Neighborhood Councils

Re “Charter Poll Finds Support for Larger Council,” Aug. 25: Anyone interested in the issue of charter reform should be advised to examine the questions posed in this survey before taking its results into account. As one who was surveyed, I found the questions and their underlying assumptions pointed so heavily against the concept of neighborhood councils that the biggest surprise to me was that such a large percentage maintained their support for the councils.

Three of the chief assumptions in the survey were that neighborhood councils would cost the city money, that those councils would be bad for business and that no additional costs would be incurred by the city in adding City Council seats. There is no question that neighborhood councils will cost the city additional monies. However, their cost will be nominal compared to the cost of an additional 20 City Council members. One option that was not offered for consideration in the survey, and one that many citizens would support, is for expansion of the City Council and creation of neighborhood councils.

The assumption that neighborhood councils will be bad for business stems from corporate fears and is unfounded. As a chairperson of the 8th District Empowerment Congress and as a member of its Economic Development Council, I can tell you we are aggressively promoting the rebirth of our streets and communities with the development of new commercial and retail space, new housing of various types, mixed-use development and new industrial development. Once the bias inherent in the questions in the survey has been filtered out, I believe we will find that the assumptions of the two charter commissions do, in fact, closely match the desires of L.A. citizens.

VICTOR JAY NAHMIAS

Los Angeles