Event Offers Living Model for City’s New Area Councils

Ask them about the issues, and they talk about tough social problems with obvious familiarity.

Ask them for a solution, and the answer usually hinges on personal involvement and responsive government.

Ask them to speak, and these candidates offer a passionate pitch for your vote, for a chance to help make the neighborhood better.

“I’ve lived in this neighborhood 25 years,” said Jack Denson. “I’m a stakeholder in this community, and I really care about the community.”

“If you elect me today, I guarantee you will see me out there with my sleeves rolled up,” said Elizabeth McClellan.

On this election day, voting was the neighborly thing to do, since those who were elected to the 8th District Empowerment Congress were literally people from next door or around the corner.

Both the congress and the elections Saturday are widely viewed as models for soon-to-be-created neighborhood councils under the new City Charter. Approved by voters June 8, the document also calls for the creation of a Department of Neighborhood Empowerment to oversee the new councils.

Some residents from other parts of the city attended the Saturday election at the Shrine Expo Center on a sort of fact-finding mission.

“This is the best model in the city,” said Tisha Bedrosian, who lives in the north Venice area and wants to set up a similar council in her neighborhood. “It has a lot of heart. I’m thrilled to be here.”

Created by Councilman Mark Ridley-Thomas in 1992, the Empowerment Congress aims to increase citizen participation and improve communication between city government and constituents in his 8th District. Those elected live, work or own a business in the district.

Although the concept of neighborhood involvement is by no means new, supporters say the Empowerment Congress offers the best model for viable and effective councils. It has taken the traditional block club a few paces into the future.

Saturday’s election, the first since the passage of the new charter, was held in a large auditorium filled with tables, decorated with orange, purple and white balloons, beneath walls draped with red, white and blue banners.

Before the speeches and the balloting, Ridley-Thomas and others sat on a panel discussing the merits of community participation and the role the 8th District may play in helping define the structure that ultimately may exist throughout the city.

Since the Empowerment Congress was started, Ridley-Thomas said, it has had several successes, including efforts to bring business into the area, clean up or block troublesome alleys, and combat nuisance liquor stores.

Participation in this election was better than in any other year.

“There’s more competition now,” Ridley-Thomas said. “More candi

dates, more interest. A lot of the people I don’t know by name--which is good, because it means I’m not hand-picking them.”

Jackie Dupont-Walker, a former elected charter reform commissioner, said the commission studied the neighborhood councils in the 8th District when designing the charter.

“We have you to thank for a significant part of the work we did,” said Dupont-Walker, who is also president of Ward Economic Development Corp.

Councilman Mike Feuer, the only other City Council member present, credited the 8th District with demonstrating that community involvement matters.

“Throughout lots of neighborhoods in our city, people don’t believe that’s true . . . and are pretty skeptical that their involvement can get anything done,” said Feuer, who has also started a neighborhood council in his district.

“Take them by the hand,” he said. “Bring them here. Demonstrate [that] if they choose to get involved, they will see results.”

The atmosphere at Saturday’s election was high-energy. It did not matter that the congress positions are nonpaying and that the board is primarily advisory. People take this seriously.

Many, like McClellan, who is finishing up a two-year term and was hoping to be elected co-chairman of the southeast area, are sold on the idea of neighborhood councils.

“I live in southeast Los Angeles, and I’ve seen it deteriorate,” said McClellan. Through the congress,

“I have an opportunity to see it revitalize. It puts me at the table with policymakers and decision makers.”

Already a community activist, she found that being elected to the congress made her work easier because she learned how to effectively maneuver through the city bureaucracy to accomplish her neighborhood’s goals, she said.

The Rev. William B. Martin II of the Inner City Christian Center had never been involved with the Empowerment Congress before, but was involved in his community and decided to run for a seat.

“As a pastor . . . I want to do what I can to take a stand and not let our community be passed by because of a lack of knowledge,” said Martin.

Others, such as Reyna and Amador Mendez, were not there to run for office but to show their concern about everything from lunch programs at schools to the homeless who harass people on their street.

“This is very important for me,” said Amador Mendez, who with his wife and daughter sat at a table where translations of the speeches into Spanish could be heard through headsets.

The 8th District is divided into four areas--southeast, southwest, north and west. Every two years residents elect a chairman, co-chairman and secretary to represent each area.

The area is then divided into neighborhoods. Residents in each neighborhood elect two representatives to that area’s development council.

Several other councils, such as those involving youth advocacy, community safety and economic development, do not require election to participate. Together the councils make up the Empowerment Congress, which also includes four at-large representatives appointed by the councilman.

The elections took place in four curtained-off corners of the room, corresponding to the four geographic areas. In those corners, the candidates gave their best pitches.

When it was her turn to speak, Norma L. Washington, who is African American, told of how she convinced her daughter, Yolanda, to take Spanish classes so she could help inform Spanish-speaking neighbors of issues in the neighborhood.

“It really worked out,’ Washington said. “We got to know our neighbors. Our street is like a family. The crime element is way down.”

Residents listened and sometimes talked backed, then marked their ballots. After the votes were counted, the groups convened and winners were announced with much fanfare. There were outbreaks of applause and hoots, handshakes and hugs as Ridley-Thomas announced the names.

Washington was one of them.

“I’m so happy,” she said, beaming. “I’m almost speechless.’