’s why I know that they are a flop,” said Councilman Nate Holden, an eight-year council veteran who has never had a meeting in his south Los Angeles district.

Officially, the council referred the proposal to a council committee for further study. But because the plan had already been approved by the same committee, sending it back allowed the council to kill the plan without voting against it. The action does not preclude the possibility of other community council meetings if individual members request it.

Critics of the plan to routinely take the council meetings on the road cited the headaches of transporting dozens of city staff and audio and broadcast equipment to sites that can accommodate such meetings.

It was a harsh civics lesson for newly elected Councilman Mike Feuer, who proposed the plan and was caught off guard by the opposition.

Despite strong criticism from several colleagues, Feuer pressed on, arguing that such meetings will address a long-held belief among many residents that City Hall is inaccessible and out of touch with citizens.

“Why don’t we stand up today and tell the people that we want them to see us quarterly,” said Feuer, who was elected in June to represent a district that stretches from the Valley to the Westside.

Since 1983, the council has held meetings outside City Hall four times, three of them in the San Fernando Valley and one in the Harbor area.